Buy a Library book bag

The Library’s popular tote bags now come in four colors. The two new ones are basic black and Chinese red, and the returning colors are navy blue and burgundy.  These totes, American-made in durable cotton with shoulder-length straps, are a way to carry your books home and to let everyone else know how lucky you are to frequent the American Library. Tote bags are available at the front desk — or by mail upon request— for €12 ($16) each.

Stop by the Library and pick one up at one of our monthly used book sales to take your treasures home with you or as a gift for either yourself or a booklover you may know. They're useful for a trip to the Library or as an alternative to plastic bags.

Donate books to the Library

The Library receives thousands of book donations every year. Many of them can be incorporated into our collection, but others are duplicates of what we already own, are not in suitable condition or fall outside the Library's collection guidelines. In these cases, we add books to the Library's monthly used book sale to raise funds for collections, services and programs, or forward them to other institutions that can use them. Our partners include the Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the Liceo Italiano Dante Alighieri, as well as other English-language libraries in France.

The Library also works with Better World Books, a company which resells books from libraries and elsewhere, mainly on Internet websites, and portions of whose revenues support literacy programs around the world. We ship to Better World many of our discarded, unshelved, or unsold books. Proceeds from their eventual sale will also bring a small stream of revenue back to the Library.

We are fortunate to receive many donations from the community, and we are grateful to our donors for their generosity.

Acceptable Items

Due to the volume of materials we receive, we only accept items that are in good condition and that fall into one of the following categories:

• Recent best sellers (both hardbound and paperback)
• Clean copies of classic titles
• Books on CD
• Music CD's
• DVD's
• Children’s books
• Magazines and Encyclopedias (NOTE: Please contact Simon Gallo prior to your donation.)
  

Unacceptable Items

Items Not Needed (and also very difficult to sell):

• Books in poor condition (broken bindings, torn pages or covers, yellowing pages, musty)
• VHS video tapes
• Audio tapes
• Reader's Digest condensed books

How to Donate

Please place all donations in sturdy boxes or bags, and schedule large donations in advance. Small donations may be dropped off when the Library's lights are on. Our preference is between 10h30 - 18h00, Tuesday through Saturday. Please contact Simon Gallo to discuss a large donation or for more information.

See our Location and Hours page for details of holiday closures and Library contact information.