Old Library Books Find New Life with HHSA

Boxes of donated chilren's books from the County Library are divided up for distribution to Family Reource Centers by HHSA.

They may look like stacks of simple, ordinary cardboard boxes. But the contents are stoking imaginations and providing entertainment and education for some of the County’s youngest residents.

Through a program started about four years ago, children’s books taken out of circulation by the San Diego County Library are donated to the Health and Human Services Agency, where they find a new home in Family Resource Centers.

The children's area with books donated by the library in the lobby of the Centre City FRC.“We put the books in our children’s areas as part of our commitment to the HEART customer service initiative,” said Rick Wanne, director of eligibility operations for HHSA. “Some of our lower-income children don’t have access to a lot of books.”

Wanne initiated the program when he found out the library’s books that were taken out of circulation were being recycled. He contacted Jose Aponte, the library director at the time, and arranged for the books to instead be sent to HHSA.

Four times a year, a shipment of between 2,400 and 3,000 books arrives. They are then divided up by HHSA staff and sent to the resource centers across the County for use by children ages 1 to 10.

Those aren’t the only donations the library makes with books no longer in circulation.

“We give about 2,000 books to the Reach Out and Read program every year,” said Shelia Crosby, principal librarian and programs services manager. “We served 17 Reach Out and Read clinics with the partnerships we have with them.”

The library also donates to County detention facilities. The San Diego Central Jail and the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility get donations every four to six weeks of between 200 and 400 paperback books, according to Rebecca Serrano, circulation and delivery services manager.