Dec 14 update: Yes, we are open despite the snow!

Hello Book Thing friends,

Across our two November openings, patrons adopted 28,146 books and 1,608 non-books.  We also accepted donations of 17,770 books and 1,665 non-books. Thank you to everyone who was able to come.

We express our sincere thanks to everyone who has volunteered, donated books, supported us financially, or contributed wishlist items this year. Without you, we wouldn’t be here. If you do charitable giving at the end of the year, we hope you will consider supporting The Book Thing’s mission: putting unwanted books into the hands of those who want them, for free. Please visit our Donate page for more information. No amount is too small to make a difference.

Upcoming events

December marks the end of the year, and thus the last event in our 2025 series of book giveaways falling on the second full weekend of the month. Limited book donation hours coincide with each public opening. Our events alternate between Saturday and Sunday.

  • Sun, Dec 14 – 9a-2p/5p – details below

Dates for book giveaways and donation hours in early 2026 will be forthcoming in a future announcement. We will continue the “second full weekend of the month” pattern, with extra dates added when possible. We will certainly hold a donation day in January, and we’re leaning towards making it a regular giveaway but we haven’t yet made a final decision.

Book giveaway: Sunday, December 14th, 9am-5pm

We will allow patrons into the building to browse for books on December 14th, using a timed-entry format. All lines will form outdoors. Dress for the weather, bring an umbrella if it’s rainy, etc.

Here’s what else you need to know:

  • 110 patrons will be permitted to enter on the hour each hour from 9am to 4pm. The first entrance will be at 9am, and the last entrance at 4pm. All patrons must exit before 5pm.
  • Our system is first-come, first-served; there are no reservations – just come get in line!
  • Please don’t be deterred by our format. It helps keep things moving so that you get a chance to browse sooner, and it lets us serve more patrons.
  • Patrons will have 55 minutes to browse our stacks, select their books, and exit the building. The time limit will be strictly enforced. You may get back in line to re-enter… and many patrons do so!
  • The line is always long for the first entrance or two. But we’re often below the headcount limit for entrances in the afternoon, and sometimes even in the late morning as well, in which case there’s no wait to enter.  Sometimes we don’t even have to enforce the 55-min limit. And yes, we still have books later in the day!
  • If a patron exits early – and any time we are below the headcount limit – a new patron who is waiting may enter “on standby” and use the remainder of the 55 minute time slot. This new patron will not be permitted to stay beyond the end of the time slot, extend into the next time slot, or hold their original place in line for a later time slot. Standby entry means you accept that you will have less than 55 minutes to browse.
  • Upon exiting, patrons will form an outdoor line to count their books and sign out (even if it’s raining).
  • One parent may be accompanied by a maximum of three children, and all children must be accompanied by an adult. For everyone’s safety, please ensure your children are well-supervised – our kids’ section gets busy and crowded!
  • Patrons will enter through the red room door and exit through the blue room door.
  • The restroom will be available, but you will not be permitted to enter the building to use it except when it’s your turn to be inside browsing for books. Please plan accordingly.
  • We have spare boxes available to hold your books.
  • Out of courtesy to other patrons and to facilitate traffic flow, please leave your large boxes/wagons/etc. outside the exit door and fill them an armful at a time, rather than carting them around with you.
  • Masks are no longer required indoors at TBT; masking is optional but welcome.
  • Please note: TBT welcomes trained service animals but is not a pet-friendly location.

Book donations: 9a-2p on December 14th

We will open the book donation window on December 14th from 9a to 2p only.  If you are unable to make this date, please visit our Donate page.

We welcome all book donations, and especially classics, science topics, popular fiction, books for children and teens, genre fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, mystery, etc.), and non-diet cookbooks. We find it hard to keep these shelves restocked.

  • Book donation hours are 9am-2pm on Dec. 14th. If we have to cancel the book giveaway for any reason, the book donation hours will also be canceled.
  • The book donation window is on the “front” side of our building, next to the garage door. Book donations are separate from the entrance line for browsing when we are open to the public. If you see our mural, keep driving down Vineyard Lane!
  • The donation limit is 7 boxes per family. Boxes must be small enough that one person can lift them when full.
  • We accept all types of books except encyclopedia sets.
  • We accept all types of popular and hobby magazines. We do not accept technical, academic, or professional journals. Please don’t bring us your collection of literary magazines. Magazines must have their covers.
  • Books and popular magazines only, please! Due to space limitations, we aren’t accepting media items.
  • Please don’t bring us books or magazines that are moldy, sticky, stinky, falling apart, or missing pages/covers.
  • If you need a tax receipt for your donation, please mention that right up front. We’ll need to count your books separately. Thanks in advance for your patience!
  • Unfortunately, we can’t come pick up book donations, but we probably have a volunteer who can help you unload them from your vehicle.
  • Please don’t recruit friends to circumvent our quantity limit: our volunteers are already stretched to capacity on donation days. If you have more than 7 boxes of books that you wish to donate, please Contact us separately. We do have a limited number of individual donation appointments available on other dates.
  • We can only accept book donations as outlined above. If you leave books outside of donation hours, you may be cited by the City for illegal dumping.

Year-end recap

Looking back, it has been another year of progress for The Book Thing.

Building on the successes of 2024, we added extra donation days and giveaways to the calendar in 2025, increased staffing to three part-time volunteer coordinators, and held our second annual fundraiser at Peabody Heights Brewery.  We welcomed record numbers of book lovers and trained dozens of new volunteers. Access to books is as important as ever, and TBT remains true to the founding mission that continues to motivate and unite this wonderful community: putting unwanted books into the hands of those who want them, for free.

So far this year, we’ve held twenty donation days and counted in more than 216k book donations. Wow! Thank you so much for your contributions.  If you need information about donating books, please check our Donate page.

Expanding last years’ pilot, we added extra giveaways to the calendar in 2025, holding two openings in both June and November for a total of 14 openings this year. Ongoing efforts to streamline processes and expand the trained volunteer pool continue to pay off, making these double giveaways possible on top of double donation hours most months. Even so, we have a ways to go: holding two giveaways in a month still represents a big push that places significant demands on current volunteers.

Our September opening coincided with The Baltimore Book Festival in Waverly and brought record numbers of visitors to TBT.  We counted an amazing 1,135 patron entrances throughout the day!  Overall, TBT has served more than 900 patrons on average at each giveaway in 2025, up 12% from last year.  From the zip code data collected at book sign-out, about half of TBT patrons live in Baltimore City, and a shy 40% live elsewhere in Maryland.

So far, TBT has given away more than 198k books in 2025, already well in excess of last year’s totals. December is always a big month for book adoptions, so that number will only grow.  We estimate that 30-40% of the books that pass through The Book Thing are for children and teens – helping teachers, homeschoolers, and young readers. We are grateful to Maryland Book Bank for donating kids’ books in bulk to help us keep this section restocked.

Every book we give away is handled multiple times by volunteers as it moves through our sorting processes to end up on the shelves and go home with a happy patron. TBT volunteers make all of this hand-on, on-site labor possible. One hundred and ninety fabulous volunteers have collectively given an impressive 9,500 hours of their time on-site so far this year… and we still have almost a month to go.  If you are interested in volunteering with us in 2026, please fill out the Contact form.

Lots of people ask when we will be open more often. They point out that for many years, TBT was open every weekend. Understandably, patrons wonder when we might get back to that level of activity.  The short answer is that we still don’t know: we still can’t see far enough into the future. In past years, we have explained how budget and staffing are a challenge. To be open more often, we need enough labor to keep the shelves reasonably restocked and to staff the hours we are open. We do not yet have the budget to make that possible.

Staffing is crucial for TBT’s sustainability as an organization, since even the most devoted volunteers have only so many hours they can give. In February, we won a grant renewal from the Abell Foundation to support our part-time volunteer coordinators. But twenty hours/week of total staff time isn’t sufficient to support more frequent openings, and realistically, TBT will need an executive director to manage staff and volunteers as activity ramps up. Changes in federal funding placed huge additional demands on philanthropic institutions in 2025, making it harder for TBT to secure the necessary funds. Even so, we were successful in winning two smaller awards that help to move us towards our goals, and we are optimistic about further progress in 2026.

The Board and dedicated volunteers continue to work to secure TBT’s long-term future.  That means building out the funding, systems, relationships, and internal capacity of a healthy, self-sustaining organization. We renew our promise to keep working one step at a time — what we can, when we can. We look forward to milestones like recruiting an executive director, adding more volunteer times, securing more staff support, and being able to open to the public more often. Regardless, one thing is certain: there are no plans to change the fundamental mission and nature of TBT – lots of free books!

We are so grateful to be part of a book-loving community. Thank you for your understanding and support. Thank you for donating books, adopting books, and passing books along to people who need them. Thank you for standing in line at Book Thing giveaways rain and shine, chatting and trading recommendations with other readers. Your actions speak loud and clear: books matter, and free books make a difference.

Wishing you all the peace and joy of the season, we remain yours in books.