donate books
Hold on to your books!
Your gently used books help bring the joy of reading to children in Calgary. Proceeds from the Big Book Sale fuel critical early literacy work—and helping children become stronger readers has never been more important. Stay tuned for our 2025 Big Book Sale collection dates and events.
We can only have volunteers, storage and resources to collect donated books every April. Thank you for holding on to your books for us!
what to donate
We’ll happily receive any gently used books that aren’t on our ‘don’t donate’ list below. We especially love bestsellers and new releases. You might be surprised to learn that we have a wonderful collectibles section, books in other languages, and even DVDs, CDs and audiobooks!
Gently used books
Bestsellers
New releases
Books in other languages
DVDs & CDs
Audiobooks
what not to donate
We’re so thankful for your donations of gently used books. Here is the list of books we cannot accept:
Dictionaries
Encyclopedias
Religious texts or Bibles
Reader’s Digest
Harlequin, Avon or Signet romances
Magazines (including National Geographic)
Textbooks
Book sets (such as Time/Life)
Library discards
donate books faq’s
Thank you for taking a moment to read these FAQ’s before reaching out.
We’ll happily receive any gently used books that aren’t on our ‘don’t donate’ list below. We especially love bestsellers and new releases. We also accept collectibles, books in other languages, and even DVDs, CDs and audiobooks!
Here is the list of books we cannot accept: dictionaries, encyclopedias, religious texts or Bibles, library discards, Reader’s Digest, Harlequin, Avon or Signet romances, magazines (including National Geographic), textbooks, book sets such as Time/Life.
As long as they’re gently used and aren’t on our ‘don’t donate’ list, we’re happy..
Bring your books in boxes or bags that you don’t need returned and we’ll take it from there!
Look for the signs in the parking lot and pull up to our curbside drop-off. Open your trunk and we’ll unload your books.
Proceeds from the Big Book Sale fuel several organizations doing early literacy work—helping children become stronger readers, get books of their very own and providing safe, fun reading places that nurture a love of reading.
