With total sales of $93,549 from the recent [April 28-May 3] 23rd annual spring book sale at Remington’s, the Friends of the Library missed breaking their 2007 spring record of $96,300 by less than $3,000.

“The whole event continues to snowball every year—from community involvement to media exposure. Everyone would like to see us break the $100,000 mark and I definitely think it’s possible if we have enough books to sell,” said Friends of the Library President Bill Bogart. “We sold a little more than two tractor trailer loads of books with less left over than we had at the last sale and we completely sold out of children’s books.”

The majority of books left over from this sale were re-packed and returned to the sorting room to await the fall sale. “We’ve already had reports of people inquiring about dates for the fall sale, scheduled for mid-October, and we’ll definitely be using the Remington’s facility again,” continued Bill. “Remington’s is the ideal location for the Friends' book sales and we have developed a great relationship with the folks over at Ridgecrest Baptist Church. The Sunday before the sale 40 people from the church volunteered to help us set up. From the staff at Remington’s to those at the church—their support in helping us fulfill our mission is unbelievable.”

And it’s the mission of literacy that makes it all worth while. “During the sale, people come up to us continuously and thank us profusely for making books available at affordable prices. Meanwhile we’re thanking them for making purchases that go back to the Library and support community literacy—it’s a good way to raise money and circulate books back to people who will use them,” said Bill. “The book sales are a great buy for families and we’d like to see every family get all the kids’ books they want.”

The Friends held their first book sale in 1984 in the parking lot of the Midtown Carnegie Branch Library formerly known as the Main Library. In the past, book sale proceeds have been used to fund teen and children’s programming, special events, systemwide plant maintenance, equipment and vehicle purchases with ten percent allotted to the Library Foundation materials endowment.