Community members find new homes for books found in local school recycling bin
HOLLAND TWP. — Hundreds of books have new homes after a community effort to redistribute them from a school Paper Gator in Holland Township.
A social media post Saturday afternoon in the Facebook group Holland Informed showed images of the "dumpster" full of books outside West Ottawa’s North Holland Elementary, and sparked a huge reaction from the community.
It has since been confirmed the dumpster was a Paper Gator, used by schools and organizations to recapture money from recycled paper products.
But many community members were frustrated the books weren't donated or offered to the public first.
"Honestly, it is so sad to see them dumped — that is very evident by the reactions from the posts,” said local mom Abbie Widmayer. “But it was also very cool to see so many people come together, helping each other retrieve the books. I was able to grab tons of books for our kids and I was also able to help other families get books, too!”
Community members, many of them parents, spent hours removing books from the Paper Gator and organizing them by reading level. Families then came and picked out books to take home. By the end of the weekend, they were gone.
“It was just an incredible team effort,” said Celia Arick, a local parent who helped with the effort. “We were all just so grateful to be able to be doing that and have a common goal.”
Arick said she has a hobby of collecting classic picture books and noted several of the titles found in the recycling bin are out-of-print books that may be valuable.
In a statement, West Ottawa Public Schools said the books were pulled from libraries as part of a normal weeding process.
“We are currently in the process of revitalizing and updating our library spaces as a part of our district Strategic Plan,” the district wrote. “In order to do so, a weeding process takes place. This weeding process includes assessing the condition of the book as well as its circulation rate.
"Due to the extended length of time since the last weeding, there were several books that needed to be weeded from this library that had not been checked out in the last 10 years.”
The statement says books were first offered to teachers, then students, before being placed in the Paper Gator. Decisions on which books to weed out of the library were made solely on age of the books and lack of interest over the years.
“Although it may resemble a trash dumpster, it is actually a receptacle that is used by schools for recycling paper products and generates money that goes back into our schools,” the district wrote.
Arick didn’t have an estimate on the number of books, but said the Paper Gator was completely filled.
“It was absolutely top to bottom full,” she said. “We didn’t break down to the bottom until seven at night.”
Arick said the community shouldn’t “play the blame game” over the situation, but work to find better solutions in the future.
“Our librarians, school administrators and teachers are overwhelmed. We all know that,” Arick said. “I’m sure the person trying to clear out their library to make it more accessible for kids probably didn’t know what to do with thousands of pounds of books.
“Playing the blame game only incentivizes getting rid of books in secret. That’s an outcome none of us want. We’re not going to play the blame game and throw mud.”
Although she acknowledged that weeding school libraries is normal, Arick said there is a better way to dispose of the books.
“What isn’t particularly helpful is when the school says ‘We don’t know what to do, we’re not sure how to get rid of them, so let’s just dispose of them,’” she said. “Yes the school receives money from the Paper Gator, but it’s pennies on the dollar.
“We want to make sure these community resources stay here in Holland. There are people willing to come and take books and put them in Little Libraries, donate them, resell them to get them back in the hands of kids who have never been exposed to them.”
Arick noted that several organizations in the area may be willing to accept large book donations, such as Herrick District Library, Ditto Resale, Goodwill, Community Action House, Bluestocking Bookshop and Salvation Army.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Community members rescue books found in elementary school recycling bin
