The Friends of the BWG Public Library were busy, sorting donations of books for their Fall Book Sale, transporting the boxes of stored books, CDs and DVDs from the Library’s basement to the Zima Room and foyer, and setting up table after table covered with items.
All their hard work paid off, this past weekend, at the Friends of the Library Fall Book Sale, Sept. 28-30. The sale was an outstanding success, raising a record amount for library programs not covered by the Town of BWG or grants.
Chair Milt Calder recognized both the efforts of the volunteers, and the record-breaking numbers.
“We sold over $1,000 of books on Friday night at the Preview Sale,” Calder said, when families paid a premium of $10 to get first pick of the thousands of volumes culled from the library or donated by the public. “It was amazing.”
One patron purchased $258 in books – all of them priced to sell, at only $1 apiece for hardback and paperback books, slightly more for artbooks and specialty publications.
There was still plenty left over for the sale that continued on Saturday and Sunday with free admission. In fact, said Calder, “I’ve never seen it so busy.” By the end of the day on Saturday, the sale had raised over $3,000 – another record, with one more day still to go.
He gave full credit to the volunteers - “We had a really good group – wonderful,” Calder said – and the donors.
“A lot was donated by people who moved, who have read the books and donated them, who bought the books at the last book sale, read them and then brought the back. We encourage that!” said Calder. “It goes to support programs in the library – the out-of-pocket expenses.”
In fact, the Book Sales have been so successful, that the Friends of the BWG Library have decided to hold their book sales three times a year. The next sales will take place Feb. 8-10, and May 24-26, in 2019.
Books not sold at the library will be donated to an online bookseller, that supports libraries and literacy grants.
But those purchasing volumes at the Bradford Library seemed to echo the Friends of the Library in saying: “Too many Books? I think what you mean is not enough bookshelves. “
