Gather up your very gently used books–with no writing or other marks in them–for the annual OWLS Coffee Creek Book Drive. Coffee Creek is Oregon’s only women’s prison. It is also the intake facility for all Oregon prisons, meaning that all Oregon male inmates are housed there before being assigned to another facility. The book drive enriches the collection of books available to the women incarcerated at Coffee Creek, as well as the libraries in other correctional facilities in the state.
Look on your bookshelves for books that meet the following criteria:
GUIDELINES FOR DONATED BOOKS
Format:
Hard cover and soft cover books and books on CD are acceptable but NO books on tape (because the cassettes can be used to hide contraband) or magazines.
Content:
Any form of fiction is acceptable.
Most popular: Mysteries, romance, and science fiction/fantasy.
The women at Coffee Creek have a wide range of reading abilities and tastes in literature. If you read a book and liked it, chances are that someone at Coffee Creek will too. Books written for young adults are particularly needed, because the reading level of those books is a bit lower, but the content is mature enough to hold a woman’s interest.
Nonfiction is also acceptable, but a few more rules apply: NO true crime books, books on gambling, textbooks of any kind (including law books), or sets of encyclopedias.
This year, the library has also requested NO Reader’s Digest Condensed Books.
Children’s books are also welcome—many of the women have children who visit them, and reading together is a great bonding experience. But please, NO coloring or activity books that have already been used or played with.
Condition:
Books must be in good to excellent condition: NO books with torn covers or damaged spines or books that have been written in. The basic rule: Is the book in good enough condition that you would not be embarrassed to give it as a gift to someone? Our donated books are a gift to the women at Coffee Creek. The condition of our gifts should send the message that we really care about them.
For a list of donation sites, click the link below.
Book Donation Collection Sites
