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Purchase Used Books from TRL Online Bookseller

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why is TRL using an online bookseller for discarded items?
   
   Timberland has been using Once Sold Tales to sell discarded books, CDs, DVDs and videos for four years. Using a partner to sell discarded items makes financial sense because the items receive better market exposure, are priced by experts in the used book market and no TRL staff time is used beyond placing items in a box for pickup. In return TRL receives a percentage of the sales price. TRL has received $95,000 in revenue from 2004 to 2009.
    
2. Why does TRL discard items from the collection?
    
   Items are constantly discarded from the collection for a variety of reasons including low or no use, poor condition and outdated content (applies particularly to medical and legal items). TRL adds nearly 140,000 items to the collection every year to meet the information and entertainment needs of library patrons. Since the library buildings cannot grow, some material must be discarded to make room on the shelves.
    
3. Why are items in “good” condition being discarded and sold?
   
   Items that may be listed as being in “good” condition on our bookseller's site may have been weeded because of low/no use or outdated content. The library often buys multiple copies of books to meet an increase in patron demand. Once that demand has been met, the extra copies are discarded and sold to make room for new items.

Revised 11/04/09