Friends of the Library Book Sale Saturday

Missed out on last year’s best sellers? Looking to get a jump on your beach reading? Stop by the from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, March 17, and pad your bookshelf on a budget.

The semi-annual is a fun community event that offers an incredible value for bibliophiles. Hard-bound books sell for $2; paperbacks are a buck. For the bulk buyer, $10 fills a brown paper bag with as much as you can carry.

“We have fiction and nonfiction,” said Ann Woodcock, FOL treasurer. “We’ll have a large selection of children’s books; a pretty large collection of cookbooks, which always are a big hit.

With almost 1,000 individual books up for sale, “it’s a way to help the library and get some bargain books,” she said.

According to Woodcock, the event typically raises anywhere from $500 to $650. All proceeds help offset the costs of outfitting the library. In the past, the group has funded purchases of chairs, lighting, ceiling tile replacement, even a Nintendo Wii for community use, Woodcock said.

“Whatever the library or the director says, ‘We could use some help with,’” she said.

In addition to the March book sale, FOL hosts another sale in November, and books are available for purchase in the library lobby throughout the year. All told, Woodcock estimates, the entire enterprise accounts for probably 40 percent of the FOL budget; the group also fundraises through memberships and donations.

“We’re always looking for people to help,” said Anita Schoeffling, FOL president. “We kind of do at the library everything that needs to get done.”

After the March book sale, the next big FOL event is Free Comic Book Day, which will be held May 5.