How to Figure the Value of Books for Donation

Sort your books. Weed out the ones in poor condition, with water stains, missing pages or extensive highlighting or scribbling. Also cull the ones that may be collectible. Put the ones in the middle -- bestsellers, fiction or nonfiction with no collectible value -- in clean, sturdy boxes, after checking bookseller prices online, on eBay, Alibris or AbeBooks, for ballpark figures on how to value these. For books in good condition -- especially popular fiction that libraries have multiple copies of -- a dollar or a few dollars each is probably about right. Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," for example, recently was offered by Alibris booksellers for 99 cents to $7 in softcover. Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia," was offered in hardback on Alibris from just over $7 to over $12.

Gather your potential collectibles. Consider their condition -- fine, very good, good, reading copies or poor -- according to bookseller standards. Note whether there are any signed by the author, or first editions. Do not include book-club editions -- these generally are not collectible. Check bookseller sites such as Alibris or AbeBooks to see how comparable books are priced, and note these potential prices in a notebook. As an example, if you have an older copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses," you'll see on AbeBooks that there are many versions, priced from $1 to more than $6,000. Choose the one with a photo that looks like yours, but read the descriptions, too -- there are many variables in collecting.

If you decide to donate the collectible books, place these in a separate box. If you're donating them to a library, include a note or tell the people accepting the donations -- often a library friends' group -- that they are collectible. The friends' group will likely group these books separately in their book sale, and charge more for them. Keep your notebook list of books you're donating, so you will know the value of your donation.

Read IRS Publication 561, which tells how to value various types of property. Two topics apply most: Household Goods, and Collections. Household goods must be in good used condition or better to take a deduction; deductions greater than $500 require a qualified appraiser unless the goods are in at least good condition. For collectibles such as books, the IRS also recommends an appraiser, unless they are "of modest value." It's best to check with an accountant or appraiser if you have specific questions.