Contact Us
General Inquiries
Book Donations
donations@booksthroughbars.org
Due to space constraints, we can’t accept all books. Please review our donation guidelines and include the approximate number of books you hope to donate, the genres of the books, and whether they are hard or softcover in your email. It is easier for us to review written descriptions rather than photos and genres rather than titles.
Volunteer Opportunities
volunteer@booksthroughbars.org
To volunteer with a group, please fill out the form on the volunteer page.
By Phone
(215) 727-8170
We prefer email when possible! We are typically able to respond to emailed requests much faster than voicemails.
Address
4722 Baltimore Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19143
This is our storefront, but please email us first if you are interested in donating books, volunteering, or dropping by.
Request Books for Someone Inside
To request books, please write to us at 4722 Baltimore Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19143, making sure to include the recipient's name, inmate number, institution, and what type(s) of books they enjoy. We work from a library of donated books, so it’s best to tell us what kinds of books the recipient likes to read (horror, romance, painting, Vietnamese…) rather than specific titles or authors. Note that we only serve folks incarcerated in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia; if your loved one is incarcerated elsewhere, you can find a list of similar programs here. Taking requests by mail helps us work efficiently (we are an all-volunteer group!) and answer requests in the order they are received.
