ShelfLife collects and receives new or gently used books and other resources from a variety or sources (individual donors, editors, libraries, publishers, free libraries, etc . . .). Volunteers then redistribute materials to Maine correctional facility libraries based on current feedback and requests from unit librarians and clerks.

ShelfLife provides a broad variety of material for readers of various interests, abilities, and languages. As such, we distribute all sorts of books but are selective in what we accept due to storage constraints. Generally we’re looking for books that are either relatively recent publications (past ~10 years) or would be considered highly desirable within their genre or subject area. Please visit our Requests page to see what is currently in demand.

Moldy, water-damaged, or unrepairable books. Books with exessive highlighting, notations, or other marginalia. Books with outdated information (ex. MS-DOS programming manuals). Facilities will reject books on hand-to-hand combat, weapon fabrication, drug production, emotional/mental manipulation, or mind control as well as books that contain nudity or are explicitly sexual or violent in nature. Some facilities do not allow hardcover books in certain units so while they are certainly welcome, softcover books tend to be more universally useful.

No. The Maine Department of Corrections only allows new books purchased from a list of approved vendors to be sent directly to facility residents. Please see MDOC policy for for guidelines on this. For residents of Maine jails, please contact the facility directly for guidance.

We encourage this! One efficient method is to photograph the spines of stacked books (see the header image at the top of this page). We can scan through them and let you know what is useful to ShelfLife

Books should be relatively clean and free of foreign objects (bookmarks, Post-It notes, paperclips, etc . . ). ShelfLife will inspect them but donations are also scanned at facilities (usually visual inspection, x-ray, and/or sniffer dogs) but pre-screening is helpful. Donations in sturdy boxes or bags are appreciated.

Sometimes! ShelfLife is a small, volunteer-run effort in a geographically vast state. We can often pick up within a half-hour radius of Portland. Otherwise, we might identify a volunteer who can transport your donations.

ShelfLife also distributes some non-book items like DVDs, audiobooks on CD, comic books, tarot/oracle cards, tabletop games, musical instruments and gear, recording/production equipment, etc . . . Please reach out to discuss donations like these.

Please reach out to us via our Contact page.