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UPDATE - The books are located in northern Virginia, in the US. A full list of them can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qSDX50-WZico_Z69btynqbLTNZC2kQZQdGP9V29-8qk/edit?usp=sharing

The various tabs/sheets are mostly for my own organization/tracking, although they may very loosely align to certain subject matter. Thank you again to everyone who has expressed interest and replied so far.

ORIGINAL POST: I hope this post doesn't fall outside the acceptable use of this forum...apologies if it does.

I recently came into a large-ish library of math books, along with some science (primarily physics). Roughly 550 or so in all. I am not in a position to make any use of them personally, but they were all individually acquired by someone with a passion for math at all levels and I would like them to go to a good home. I've contacted several libraries and even a couple of technical booksellers, but no one has been interested.

I am not trying to make any money off of this. I'd like to either donate the books or even give them away piecemeal to interested individuals. They are all cataloged in a spreadsheet I can send to interested parties.

If people here are interested, I would be glad to send you the list and coordinate getting selections to you. I'm also very interested in any suggestions for an organization that might be able to make use of some or all of them.

Thank you in advance for any help or interest.

donatebooks
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    Would you be willing to share the titles? – NicNic8 Jan 04 '18 at 04:41
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    Perhaps you should specify what part of the world you are in? If in the United States, what state? Would you be willing to share the spreadsheet, say in a Google Doc? – mweiss Jan 04 '18 at 04:54
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    To whomever voted to close, please exercise some courtesy. The question may be technically off-topic here, but then so would be almost everywhere else. This is certainly one place where it could elicit pertinent suggestions, so give it a chance. Or even +1 it, for being respectful and laudable – dxiv Jan 04 '18 at 06:21
  • Perhaps a college or university math department nearby would be interested in the collection for their library. – KCd Jan 04 '18 at 08:13
  • I am interested in getting the list. – Jean-Victor Côté Jan 04 '18 at 13:23
  • I was going to send the titles via a direct message to interested people, but I don't see a way to do that here so I'll post a link to a Google spreadsheet shortly. Thank you for the initial responses! – donatebooks Jan 04 '18 at 15:48

2 Answers2

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The AMS (American Mathematical Society, very legitimate) appears to have a program related to this here. This appears to be nearly what you want, depending on the specific types of books you have. They specifically state that:

First you must contact the AMS to determine if the materials are suitable for our donation program. Suitable types of materials include quality research books and monographs in mathematics. Textbooks are not appropriate donations for this program. Journals are no longer accepted. Widely available publications are accepted on a case-by-case basis.

You say that you have a list of all the books. It may be prudent to contact the AMS with this, as mentioned below:

Please send the following information via e-mail to [email protected]:

  • Your name, email address (or phone number), and mailing address
  • A description of the materials to be donated: an overview of the topics, the number of books, and specific titles with authors/editors.
  • The amount of time you are able to hold the books, until we find a suitable recipient.
  • Any problems you foresee with packing and shipping. In the case of large donations, the AMS may possibly cover the packing fees.
Community
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Mark Schultz-Wu
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  • This is fantastic, thank you. I'll contact them today. Some of these are textbooks, which AMS doesn't take, but aside from that this is exactly the type of thing I was looking for! – donatebooks Jan 04 '18 at 15:49
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Give then to Betterworldbooks.com ,they will find good homes

user439545
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  • I had found that site as well, but as they are not specialized in technical books I'm afraid these books either wouldn't be accepted or would be tossed if I sent them to betterworldbooks.com. Thank you for the suggestion, though. – donatebooks Jan 04 '18 at 15:50