A student activist organization is collaborating with an online bookseller to host a book drive supporting the Invisible Children organization.

Facilitating African Rehabilitation, a campus activist group that works with Invisible Children, is encouraging students to donate their textbooks so Better World Books can resell them. Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide.

The bookseller will donate 30 percent of the profits to Invisible Children, said Matt Mead, president of Facilitating African Rehabilitation. Invisible Children is a social justice organization that fights to end the use of child soldiers in the Ugandan Civil War that has lasted 23 years, Mead said. These children are abducted from their homes and forced to be child soldiers.

“The main thing is we are not really competing with people trying to get money back, but if they can’t sell (their textbooks), they shouldn’t throw them away,” said Mead, pre-nursing sophomore. “Instead they should help fund education. But if they just want to donate, that’s even better.”

This is the book drive’s second year, Mead said.

“Last year was a success, so we decided to continue it this year,” Mead said.

Beat the Bookstore, a Norman retailer that buys and sells textbooks, is contributing to the book drive by donating half the books it buys back from students it could not resell.

Better World Books has donated more than $101,000 to Invisible Children, according to its Web site.

Mead said donated textbooks will be put to good use even if Better World Books can’t resell them.

“Better World Books will sell all the donated books they are able to, but the books they cannot make a profit from will be donated to non-profit literacy organizations such as Books for Africa and Room to Read,” Mead said.

All donated books the organization cannot resell or reuse elsewhere will be recycled, Mead said.

A donation box is located on the first floor lobby of the Oklahoma Memorial Union by the OU radio and promotional tables, according to Facilitating African Rehabilitation’s Facebook group.

Alex Antonio, mechanical engineering sophomore, said he would consider donating his textbooks.

“I usually keep all my textbooks,” Antonio said. “My dad pays for my books, but if there was ever a book that I didn’t need later on, I would consider donating it.”