September 25, 2002
Bargain hunters sift through stacks at library book sale
Friends of the Library 'Almost Rare' used book sale draws hundreds of reading enthusiasts
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Tables overflowed as shoppers browsed eagerly through thousands of titles at the Friends of the Library's 'Almost Rare' Used Book Sale.
Held last weekend at the Traverse Area District Library, the sale drew hundreds of reading enthusiasts looking for a bargain - or just the right book. Tables of books were sorted by price - $2, $3, and $4 up through $15 - and included something of value to almost everyone.
"I am looking for a little bit of everything, I have a lot of different interests," said John Sherwood of Traverse City. "I like that you can find stuff here you can't find anywhere else."
Lines formed before the library even opened Saturday morning. Once the doors were opened, a swarm nearing 100 people descended on the tables to sift, sort and stack their finds. One man carefully checked each title he thought about buying against a list, compiled alphabetically in a series of little black books, of the thousands of books he already owns.
The book sale offered titles ranged from Cicero's Orations and a German Bible to biographies (Liz Taylor, Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton) and The Gulag Archipelago. The sale also included books by best-selling authors such as Danielle Steel, Jackie Collins and John LeCarre, plus a variety of Time-Life series and other reference books on topics from architecture to zoology. The sale also included compact discs, tapes and a variety of computer manuals.
A small number of children's books drew younger readers looking for a bargain.
"We are looking for anything because she really likes books," said Peggy Bernard of Traverse City as her daughter, Piper, 5, sifted through the stack.
Books about sports and birding caught the interest of Larry Schneider of Traverse City, who took home some choice presents for family and friends. Schneider is a lifetime reading enthusiast, though now he reads mostly on the Internet or listens to books on compact disc.
"I used to read 30 books a month," he recalled of his younger days as a sales rep for Simon and Schuster.
Schneider's avid reading began as a child growing up in Detroit, where he raced home every day after school to read. He ventured to the library every day to check out the minimum of two books. He faithfully returned them the next day, only to check out two more.
"At seven years old, the librarians felt sorry for me and let me have an adult library card, which let me have ten books at a time," he said. "So I was there once every three days."
The annual used book sale has been a major fund-raiser for the Friends of the Library since it began in the 1980s. The Friends of the Library is a volunteer organization that uses the funds from the sale and other programs to provide special programs, equipment or services in support of the library.
The book sale is possible because community members donate thousands of books to the library system throughout the year. Library staff first cull through the books, looking for titles to add to their collection or rare or valuable books that can be sold another way.
"Donations come in singles or in boxes, we had 200 books donated this morning," said Mike McGuire, direction of the Traverse Area District Library. "Every once in a while, even though you get a lot of junk, you get a treasure that makes it all worth while."
Books the library does not want are earmarked for the sale and stored on the third floor of the main library. Nine rows of floor-to-ceiling shelves are filled with books by August, when volunteers begin sorting and pricing each book by hand.
"We start getting serious about the first of August and then the last two or three weeks before the sale, it gets real intense," said Tom Levi, a member of the Friends of the Library board and long-time volunteer at the book sale. "Going through and pricing them individually is a fairly involved and intense process, but it is worth it."