library book sales

(I'm a librarian in a public library) There are generally three things you can do to maximize your chances of getting some interesting classic computer books from libraries: 1) Let the librarian who is responsible for sorting donations know that you are interested in older computer/technical books. In many cases (s)he will pull them for you and let you buy them before the big sale, especially if the library has an ongoing sale shelf that runs year-round. Many libraries automatically recycle out-of-date computer books, since they don't sell that well. If that is the case, they may be willing to give them to you for free. 2) Get to the big sale early - before it technically opens, if you can. Book dealers swarm these sales, and are often the first in line when the door opens. Many of them carry cellphone/barcode scanner combination devices that give them up-to-the-minute eBay prices on books, so they will often grab handfuls of anything that is old (regardless of type or genre), stack them on the floor, and then sit down to see what they are worth. 3) Go to sales in libraries that are in sections of the city where a lot of technical folks live. Wealthy suburbs (where older tech folks might retire), areas near high-tech companies, and areas surrounding universities are good spots. A couple of libraries in my area are located near Sabre, Nokia, and a few other companies that tend to hire a lot of techies. As a result, these libraries tend to get higher numbers of donations of older tech stuff than you would find in other libraries. Remember that weeded books generally only account for a fraction of a library book sale - most of the books come from donations. - Jesse