Donating Books

[Basilisa Marie]

So I'm cleaning out a bunch of these bookshelves and closets in my office and have a bunch of religion textbook sample sets, along with other books we aren't going to use anytime soon. Since these samples are in good condition and are full text editions, I was thinking about donating them. 

Do any of you know if there are any weird legal issues with this? What did your church do with the extra curriculum books? Recycle them? 

[Amppax]

Darn. I came to say I'll will gladly accept donations of books, until I read that whole textbook part. 

[truthfinder]

I guess you'd be talking about desk copies.  I have several of my own, and although I'm not sure about legality, it's certainly not ethical to sell them.  I think donating them would probably be fine - but I always clearly write desk copy in mine so that they won't be resold.  Some publishers would probably prefer that they are recycled/otherwise destroyed because of the the free intellectual property which is being transmitted. 

[Gabriela]

I receive desk copies all the time direct from publishers and I don't know of any legal issue prohibiting either their donation or sale. You'd think if there were one, they'd tell you that when they send it to you.

I don't see why it'd be unethical to sell them, either, especially if a new edition has been published since, such that students couldn't really use your desk copy to cheat. @truthfinder: Why do you feel it's unethical?

[PhuturePriest]

Send them to me and avoid the legal complications.

[truthfinder]

I receive desk copies all the time direct from publishers and I don't know of any legal issue prohibiting either their donation or sale. You'd think if there were one, they'd tell you that when they send it to you.

I don't see why it'd be unethical to sell them, either, especially if a new edition has been published since, such that students couldn't really use your desk copy to cheat. @truthfinder: Why do you feel it's unethical?

I get desk copies when I TA - so they are obtained by my department for me. Since they're free to me, I feel it's unethical to sell them at a profit.  And any of the publisher's I have seen, have stated that they are not for commercial re/sale.  Since most of my books are monographs or the same textbooks the students get, there's no cheating qualm. 

[Gabriela]

I get desk copies when I TA - so they are obtained by my department for me. Since they're free to me, I feel it's unethical to sell them at a profit.  And any of the publisher's I have seen, have stated that they are not for commercial re/sale.  Since most of my books are monographs or the same textbooks the students get, there's no cheating qualm. 

Oh, well if it has a "not for resale" label in it, then yeah.

Does Catholicism prohibit us from selling things at a profit that we received for free? I should think that if someone inherited a whole bunch of stuff from a deceased family member, one could sell it, no?

[truthfinder]

Oh, well if it has a "not for resale" label in it, then yeah.

Does Catholicism prohibit us from selling things at a profit that we received for free? I should think that if someone inherited a whole bunch of stuff from a deceased family member, one could sell it, no?

Oh certainly, you could sell stuff that you've inherited, as long as their isn't some other legal or personal restriction (great-grand aunt didn't want it going outside the family).  It's always been my understanding that desk copies (even without the don't resale label) are for personal use and that's the understanding that the publisher has when sending a copy.  I don't know if there's an actual church teaching, but this is one of those rare times where my conscience feels it's wrong (when there's no clear teaching).