I need them for a class. The meaning of "them" is "books" . them is an object. they is a subject. Both of them can be used for people or something. It all depends.

who they are? they are fools. where are your all pets? they all went for poo poo :) where can i find beautiful girls? you should go to club im sure you will find them there. i hope now you got it :)

In the third person singular we have gender specific pronouns (he she it, him her it). In the plural no gender specific pronouns, only they and them. So they and them refer to male, female, neuter gender. 老鬼

"them" is the object form of "they". Here it refers to those books. They/them can refers to both people and other things.