A place for book-a-holics

Friends of Library book sale quenches thirst for knowledge, entertainment

Book lovers all over the county flocked to the semi-annual Friends of the Library book sale that took place from Saturday until Wednesday.

More than 500,000 books, DVDs, posters, magazines, among other things were for sale with most prices ranging from $.25 to $4. All profits from the sales go to the Alachua County Library District and for community literacy programs.

The last book sale, which took place in October, raised $162,983, according to a Friends of the Library newsletter.

Although the sale always takes place in Gainesville, all the smaller libraries that are part of the Alachua County library district benefit from the event.

The amount of money and materials given to each library from the sales is proportional to the size of the population the library serves, said Joanne Tremblay, librarian to the city of Alachua library.

The book sale helps the Alachua branch in many ways, she said. It provides materials, educational reinvestments for staff and helps pay for several programs the library puts together like the Snuggle Up ‘n Read program and youth programs.

All the books and other items sold at the sale have first been donated to the local libraries. Tremblay said that people come into the Alachua library branch almost every day donating materials. She once had someone come with a pickup truck full of books.

The sale had books that fell into just about every category. It also offered some collector’s edition books.

Money collected from sales also helps fund mini-grants for projects aimed to enrich the cultural life of the community.  The money is also used for projects such as the Family Literacy Festival, scholarships for library personnel and Books for Soldiers, which provides library materials to members of deployed forces.

The Friends of the Library book sales have been taking place since 1986. The next sale will take place in October.