Donate

There are three ways to donate:

1. Bring your items to a scheduled drop-off day (see the list of events for dates)
   Volunteers will be available to help unload and provide receipts. This option is preferred if you have a lot of books.
2. Use the 24/7 drop-box at the side of the library
   This box is located at the end of the side portion of the library’s main parking lot, near the loading area – look for the “Book Sale Drop-Off” banner. This box is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, since this box is not weatherproof, please try to avoid dropping off items during inclement weather
3. Request a pick-up
   If you are emptying a house or an estate and would like to donate a large collection of books, please contact the Friends directly to make special arrangements

The Friends seek books of all kinds in good condition including recent best sellers, fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, and paperbacks – as well as audiobooks, DVDs, CDs, maps, and local interest items.

Please

• No VCR/VHS tapes
• No Audio cassettes
• No Blank or Personalized CDs
• No National Geographics
• No Encyclopedias
• No Textbooks older than 4 years old
• No Reader’s Digest Condensed Books
• No Magazines

The Friends cannot accept the above items. Note: They can be recycled curbside if you first remove the covers.

Donate to the Gift Book Fund

When something monumental occurs in our lives, we often want to mark the occasion. Purchasing a book to honor an achievement or in memory of a loved one is a wonderful way to mark an accomplishment or to celebrate a life. Let us help you make an appropriate selection.

Working with one of our subject specialists, you can choose the perfect book (or books) that will reflect the interests of the one you honor. Donations of this type are made to the Chelmsford Public Library Gift Book Fund.

Bequests

Gifts by bequest remain the most commonly practiced and easiest way to provide for those institutions that are important to you. Over the years, many patrons and supporters have remembered the Library as they prepare or revise their wills.

A bequest to the Chelmsford Public Library creates a legacy for generations of your family. We can refer you to experts who can provide sample wording for wills and simple advice upon request.

Gifts of Appreciated Assets

Through gifts of publicly traded securities such as stocks, bonds, or mutual fund shares, you have the advantage of seeing your donation at work helping the Library. Gifts of highly appreciated stock or securities provide you with a charitable tax deduction, avoidance of capital gains tax, and the satisfaction of helping the Library. You can also receive similar benefits from gifts of appreciated real estate.

Corporate and Local Business Giving

Over the years, area corporations and small businesses have supported the Library in a multitude of ways. Library materials collections, the recent addition of a pocket park adjacent to the library, and library programs have all been enhanced through the generous donations of local corporations and small businesses.

In addition, many of these companies have Employee Matching Gifts programs. Check with your employer to see if they have such a program in place.

Donations of Books or other Materials

Books, DVDs, CDs, Audiobooks, and other items are evaluated by library staff and volunteers to determine if they are appropriate to add to the library’s collection. If not, the items are included in the Friends book sale to raise money for the library. Read more about the book sale and donation guidelines above.

Become a Friend of the Library

Our Friends group is one of the largest and most active in the state. Join the Friends, and your dues along with other funds raised by the Friends help pay for the Library’s museum passes, programming, equipment, and furniture. And don’t forget to to shop at the Friends’ Annual Book Sale every September – all the money raised by the Friends goes to support the Library.

For more than 100 years, library philanthropy has been a tradition in the town of Chelmsford. It began in 1893, when a group of private citizens banded together and generously donated a collection of 1,846 volumes which became Chelmsford’s first “free public library.”

It continued with the donation of a parcel of land from Mr. J. Adams Bartlett for the site of a new library building. Captain C.E.A. Bartlett undertook the cost of grading the land and Mr. Amos Francis Adams stepped forward with $30,000 to finance the construction of the new library. In 1895, the Amos Adams Library opened its doors. Philanthropy thrived again in 1947 when Stewart MacKay, another generous donor, bequeathed his home to the town to be converted to a branch library for North Chelmsford. Over the years, townspeople have supported the library by donating books, gifts of stock, and memorial and gift funds. In 2000, the community raised over $500,000 to aid in the cost of the construction and furnishing of an expanded Chelmsford Public Library. Throughout 2016-17, over $100,000 was raised for the construction and ongoing maintenance of the Marjorie Scoboria Greenway.

This tradition of generosity is what sustains the Chelmsford Library and allows it to remain such a valuable resource to the community. Thank you!