Volunteers Ready 10,000 Used Books for Fall Sale

City of Fairfax Regional Library Friends carried over 550 boxes and sorted some 10,000 titles for this weekend's Fall Book Sale.

Open at 10 a.m. Friday, Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, the annual book sale offers gently used books for cheap, with funds going to support library programs.

The 24-member Friends group worked hard to get this weekend's event ready for the public. Hired movers transported the boxes of books from downstairs storage to the staging rooms. Volunteers organized the displays and signed up for sales shifts. 

"We have cashiers, folks who try to keep the books straightened up (a hopeless task); runners who help folks take large purchases down to their cars and so forth," Friends volunteer Cliff Diehl said. "I’d say we have at least six people onsite during each hour of the sale; a number of us are there for the entire time which makes for a long day."

These sales tend to bring in a good chunk of funding for the City of Fairfax Regional Library. The annual three-day sale usually attracts a full house, with 75-100 book lovers waiting outside the doors for the sale to start. 

"The sales rooms are generally quite full throughout each day of the sale," Diehl said. "A number of folks stay for hours looking through the books and we often have to shoo folks out when we need to close for the day. We have many regulars who come to almost every one of our sales including many professional book sellers who resell books online or in brick-and-mortar stores."

Organizing and running the Fall Book Sale is only one of many ways the Friends help their neighborhood library. They collect and sort library donation bins, manage an ongoing, albeit smaller, book sale, along with other fundraising events.

The Friends purchased the picnic tables out on the library patio, the television in the main conference room, leather chairs, e-book subscriptions and other items that lack funding. They also donated time and helped fund major events like the Summer Library Reading Program and Fall for the Book.

"We are proud to assist our beautiful city library in purchasing items for which there are insufficient county budget funds," Diehl said.

Click here to learn more about the Friends. Want to help out? Fill out this online form.