THE digital age is being blamed for a dramatic decline in the number of books being donated to Oxfam.

Electronic book readers such as Kindles and websites that sell secondhand books like Amazon have led to a fall in the numbers being given, to the Oxford charity.

In an average week, 50 to 60 boxes of books are handed in to staff at the charity’s bookshop in St Giles, Oxford. But earlier this year that figure fell to about 35 boxes.

The shop sells between 1,600 and 1,700 books each week, raising about £5,000 for the charity.

Over a year that adds up to more than £250,000 that goes towards the projects Oxfam supports.

The charity has now launched a national drive to collect 500,000 extra books by the end of the month.

The eight Oxfam bookshops in the county are hoping people will think of them when they clear out their bookcases.

The St Giles bookshop’s manager James Carruthers said: “The fact it’s much easier for individuals to sell their secondhand books now through Amazon might be part of the reason we have seen a slight downturn in the number of books coming in.

“More and more people are buying Kindle editions and aren’t buying printed books in the first place.

“And we’re not getting quite as many of the academic texts, which is quite a big part of our business here.

“These are books that have a good resale price and more people are aware of the fact they can sell the books online themselves.”

Mr Carruthers stressed that the charity was extremely grateful for all donations from its supporters, and said the shop did particularly well with books about religion, social sciences, philosophy, art, history and classics.

He pointed out the charity could collect books from people, and also offered help with house clearances – where it often picks up some unexpected and valuable gems.

Deputy bookshop manager James Hellyer added: “The main message is there are a lot of books sitting around on shelves, not getting read – if everyone gave just a few of those books to us, it would make the world of difference.”

Oxfam, which has 148 specialist bookshops across the UK, is gearing up for an auction at Bonhams saleroom, in Shipton-on-Cherwell, on Tuesday, June 26, when some of the rarer books donated recently will be sold.

They include three unusual 18th and 19th century maps of London discovered in a bag of donations by volunteers at the charity’s Witney shop, which are estimated to sell for about £1,000.