Downtown library hosting annual fall book sale this week
By Leah Rainwater
Literature lovers will have a chance to shop thousands of books for a low price Oct. 17-21 at the Downtown library thanks to the annual book sale through the Friends of the St. Joseph Public Library.
More than 10,000 books will be for sale, with paperback books, board games, DVDs and CDs totaling $1 and hardcover books totaling $2.
Mary Beth Revels, director of the St. Joseph Public Library, said all of the books featured in the sale come from different places.
“Some of them are removed from the library,” said Revels. “Either it’s just an older book, or we get a new addition that’s in better shape, so we remove the old copy. And a lot of them are just donations.”
The event will kick off with a Friends member-only preview from 2-3 p.m on Thursday, Oct. 17. The sale will open to the general public for the weekend at 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
On Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19, the sale will be during 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 20 presents more bargain deals at the sale from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., where everything will be half off.
Monday, Oct. 21 is the final day of the sale. From 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., shoppers can fill a bag for $5 or a box for $10.
Revels said all of the money collected from the sale will go toward the library’s summer reading program.
“The proceeds benefit the Friends of the St. Joseph Public Library,” said Revels. “They are the primary funder for our annual summer reading program. So the Friends of the St. Joseph Public Library pay for the big events, the performers, the summer reading kickoff party and all of the prizes associated with the summer reading program.”
Revels also said if any of the books don’t find a home this year, they will typically be saved for next year’s annual book sale.
Anything beyond what can be saved will go to the Cameron Public Library, which has a recycling center and workshop.
From there, the Cameron library will either decide to sell or recycle books based on their use.
