Friends of the Library Spring Sale Hits Record High of $129,940.14
April 27, 2015 —
The Friends of the Library Spring Book Sale hit record-high sales of $129,940.14 during the seven-day event April 20-26 at Remington’s in Springfield.
That smashed the old record of $125,779.01, which the Friends set in the fall 2012 sale. The all-volunteer Friends group conducts an annual fall and spring sale.
Friends President and sale Chair Jim Moore said everyone from college students to book dealers to collectors from Springfield and neighboring states fueled this year’s sale.
“We appreciate the people of the Ozarks who came out to support our organization and the work we do for the Library,” Moore said. “The bottom line is that the library system has benefitted because we’re able to provide programs for the public at the libraries, and the second thing is we got books in the hands of people to promote literacy.”
The Friends started the sale with nearly five full tractor-trailer loads of books, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks, vinyl records, games and puzzles – all donated over the past year by individuals and weeded out by the library system.
New this year was a collection of about 15,000 baseball cards that the Friends packaged in about a dozen boxes.
“They were gone by 11 a.m. Tuesday morning,” Moore said. “They went quick.”
The Friends donated most of the leftover items to several nonprofit organizations.
Proceeds from the sales help fund library concerts, the Summer Reading Program, special lecture series, author visits, One Read and Big Read programs and equipment or updates in the 10 library branches. The Friends funded the Mobile Library that makes weekly visits to more than 20 neighborhoods and schools. The Friends also pledged $300,000 toward the ongoing capital campaign, ReNew Brentwood, to renovate the Brentwood Branch Library.