Hasta La Ideas

Reader June submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

I have academic journals in my field for the last 25 years and am moving again. Rather than just bring them along in boxes I am looking for a site who might not have access to the Internet or a library in a third world school who might have a use for them. I realize the cost of shipping might preclude my current feeling of generosity but I hate to burn or throw out all those years of knowledge. Do you have any suggestions?

Great to hear that you’re not planning to move the boxes of journals again. Twenty-five years of journals must take up a lot of space, and you’ll certainly feel a lot freer without all of them.

Getting rid of the journals may not be as difficult as you think it might be. Right after college, I went to work for a small publication called the Kansas Government Journal (I’m sure you all have heard of it and have subscriptions). I would often field calls from teachers, librarians, and individuals looking for back issues. I never, however, received offers from people wanting to give us these back issues. It would have been nice had someone offered to give us their back copies since we had a limited supply.

Noting this, I think your first plan of action should be to contact the editorial staff of the journals. If the publication doesn’t want your old copies, they very likely have an idea of someone who does.

If your calls aren’t fruitful, you might also check with your university libraries or with other professionals in your field. Also check the comments to this post where our readers will (hopefully) provide even more ideas for backup suggestions. Remember, since what you’re trying to get rid of are magazines and paperbacks, you can mail them book rate through the U.S. Postal Service. You won’t likely have to spend a fortune if you end up mailing the collection.

Finally, the recycling bin is always an option if nothing else pans out. At least at that point, you’ll know you tried to get them into the hands of someone who wanted them.

Thank you, June, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

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