2024 Literary Loot: Book Bags with Benefits

Check out our limited edition, artist-designed bag with benefits that include filling your bag the June Book Sale, free books at pop-ups, and BOGOs until May 2025 in The Book End.

The Book End/The Book Nook

Located on the 2nd floor of the Library, The Book End sells gently used fiction, general nonfiction, cookbooks, poetry, history, biographies, young adult, and children’s books, as well as DVDs and audiobooks on CD. The store features a selection of new and noteworthy books on display and recommendations from our volunteers. The Book End is staffed entirely by volunteers, and proceeds benefit the programs, collections, and facilities of Iowa City Public Library.

The Book Nook — located on the Library’s first floor and open during ICPL hours, offers a wide assortment of media available for pay-what-you-like donation.

Learn More

Upcoming Sales & Fundraising Events

Each year, the ICPL Friends Foundation holds multiple fundraising events and used book sales to benefit the Library. Books are donated by the community and come from discarded Library materials. Scheduled sales include:

• 10/5/2024 – Celebrate your #fREADom to Read at our pop-up book sale in the Library Lobby as part of the Intellectual Freedom Festival
• 10/19/2024 – Join us for a pop-up book sale in the Library Lobby, extending into Meeting Room D, as part of the Iowa City Book Festival
• 12/7/2024 – Arts & Crafts Bazaar and book sale
• TBD – mid-February 2025 – pop-up book sale at One Book Two Book
• 3/1/2025 – Big Book Sale in Meeting Room ABC at Iowa City Public Library

Past events:

• 2/24/2024 – Pop-up book sale of children’s book at One Book Two Book Festival in lobby of FilmScene at the Chauncey
• 5/1/2024 – Johnson County Great Give Day pop-up sale in Library Lobby
• 6/15/2024 – Cool off during Iowa City Pride and shop our major book sale

Reseller Preregistration

Coming soon

Our responsibility

When you donate books to us know that we work hard to get donated and discarded books into the hands of people who can use them. Some donated materials are used as prizes for our reading programs, some are distributed to area nonprofits, and some are sold at The Book End, The Book Nook, on Ebay, or to ThriftBooks. Books that can’t be donated to enrich the community or sold to enrich the Library are responsibly recycled.

Donate Used Books at Library

Do you have gently used items you’d like to donate? We’d love to accept them! Drop off your donations at the first-floor Help Desk any time the Library is open.

If you have more than two boxes of items to donate, contact the Development Office at 319-356-5249 or development@icpl.org to arrange a pickup time. We’ll meet you at the 10-minute parking spot in front of the Library to accept your donations. Please review the donation guidelines before donating.

Donate Used Books at Landfill

Heading to the Landfill? Self sort your books into materials to be recycled and materials that can benefit the Iowa City Public Libray! Learn more about this new opportunity here.