GALION, Ohio — Pam Jourdan likes books, and she’s not the only one. She, along with many other community volunteers who call themselves the Friends of the Library, spent the week preparing a book sale at the Galion Public Library.
The sale began Thursday and runs through Saturday. Genres run the gamut — everything from science fiction to cookbooks, even VHS tapes, CDs, DVDs and vinyl records. Friends of the Library recommends making a minimum donation of $5 for a box of books.
The sale is avaiable from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Every May and October, the nonprofit Friends of the Library sells books back to the community in an effort to raise funds for the public library.
“All of it goes to the library,” said Jourdan. “This year our goal is to raise $1,000. Last year we did $1,900.” Jourdan explained that this year the group changed their policy from marking each book with a price to suggesting a donation due to tax reasons.
The donated proceeds are then used by the library to purchase computer equipment, tables and other supplies for the childen’s department.
Although most of the books are picked up by community members, those that are not sold at the sale are sent to a region in the Appalachia mountains, said Jourdan. The Galion Theater also receives a portion to use as props in select plays.
Started over 30 years ago, Jourdan believes Friends of the Library is a vital part to Galion’s library. She said the group meets monthly to collect and organize books for whenever the next book sale occurs. The room they use to organize the books is a six-by-twelve foot portion of the library’s mechanical room.
“It’s small but it works for us. We’re very organized and it’s quite the operation,” said Jourdan. The group sells hundreds of books at each book sale.
“The written word is there for you to look at. You need to have that for the knowledge that you need in life. And there’s always room for knowledge, doesn’t matter how old you are, believe me. At my age, I can pick up a book and I think, ‘oh I never knew that,’” said Jourdan.
