Published: September 20, 2008 11:49 pm            

Library book sale opens Friday

Friends of the Library will host its bi-annual book sale at the end of September, selling thousands of books to benefit of Stillwater Public Library.

About 25,000 donated books will be on sale at the library, which also donates books that have been withdrawn from the library collection. Books that are withdrawn include out-of-date books, books that are worn from usage, multiple copies of books the library no longer needs and books that haven’t been checked out in months, said Lynda Reynolds, director of Stillwater Public Library.

“It helps us clear shelf space in the library,” Reynolds said.

Most of the books in the sale are older books the library donated, said Olen Thomas, book sale coordinator for Friends of the Library. Books can be left in the entrance of the library for donations.

In addition to books, the sale will also feature other media, including limited numbers of vinyl records, music and books on cassettes, and a limited number of reference sets, including encyclopedias and reference books for other media, such as photography, Thomas said.

The library also hosts smaller daily sales in the north lobby of the library. Each daily sale has several hundred books, including racks of magazines, which are not sold through the bi-annual sales. The sales are unmanned; customers buy books by leaving payments in boxes at the sale, Thomas said.

The organization routinely brings in about $500 a month from the daily sales, about $9,000 to $10,000 a year, which is put back into the library for budgets, such as programs for children and teens.

The organization has sponsored the fall sale for 28 years, adding a spring sale four years ago to keep up with the number of donations the organization receives.

“(The fall sale) was getting too big,” Thomas said. “We didn’t have enough room to store a year’s worth of books.”

The sale, located on the second floor of the library’s north building, will begin Friday, Sept. 26 and last through Sunday, Sept. 28.

Friday, the sale will last from noon until 8 p.m. Saturday’s sale will last from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Sunday’s sale is shorter, lasting only from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Also Sunday, for $1, customers receive bags, donated by Consumer’s IGA, and may fill the bag with as many books as they can fit. Each additional bag also costs $1.

The book sale is open to the public. Hardback books sell for $1 and paperback books sell for 50 cents. Children’s books cost 25 cents.

For information, contact the library at 372-3633 or visit the Web site at www.stillwater.lib.ok.us.

        

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