Library's spring sale offers thousands of books, other materials

Dozens - literally - of boxes filled with books showed up in the past couple of weeks at Red Wing Public Library, where Friends of the Library members are at work organizing their annual spring book sale.

The sale will be 2 to 5 p.m. Friday for members and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday for non-members. There is no admission. People can purchase memberships Friday at $5 per person or $10 per family if they want to attend the early sale.

Many items were donated by people who were downsizing, clearing out estates or just passing on novels they finished reading. The sale also features items discarded from the library's collections.

"It doesn't quit," said Lois Burnes, spokeswoman for the group. Twenty-four boxes were donated one day, and 10 more boxes arrived the next day.

Earlier, someone brought in 40 boxes containing mostly books about history, she said - world history, American history, Native Americans, the Civil War and more.

"A lot of people come to the sale looking or a particular author," she said. Or they wants specific books to fill out a collection. The search is what they seem to enjoy.

As organizers go through all the donated items, they sort out a few special or newer books for the silent auction and a specially marked table. Other than those select items, "most of the books are priced at 50 cents, and children's books are 25 cents."

Featured on the special table will be several sets of classics, which will be sold in groups, and a number of "coffee table size" books about science, photography and the like.

Profits from book sales, which can amount to as much as $6,000 in a year, are returned to the library to support special projects and materials, Burnes said. Recent projects have included refurbishing the children's story well.

The spring sale is always the biggest one, Burnes noted. It generates about $3,000.

"This year," she said, because the library's book budget was cut in half, "we will donate much of the proceeds to the library collection."

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