Friends of the Library Book Sales Make Economic Impact
While celebrating the Friends of the Library’s recent $129,476 Fall Book Sale, we wondered: What’s the economic impact of these used-book extravaganzas?
Everything sold at the sales is donated and Friends work for free. (There are built-in venue expenses). Items cost 50 cents and up, and some shoppers later donate them back for a future sale. Some buy books to resell them at flea markets or online.
We also know that sale proceeds help pay for public concerts, author talks, children’s programs and building upgrades, stretching the property taxes you pay to support the library.
What would an economist say about the economic impact of the sales?
Steve Mullins is a Drury University professor of economics and associate dean at the Breech School of Business. It’s hard to know the dollar multiplier effect of the sale, so he focused on the environmental economics of reusing all those books. He suggests we consider the true cost of the natural resources we take from the environment to produce gasoline, widgets or, yes, books. Then we realize the real cost of producing one book is more expensive than the price of a new one.
In Mullins’ eyes, “recycling” all those books, CDs, DVDs through many hands saves a mountain of resources.
He reasons, “Anything we can do to recycle and reuse will reduce the amount of natural resources and energy that we consume in the production process and also reduce the amount of waste and pollution that we deposit back into the environment.
Library Coordinator of Youth Services Nancee Dahms-Stinson, sees another economic impact.
“We know children not ready to learn when they enter kindergarten place a huge economic drain on our school systems and other community support agencies,” she says. “Parents, grandparents and others who are snatching up the great values on board and picture books are making an indirect and very positive economic impact in our community, because research has demonstrated that kids who have books in the home and are read to from an early age are more likely to succeed in school.”
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