The Mission Branch Library receives many generous materials donations such as books, DVDs, CDs, and more. Some of these items we're able to add to our collection here at the Mission Branch (and we have an area where we display some of the book donations on our Staff Picks table), and we're very grateful to those of you who think of us when donating such items. The items we can't use in the branch get sent on to the
Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, a "nonprofit organization that advocates, fundraises, and provides critical support for the San Francisco Public Library" (
http://www.friendssfpl.org/?About_Friends). The Friends organization has a couple locations where they sell the donated items that are forwarded to them from the branches as well as those that are donated directly to them:
Book Bay Main at the Main library, and
Book Bay Fort Mason. Additionally the Friends organization raises money through book sales, including their bimonthly
Steps Sales at the Larkin Street entrance of the Main Library on the first and third Wednesday of every month (April through October), and the annual
Big Book Sale which occurs every fall and is the largest book sale on the West Coast.
We definitely encourage you to drop items off at the Mission branch if you have a single box or stack of books. If you have multiple boxes there is a Friends of the San Francisco Public Library
Donation Center nearby at 438 Treat Avenue (between 17th and 18th Streets). Also, you can take donations directly to their store locations at Book Bay Main and Book Bay Fort Mason. Something to keep in mind is that we here at the Mission Branch as well as the Friends organization cannot use books that are damp, moldy or otherwise badly damaged; sets of encyclopedias like World Book, Britannica, etc.; legal statutes and casebooks; or magazines of any sort. Those items you can take to Goodwill or Salvation Army, except maybe for the books that are damp, moldy or otherwise badly damaged -- not sure if they want those.
Margaret Atwood is at the top of her form, superb indeed, as wordsmith, story designer, social critic, and humanitarian in her re-inhabitation of the legendary Canadian folk case of Grace Marks, 19th century indentured immigrant housemaid tried and convicted for abetting the murder of her abusive male employer and his housekeeper/lover. Bringing the feminism, empathy, class consciousness, and artistry of A Handmaid's Tale to this very different material, spinning it from multiple viewpoints, Atwood adroitly manages to leave Marks' guilt or innocence ambiguous while vividly illuminating class and gender provocations which could have righteously driven her to participate in the crime. The period recreation is impeccable, relevant, and undistracting – not precious at all. You just can't get better than Margaret Atwood at her best.
