If you have some old medical textbooks that you no longer need, but hate to just throw away, there are options. You can donate them to others who might find them useful. Be it through the military or private organisations, your books might be saving lives when used for reference by doctors and nurses at hot spots and in conflict zones around the world.

  • If you have some old medical textbooks that you no longer need, but hate to just throw away, there are options.

Look at the potential options for book donations. The website for the University at Buffalo's Health Sciences Library, for example, offers a comprehensive list of book donation programs.

Check with your local library if it is in a book donation or exchange program. This could save you the postage of having to send out the books yourself.

Decide which organisation you want to contact but keep essential information handy on the others you came across in your research as you might come back to them in the future.

Consider these organisations that need medical textbooks: Operation Medical Libraries, Health Literature Exchange Service, Books for Africa and Project HOPE.

Find out the specifics for your chosen organisation. This includes if they books must be mailed or dropped off.

Send your books for distribution to a number of military posts outside the country at the domestic letter rate with the Operation Medical Libraries Program.

Find a library near you that participates in the Health Literature Exchange if you want to donate to this program.

  • Decide which organisation you want to contact but keep essential information handy on the others you came across in your research as you might come back to them in the future.
  • Find a library near you that participates in the Health Literature Exchange if you want to donate to this program.

Drop off your books to the Books for Africe warehouses in Atlanta or St. Paul. Drop-off hours are every Wednesday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the St. Paul warehouse or every Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Atlanta warehouse as well as the first and third Saturdays of every month from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Send an e-mail to J. Kowalczyk at info@booksforafrica.org. for more information

Contact the webmaster at webmaster@projecthope.org if you want to donate books through Project Hope.