Book lovers’ binge returns this week
Posted on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 by By Caroline Klapper
To describe the Friends of the Library annual Book Sale at Haywood County Library as large would be a vast understatement. Enormous is probably closer to the right word to encompass the sale, which fills the entire lower level of the library, the garage and an outside tent-covered area. Sandy Denman, co-chairwoman of the Friends, estimates there will be about 60,000 to 70,000 books on sale during the Thursday, Friday and Saturday event. “We’ve been told it’s the best book sale in Western North Carolina,” she said. The book sale has not only attracted locals looking for good bargains, but people have
traveled from other states to attend.
“Last year, we had a lady fly in from Chicago,” Denman said.
About 90 percent of the books are privately donated to the Friends of the Library, and Denman said people have been particularly generous in the past year.
Many best sellers and newer titles make it into the sale and occasionally there are some collectable books.
Denman said at a previous sale, a customer purchased a book for $1 and later found out it was worth several hundred dollars.
“There are treasures to be found,” she said.
The book sale hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday on the first level of Haywood County Library on Haywood Street.
The book sale has been going on for more than 30 years, and it has become an important fundraiser for the library.
“Anything that the county does not cover, or their grants, we try to pick it up,” Denman said, listing community programs, staff education, inventory purchases and children’s programs among the ways in which the Friends of the Library provides support.
Such support is especially important now when many libraries are closing or cutting back because of a lack of funding, said Friends volunteer Stan Smith.
“We don’t want that to happen here,” he said.
The book sale has raised up to $31,000 in past years, but Denman said the Friends of the Library volunteers are always hoping to do even better.
“We’d like to beat it,” she said.
Volunteer Peggy Smith said the sale is a great opportunity for people on a budget, and she knows all the work she and the other volunteers put into the sale is appreciated.
“We’re making books available to the community at a very reasonable price,” she said.
She said many of the volunteers have a long history of working for the Friends of the Library together, which makes the job of organizing the thousands of books that come in an enjoyable process.
“We really are a family,” Smith said.
For book lovers, the sale is a smorgasbord of deals. Prices for paperback books start at 50 cents and hardcover books are $1 and up.
The sale also has much more than books available, including videos, DVDs, puzzles and games, audio books, records and even some electronics.
Active Headlines