"Sometimes I'm appalled at how some people deal with the books," says Helga Schmitzberger.

As a volunteer godmother, the pensioner takes care of the bookcase on Glauburgstrasse in Frankfurt's north end.

She observes that boxes with books are placed in front of the cupboard from time to time.

With more than 70 open bookcases in Frankfurt, there are regular complaints that books are not cleared but placed in front of the cupboard.

At the beginning of the week, a local resident used an online neighborhood portal to point out several banana boxes full of books that were unloaded in front of the bookcase on Oeder Weg.

Sometimes Schmitzberger gradually puts excess books out of the boxes and into the cupboard.

She couldn't do much more.

"I always come by bike, I can't take the books with me either," says Schmitzberger.

She drives by “her” closet two to three times a week.

At the bookcase in Glauburgstrasse, it is rare for books to be put down.

Schmitzberger assumes that this is more common with other bookcases.

But that happens especially when too many books are brought.

"When the cupboards are full, they are full"

Especially during the pandemic, significantly more people would have put their books in their cupboards.

The Department of Highways and Development, the city's bookcase manager, confirms that books are placed in front of cabinets, but can't say how common this is.

"When the cupboards are full, they're full," says Schmitzberger, who has been a sponsor for two years.

"These bookcases aren't there for people to just throw away 50 books," she says.

There is a misunderstanding: It's not about getting rid of books somehow.

"It's about people being able to discover new books," says Schmitzberger.

Some time ago she was called that a household was being broken up and that she could pick up books.

"I'm really not responsible for that," Schmitzberger clarifies.

As a godmother, she arranges the books and sorts out books that are not checked out for several weeks.

If books sit in closets for long periods of time, the Department of Roads and Development is notified, which then hires the city's waste disposal company to dispose of the books.

They are often already softened by the weather and can no longer be read.

Schmitzberger asks that no books be placed in front of the cupboards, but rather distributed to other bookcases.

"You can always put ten in there and stretch it out over a few weeks." She also points out that books in good condition can also be sold to antiquarian or second-hand shops.