UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE PUTS OLD BOOKS TO USE

Bookstore officials at Southeast Missouri State University would rather give books away than recycle them.

"We usually try to sell them or give them away to area teachers," said Laurie Taylor, assistant manager at University Bookstore. "We do several different things with those books before we get to this point."

Each year the university discards used books from its textbook rental system that are being replaced by new titles or updated editions. This year the university had a large surplus of outdated books.

Some of the books were sent to be recycled, but more than 1,000 books were shipped to the International Book Project, a nonprofit organization in Lexington, Ky.

Taylor said she was happy to see the books loaded onto delivery trucks Monday morning because the donation saved the books from possibly being destroyed.

"I don't know what they do with them at the recycle station," she said. "I hate to think of them going into landfills."

Tom Zemsky, a warehouseman with the International Book Project, said the organization has worked since 1966 to match books from a variety of grade levels with needy Third World countries. Most of the books are sent to schools and libraries, although Peace Corps volunteers also have access to them.

Zemsky was unsure where the university's books would be sent.

"The books we get from Southeast Missouri State will be melded into our stock until a country calls and asks for them," he said.

Zemsky said the organization is limited in the types of books it can accept from a donor. Storage constraints restrict him from accepting books that won't be of immediate need to countries.

There also are times when a publishing company donates new, surplus books to the organization, ridding them of the need to collect used or outdated versions of the same material, he said.

"We try to bring in what we can turn around and use the most," said Zemsky. "Our No. 1 requests are for everything in the economics area. We also have a high demand at the elementary level for anything to just start teaching their people English at an early level."

Taylor said the shipment included subjects related to agriculture, business, psychology and sciences. Most of the discarded books were outdated, although some had been replaced by faculty members for other reasons.

"With the rental system, they're required to use a textbook two years," she said. "In most cases there's plenty of knowledge in them, but it can sometimes be outdated or be included in a newer edition."

Taylor said she learned of the program from members of the Cape West Rotary Club who knew of the university's surplus. Getting the books to the warehouse was a group effort, she said.

Rotarians helped set up the book exchange, and Boy Scout Troop 5 helped package the books for shipping. Elfrink Transportation also discounted its shipping costs after learning of the shipment's eventual destination, Taylor said.

"We were able to do this because of everyone who got involved," she said. "I think it's something we might be able to do next year, if necessary."