GET INVOLVED

News and events

Get free books, browse the stacks, or lend a hand

• 2026 school year giveaway! We have been waiting until the school year starts, to give away money! Free money! (Well, gift certificates to local bookstores – support local!) Starting 8/1, we will give away gift certificates to the local bookstore of your choice:
  • The first 5 brand-new teachers get $100
  • The first 10 teachers with less than 5 years of experience get $50
  • The first 5 High school or Junior high school librarians, or principals on behalf of their libraries, get $200
  • The first 5 Elementary school librarians or principals on behalf of their libraries, get $100
• Looking for social media coordinator. We want to start a social media presence – and need a volunteer to help us move forward. If you’re interested, drop an email to Donna@booksinhand.org
• Ongoing by appointment. Reach out if you’re interested in helping to sort and organize, or if you want to come take some free books home.

IT SEEMS SIMPLE

Get books off the shelves, keep them out of landfills, and get them to people

Books in Hand has a simple goal — to promote literacy by getting books into the hands of the folks who want them. We do that by:

• Accepting book donations, sorting, and re-gifting to the community
• Providing books for other literacy organizations, Little Free Libraries, senior centers, etc.
• Giving money and gift certificates to schools, teachers, and other nonprofits
• Supporting local bookstores, resellers, and individuals in their efforts to keep books out of the landfills by getting them to end users

OUR IMPACT

Recent progress

• Gave away 1911 books in June! The books were given to folks during our free give-away day; to people stocking Little Free Libraries, to our volunteers, various individuals throughout the month, plus a large (requested) donation to the Sacramento Public Library. This finally cleared out the stacks, of all the books that have been waiting for homes since January! The shelves were empty for a minute!
• Accepted 2875 books in as donations in June.
• Generated $761.56 profit from books sales in June. (That’s after paying off all the bills.) The organization is in the black! All startup costs, all overhead costs are paid off. As of now, all profit is going right back to our community!