Giving away 0.35 metric tons of books*

[Alexey Toptygin]

*some restrictions apply :-)

Evan Koblentz pointed me to a rescue here in the triangle, NC area back in
August 2015. Some items were set aside for VCFed, but there were A LOT of
books and other media that were up for grabs. Because I'm a sucker, I took
and then carefully cleaned and catalogued them all. The master list is here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19UYeJlhiVYVExCAO2NSzcAkBww0kEeAYrEGeJ82ACOg

There really are 17 boxes, and they really do weigh 780lb or approximately
0.35 metric tons.
They're mostly books (from the 80s and 90s), but there are some floppies,
some boxed sets, and even a small box of VHS tapes.

The previous owner stored all this stuff in abysmal conditions, so there
was a lot of mold (and some dead insects and some live insects, and... you
know how it goes). I cleaned every item as much as possible. Some items had
to be disposed of for safety reasons. That which made it into the
cataloging stage is at least scanable, but if it says 'mildewed' on it, and
you have a mold allergy, you don't want it. I don't know if any floppies
are readable, and unless the catalog says it comes with media, I haven't
got the media. Luckily most items survived relatively intact.

You can have anything in the spreadsheet free of charge provided:
1) You are willing to take WHOLE BOXES at VCF East XI, you let me know by
Weds 4/13/16, and they fit in my car when I pack for VCF. OR
2) You want to come to Durham to pick them up at a prearranged time after
VCF OR
3) You are willing to wait until the next VCF East, and let me know far
enough in advance that I can set items aside for you.
If you want single items, and you don't want to wait until VCF East 2017,
I'll do my best to mail them to you after this VCF is over, but you'll need
to pay for shipping. I would prefer not to ship whole boxes; they're sturdy
moving boxes but they weigh 40-60lb each and I'm pretty sure if you drop
them hard enough the contents won't like it. I'm in Durham, NC 27701.

I don't want any of this to go to recycling, so I'll try to hold it for at
least a year or the next VCF East after this one. After that, all bets are
off.

Let me know if you are interested in any of this stuff, or if you have
questions; in case the mailing list(s) eat it, my email is alexey.toptygin
at gmail dot com. Thanks!