Library sale features 65,000 books, CDs
Christina Jolliffe | The Chronicle-Telegram
ELYRIA — This week’s book sale will be anything but quiet.
With more than 65,000 books, videos, CDs, records, cassettes and 8-track tapes to choose from, people are sure to make a lot of noise.
The sale, hosted by Friends of the Elyria Public Library System and Friends of the Keystone LaGrange Community Library is promoted as Ohio’s largest public library book sale and it takes place Thursdaythrough Sunday at St. John Lutheran Church, 1140 West River Road, Elyria.
Admission is free the first day for Elyria and Keystone Friends’ members only.
But if you want to join them and be an early bird, you can join a Friends group for $5 for an individual or $10 for a family. The rest of the book sale features free admission and books that are priced to move.
Hardcover and paperback books cost $1. Paperbacks cost 50 cents and videos, CDs, records, cassettes and 8-track tapes are $1 each. On the last day of the sale, a grocery bag filled with books costs $5.
And there is plenty of good stuff to stuff in your bag.
A donation from the estate of an Oberlin College professor netted more than 500 coffee table art books for the sale, according to library spokeswoman Debbie Pillivant.
“It was quite a prize,” she says. “These are not the everyday books we have at the library. And they’re not just art, but the arts in general. These are really unique books.”
And the best part is that they only cost $1.
No books or other materials are pre-selected to be removed from the sale, which means there is a good chance you will find something you really want.
“Part of the fun is finding a book you read as a child or a book you had years ago that wore out and buying it for $1,” Pillivant says. “That’s how people end up walking out spending $50.”
In the past four years, the sale has raised more than $90,000 for the Elyria Public Library System.
The money is used to support the Elyria Public Library, which includes Central Library on Washington Avenue, West River Library near the mall, South Branch Library on the city’s south side, Keystone-LaGrange Community Library in LaGrange, the Bookmobile and the new North Branch Library on the LCCC campus.
In the past 25 years, the Friends have donated more than $195,000 to purchase everything from computers to carpets to prizes for summer reading programs.
“Everything the Friends do for the Library directly affects each of our patrons because the money they raise is used to purchase items that are simply not in our budget,” library director Janet Stoffer says. “The public library budgets in Ohio are currently less than [year] 2000 levels, so you know many of the extras our librarians would like to purchase are simply out of our reach. The Friends’ donations allow us to purchase some of these extra wish list items so we can serve our patrons better.”
People come from all over to take advantage of the Elyria book sale, Pillivant says, but for Lorain County residents are a big reason for its success.
“The community makes this book sale happen,” she says. “About 75 to 80 percent of the books are donated by the community. People bring them in by the truckload.”
And you can take them out the same way.
Contact Christina Jolliffe at 329-7155 or ctnews@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Christina Jolliffe | The Chronicle-Telegram October 5th, 2008 in Local and State. Popularity: 1% |
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