Clara Williams took advantage of the deals offered during the fall at the Friends of The Bartow County-Cartersville Library used book sale. SKIP BUTLER/The Daily Tribune News, File
The Friends of the Bartow County Library System will hold its quarterly used book sale Saturday, June 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Members of the Friends, or those who choose to join Saturday morning, can get a one-hour head start on the sale at 9 a.m., while those who come between 1 and 2 p.m. can purchase books by the bag by purchasing a $5 Friends bag and an additional $5 to fill the bag with as many books as can fit.
"Some people put 20 hardcover books in them and they get 20 books for $5, and then that book bag can be brought back then to other book sales," said Karen Barnhart, president of the Friends. "I think June's a good time [for the sale] because people are doing more reading, the library's busier in the summer, the kids are out of school. I think people getting ready for vacation may want to stop by and grab some finds for their trip."
Books will be priced at 25 cents for a paperback or five for $1, while trade journals will cost 50 cents and hardcovers $1. Video cassettes will be marked for 50 cents while CDs and DVDs will cost $1.
Funds from previous Friends' books sales and Saturday's event will help support the Bartow County Library System. The nonprofit's last sale on March 6 brought in $1,682.
"That was a pretty typical sale. We hope to do a little bit better in June," Barnhart said. "The June date coincides with the Dixie Yard Sale, so we think we might draw some folks from that. We are hoping to get over $2,000, which would be extremely good for us."
Saturday's sale, which will be held in the Cartersville library's garage, is expected to offer numerous items spanning eight bookshelves and 12 tables. While organizers did not know an exact number of items to be offered, Friends member Ed Bostick said the number offered will be in the thousands. Bostick has helped with several book sales in the past years, from sorting fiction from nonfiction books to working during the sale and packing up the books at the conclusion of the sale.
Bostick said he expects Saturday's customers to put a dent in number of items offered.
"People usually go away with a lot of books," Bostick said. "We get people especially interested in children's books, and that's what I like to see -- people coming in and buying books for their kids so their children are reading rather than looking at a screen. That's my interest in the whole thing more than anything else.
"The function of the Friends is to raise money for the library, to supplement the library's budget, which has been cut the last couple of years because everybody's budget has been cut," Bostick added. "But to me, the big thing in pushing the library is to get people reading, especially young people."
The Friends' next book sale is set for Sept. 4, but another fundraising event will be held before it. The second-annual "Bookin' It For the Friends of the Library" off-road 5K and one-mile fun run will be Saturday, Aug. 21, on the Woodland High School cross country course. More details on it and registration forms can be found on the library system's website, bartowlibraryonline.org.