Donations for Milton Keynes Libraries

Do you have unwanted gifts that need a home or books that you have read and no longer need? Milton Keynes Libraries appreciate donated books and magazines. Or perhaps you would like to show support with a cash donation.
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Online Donations

If you love your library and would like to show support, please consider a donation.

MAKE A DONATION

Donations are used to enhance services and buy items to support the work of our nine libraries, the Mobile Library and local communities across Milton Keynes.

Every contribution makes a huge difference - for example, £5 buys art supplies for children's workshops; £10 buys 2 books; £20 buys a bestseller eBook; £50 buys a new Reading Group book set.

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Donating Books

Our general policy for book donations is set out below. However, during the Covid-19 disruption, book donations can be dropped off at any of the libraries (except Central Library) by using the drop boxes during the Click and Collect hours or by using the letterboxes at Bletchley, Newport Pagnell, Stony Stratford or Woburn Sands Libraries. We are seeking donations of any books in good condition and published in 2020/21.

We recently published weekly Top Ten Wishlists for book donations and the final few are still listed.

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Recent Top Ten Wishlists

29 March 2021

  1. The Other Daughter - Caroline Bishop
  2. Forgive Me - Susan Lewis
  3. Private Moscow - James Patterson
  4. Death with a Double Edge - Ann Perry
  5. Boris Johnson The Gamber - Tom Bower
  6. Killing for Company: The Case of Dennis Nilsen - Brian Masters
  7. The Sovereign Isle: Britain In and Out of Europe - Robert Tombs
  8. The Runaway Girls - Jacqueline Wilson
  9. Supertato: Bubbly Troubly - Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet
  10. Noa and the Little Elephant - Michael Foreman

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22 March 2021

  1. Forgotten Country - Catherine Chung
  2. The Reluctant Heiress - Dilly Court
  3. The Lying Life of Adults - Elena Ferrante
  4. The Night Hawks - Elly Griffiths
  5. Breathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic - Rachel Clarke
  6. Those Who Forget: One Family's Story: A Memoir, A History, A Warning - Geraldine Schwarz
  7. The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story - Kate Summerscale
  8. Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow - Benjamin Dean
  9. The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh - Helen Rutter
  10. All Our Hidden Gifts - Caroline O'Donoghue

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15 March 2021

  1. The Shelf - Helly Acton
  2. The Innocent Dead - Lin Anderson
  3. Girl A - Abigail Dean
  4. Rivers of Gold: Empire XI - Anthony Riches
  5. The Life Scientific: Virus Hunters - Anna Buckley
  6. The Real Silent Witness: Shocking Cases from the World of Forensic Science - Wensley Clarkson
  7. The Plant Power Doctor: A Simple Prescription for a Healthier You - Gemma Newman
  8. Tom Gates: Ten Tremendous Tales - Liz Pichon
  9. Rabunzel - Gareth P Jones
  10. Fantastically Great Women Scientists and Their Stories - Kate Pankhurst

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8 March 2021

  1. The Promise - Lucy Diamond
  2. Happy Families - Julie Ma
  3. A Burning - Megha Majumdar
  4. Fortune Favours the Dead - Stephen Spotswood
  5. Seed to Dust: A Gardener's Story - Marc Hamer
  6. The Truths We Hold: An American Journey - Kamala Harris
  7. The Pembrokeshire Murders - Steve Wilkins & Jonathan Hill
  8. The Black Friend - Frederick Joseph
  9. Dog Gone - Rob Buddulph
  10. When We Got Lost in Dreamland - Ross Welford

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1 March 2021

  1. Exit - Belinda Bauer
  2. The Darkest Evening - Ann Cleeves
  3. Shelter in Place - David Leavitt
  4. Shadows in Death - J D Robb
  5. The Rodchenkov Affair: How I Brought Down Putin's Secret Doping Empire - Dr Grigory Rodchenkov
  6. The Secret GP: What Really Goes on Inside Your Doctor's Surgery - Dr Max Skittle
  7. Grown Your Own Fruit and Veg - Alan Titchmarsh
  8. Ever Dark - Abi Elphinstone
  9. The Boy Who Met a Whale - Nizrana Farook
  10. The Life I'm In - Sharon G Flake

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Buying New Books

Some people have asked if they can buy us new books as donations - we're more than happy to receive donations this way.

If you'd like to send a book to us directly from a bookseller, please use this as the delivery address: Central Milton Keynes Library, 555 Silbury Boulevard, Central Milton Keynes MK9 3HL.

If you mark your purchase as a 'gift' you will be able to include a message and that way we would know who has made the donation (if you choose to include your name and library card number if you have one).

Thank you for considering making a donation.

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General Book Donation Policy

Donations can be accepted at any of the Milton Keynes Libraries.

As our libraries have limited shelf space, a few restrictions are necessary:

  • Books should be less than 3 years old and in nearly new condition
  • Encyclopaedias cannot be accepted
  • Magazines should be less than 4 months old
  • We cannot guarantee that an item will stay at a particular location
  • We cannot guarantee that donated items will be put into stock as they are subject to the same editing guidelines as existing library stock
  • Any donations not used for stock will be sold and the profits used for library income generation
  • We are unable to inform donors of the usage patterns of items added to stock
  • Offers of bulk donations should be referred to a senior member of library staff
  • We cannot return unwanted donations to the donor

Letters of acknowledgement are not sent out as staff thank the member of the public at the time of donation.

Thank you.

Unwanted Books

The Betterworld Books website provides some useful options for donating unwanted books. 

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Last Updated: 12 April 2021