If you've visited the Springfield-Greene County Library District's two newest branches, then you have experienced the largesse of the Friends of the Library, one of the greatest volunteer organizations in town.

The profits from the group's biannual book sales—the fall event begins on Tuesday, October 21, through Sunday, October 26, at Remington's—have helped fund hundreds of projects, including the Park Central and Strafford Branch Libraries. At the downtown facility which opened last March, the Friends, with the C.W. Titus Foundation, helped renovate a portion of the Kresge building on Springfield's square. In August, Friends funds were used to buy furnishings for the branch in the east Greene County community of Strafford.

"I can't talk enough about the loyalty, hard work and organizational skills of the Friends," said Planning and Development Coordinator Carol Grimes. "Their book sale expertise is amazing."

As the Library District has grown from six to ten facilities, including two "destination" libraries, and expanded its services during the past 19 years, the Friends have kept pace, more than doubling their membership from 400 to 1,000-plus and each year selling more and more pre-read books and raising more and more money for Library District projects. In the past two years alone, the Friends, through their fall and spring book sales, have made almost $400,000.

The Friends are phenomenally successful, especially when you consider that their first sale back in 1985 on the parking lot of the Midtown Carnegie Branch Library, then known as the Main Library, brought in $2,500.

Marcia Kellotat will chair the fall sale book sale, just as she did last spring's sale which raised $93,549. At that sale, 260 volunteers contributed 12,600 hours to the effort.

"It's the people who make these sales such a success," said Grimes. "When you see all the work they do year-around, collecting the donated books from the community, categorizing and pricing each and every one, you can appreciate and marvel at their dedication."

And it's the mission of reading and literacy that makes it all worthwhile for everyone. "During past sales, people come up to us continuously and thank us profusely for making books available at affordable prices," said Bill Bogart, president of the Friends. "At the same time, we are thanking them for buying the books so that the money they spend can go back to the Library District and support community literacy."