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Ok fellow nurses. What in the heck do you do with 15 year old nursing text books?

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Ok fellow nurses. What in the heck do you do with 15 year old nursing text books?

Hang on to them and then giggle when you reread them in another 10 years.

My favorite books in life are old medical books.

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If I had enough room for storage, may be fun to keep them around for laughs in 50 years, but as it is - I simply put them out with the trash, in the recycling bin.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Have textbooks from 1975 along with Nursing 75 Magazines---some things are just CLASSICS.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

I did a "purge" ~ 25 yrs ago, got rid of TONS of RNs, AJNs, Nursingxx, and ALL my old nrsg school books except one--the med-surg book. That I kept (along w/the notes stuck between the pages) as a souvenir. I still have it, along w/3 nurses caps. Too bad I didn't save the cape!

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Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.

Nobody will want them, so here are the three steps you may wanna consider:

1) Keep the goodies -- A & P, and other basic "classics" that still have merit.

2) Dump / donate (if that's possible) the others.

3) Get some new ones that are pertinent to your current practice area.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.
Nobody will want them

I wouldn't go that far...you can sell anything on ebay haha:lol2:

Seriously, nursing is an ever evolving profession and nursing literature from 50 yrs ago is now valued collectors items. Stow them away if you would like, make a scrapbook, or donate them.

I am going to keep all of my books. One day they may be worth more to me than they appear now. But I am also a horrid pack rat. Super sentimental sometimes.

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Thanks for all your good ideas. Not sure what I'm going to do with them. Maybe mom can store them at her place for awhile. They are way to heavy to be hauling around the country.

Thanks again!!

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Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.
... you can sell anything on ebay haha:lol2:

One day they may be worth more to me than they appear now... Super sentimental sometimes.

Ebay's great! But for older, outdated, standard technical texts, they may cost more to post than the selling price. I know none of my texts will have any economic value in 15 years.

Now sentimentality is something of a totally different ilk. If that were the case, I'd absolutely keep 'em till the bitter end (or, at least, until the beginning signs of AD :o ).

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Oh, I would hold on to old textbooks. If you feel they're not useful right now, carefully pack them away. They will be classics after a few more years. When I was deciding whether or not to go into nursing one of my neighbors brought out her old nursing textbooks from the 1930s, no less! They were so very interesting to read since nursing practice has changed so drastically since then although the basic concepts behind it haven't changed at all. Older texts seem to have more simple explanations of things that the newer texts do not, so for that reason alone I think they are valuable. Plus, you always need some kind of reference around. Have you priced the newer medical nursing texts? The prices increase every year as well as the number of pages in them!

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