Encyclopedias again

[nswef]

The last thread on getting rid of encyclopedias was 2011 according to my search. I wonder if there are any new ideas out there for just getting rid of encyclopedias. One site suggested prisons, so I called our local jail, no response yet. They are so pretty....I just hate to throw them out, but the time has come for them to leave my house....pretty or not.

[bae]

I don't think anyone has any use for them anymore, except for people using them for crafts, or folks looking to have prettily-bound books taking up shelf space for appearances :-(

It's a shame, I still have this great Britannica my parents paid a fortune to get for me when I was a kid. But in truth, it hasn't been used by anyone for years and years. Last time was my daughter, when I used them to show her what a real encyclopedia used to look like.

[nswef]

Oh yes, explaining how we had to use the Readers' Guide to find information at the library.

[rodeosweetheart]

Some church groups send them to missions. Not sure which ones, but I have seen requests at churches over the years for textbooks and encyclopedias to send abroad.

Of course maybe they have ipads now!

[CathyA]

I haven't figured out where to take mine either. Some online info says to tear the paper out and recycle it and throw the fronts and backs out. :(
I wonder if home-schoolers would like them? I guess it's just so easy, though, to look things up online. Let us know what the jail tells you.

[Chicken lady]

Former homeschooler here (kids grew up). Sorry, but we don't want them. The Internet killed the encyclopedia. I think they mostly get used for altered book projects and cheap booster seats.

[iris lilies]

Former homeschooler here (kids grew up). Sorry, but we don't want them. The Internet killed the encyclopedia. I think they mostly get used for altered book projects and cheap booster seats.

Yep, Its always a mistake to assume that someone MUST want or MUST take our cast offs.That point of view may be saying something about our opinion of ourselves.

And it's an even bigger mistake, and ethically problematic, to try to pawn bad quality stuff (outdated information) on unsophisticated people.

[freshstart]

my ex, who was a minimalist (but did not self-identify as one)- a 2 plates, 2 cups, 2 sets of silverware kind of guy at 40, no clutter, no decorations but oddly owned a very large and very old Encyclopedia set that he would not part with 13 yrs later. The kids tell me he still buys the annual update installment but no one has ever seen him read any of them. Of course the kids do not. He has moved that mess so many times, I cannot imagine why he has not got ridden of it. I've known him 23 yrs, he has moved a lot, he's still minimalist when it comes to himself, the books are not sentimental according to him, he can't even explain it. He hates unused, extraneous (to him) clutter. I would come home from work and find a very nice piece of furniture on the lawn with a FREE sign on it and I'd have to drag my own freaking breast feeding rocker back into the house, stating angrily, "would you prefer your children to be nursed on the floor???"

so I will never get this Encyclopedia deal with him. I told him when I was not pleased with him recently that he was acting like Pol Pot. He did not ask who Pol Pot was, he wanted to know WHAT a Pol Pot was. So he must not have gotten to the Ps in the Encyclopedias yet. I said, "Wikipedia it". I had to explain what Wikipedia is and he accused me of making that up to "mess with him". I WISH I'd thought of Wikipedia! lol, what a strange little man!

[mschrisgo2]

Well, I advertised an old Britannica set on craigslist for a friend, for free, he just wanted them to go to a good home. It took about 3 weeks (San Francisco Bay area) and a woman called and said she wanted them. Hooray!! Turned out she drove over a hundred miles to get here, and really did want the books to be used as books, and she was absolutely thrilled!! So often, one person's junk IS another person's treasure.

[kally]

https://www.google.ca/search?q=repurposing+old+encyclopedias&rlz=1C1VFKB_enCA641CA641&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwitks3A677JAhXBGx4KHXr1COcQ_AUIBygB&biw=683&bih=311

[rodeosweetheart]

And it's an even bigger mistake, and ethically problematic, to try to pawn bad quality stuff (outdated information) on unsophisticated people.

I had to laugh at this one, thinking of the great Roger Ebert quote about researching on the Internet,

"“Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly. ”
― Roger Ebert


I think anyone using the ol Brittanica for the kind of k-12 research that most kids do, in homeschool or out-of-the-home school, is at a distinct advantage over the student using the Internet.

I spend my workdays teaching, and increasingly, we don't talk about literature, we talk about why the internet cheating site dujour is not reliable or scholarly.

On the other hand, inspired by Rogar, I gave my 3 dollars to Wikipedia, even thought I flunk them when they plagiarize from Wikipedia. And I buy stock in Google.

[Miss Cellane]

If the encyclopedia is more than 10 years old, the information in many of the articles is out of date, and it is no longer useful as a reference tool. Science articles won't have the latest info, there's been a lot of history in those years. Sure, some of the articles will be okay, but how will the person using the books know that? And if it is 20 years or more older, it is very out of date.

Kind of like the National Geographic. Everyone wants to find a home for their old copies, but mostly, they end up recycled or used for craft projects.

[Chicken lady]

Rodeosweetheart, I disagree. The Internet offers amazing access to primary sources, as well as electronic versions of books and professional journals, and learning to evaluate an oline source is a critical skill these days. The encyclopedia is basically someone else's report on the subject.

[Williamsmith]

There has to be quite a bit of information in encyclopedias that isn't subject to the "as best we knew then" circumstances. However, I would like to turn the clock forward 20 years and read climate change and global warming information.....lots of rolling on the floor laughing.