Bargain-hunting book lovers can stock up on their next summer read at Reston Regional Library in Fairfax County, Virginia.
The Friends of the Reston Regional Library is holding a book sale — and it’s a big one.
Donations for this sale have set a record. Friends spokeswoman Eileen Evon said that boxes are overflowing with books.
“It’s the most book donations we’ve had ever. We topped a thousand maybe a couple of weeks ago when we closed donations,” she added.
That’s not 1,000 books — that’s 1,000 boxes filled with books.
Evon said that she’s not sure whether donors were on a post-pandemic spring cleaning frenzy, but she’s happy to have so many great books to offer.
The money raised by the book sales held throughout the year help fund programming.
“Anytime you see a story time or a paid author talk, or maybe your librarians are giving away materials for a kids’ activity, that’s all funded by library friends’ groups, by outside grants,” Evon said.
The books on sale don’t come from the library’s collection.
“Every Friends group in the county, and there is one at every branch, collects donated books from the public, cleans them up, sorts them, and then sells them to raise money for programming and other things that are not in the library budget,” said Evon.
This sale doesn’t include children’s books, but there’s usually a special sale for children’s books twice a year, which ended last month.
This week, the sale kicked off Wednesday, and continues Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. On Sunday, the sale will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This summer, the Reston Regional Library will be closing for renovations. The sale is unrelated to the closure.
The condition of the books is important to consider for those donating. The organization won’t take books that are weather, pet or smoke damaged. “We ask for things that are in good, used condition. Something that you would pick up and buy, and something that you would feel comfortable passing on to someone else,” Evon said.
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