We bought our encyclopedias in 1988, and we paid for them a little at a time.
They came in heavy boxes, two dozen books with gold letters on the spines. I lined them up on the shelf and felt like we’d done something important for our kids.
They used them for school reports for a few years. Then the computer came, and the encyclopedias sat on the shelf for the next thirty.
When I finally cleared them out this year, I learned something that surprised me. Almost nobody wants them. Not the library, not the thrift store and not my kids.
Maybe you have a set of encyclopedias, a row of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books or a stack of yellow National Geographics. If so, you’re not alone. These three things fill more basements and spare rooms than almost anything else.
So let me share what to do with old encyclopedias and their two shelf-mates. I’ll cover where they can go, and the one thing to check before any of them leave your house.