The Urbana Champaign Books to Prisoners project collects and donates books to incarcerated people. The biannual book sale benefits the project, which also runs two county jail libraries.
This spring’s sale is Saturday, April 9th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Independent Media Center in Urbana. Additional details are in the press release below.
UC BOOKS TO PRISONERS SPRING BENEFIT BOOK SALE
SATURDAY APRIL, 9, 2022 9 am-5pm
INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER, 202 S. BROADWAY, URBANA.
UC Books to Prisoners is back on its regular schedule of holding benefit book sales twice a year. This spring’s sale is a one-day sale, Saturday, April 9th 9am-5pm.
The sale takes place on the first floor of the Independent Media Center (IMC) located at 202 S. Broadway in Urbana. The sale is a critical fundraiser for UC Books to Prisoners, a non-profit working group of the IMC. By shopping at the sale you will support its mission to provide free books to incarcerated people in Illinois and promote education in our community about incarceration and prisons.
Books to Prisoners only sells those books that they have enough of already and those that aren’t requested much by prisoners. The selection is large and wide, most academic fields, all manner of fiction, children’s and young adult books, large coffee table books and T-shirts and tote bags!
While there are some specially priced titles, general prices are hardcovers $2.00; trade paperbacks $1.00; pocket paperbacks .50; T-shirts run from $10-20 and tote bags are $5. Cash, checks and credit cards are welcome. A carry-out service is available.
As a volunteer working group of the IMC, volunteers collect and sort tens of thousands of donated books from the local community each year. They answer hundreds of letters from incarcerated people each month, selecting books to match their requests. UC Books to Prisoners is at present arguably the largest source of books for the state and federal prisons of Illinois. Since its beginning in 2004, this organization has sent 167,263 books to 23,105 incarcerated individuals. UC Books to Prisoners also stocks and staffs lending libraries at both Champaign county jails.
Financial donations can be made online on our website or mailed to UC Books to Prisoners, P.O Box 515, Urbana, IL 61803.
UC Books to Prisoners Sale
Independent Media Center
202 S Broadway
Urbana
Sa, April 9th, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Top image from the UC Books to Prisoners Facebook page.