Charlevoix’s Friends of the Library group has a room dedicated to used book sales, with the money raised going to the children’s and teen’s sections at the library, but there have been fewer opportunities for book sales because of the pandemic
“Our book sale is open whenever the library is open,” said volunteer Mary Ann Chew. “We were closed from March until June and then again the whole month of December.”
They usually host a summer sale as well, but that was canceled this year due to the pandemic.
“There were no sales, no customers and it cut into our profit,” Chew said. “Usually in a given year we’d make about $24,000 and this past year we made about $11,500.”
That meant thinking outside of the box when it comes to fundraisers.
“We’ve had to get creative,” said volunteer Sue Parr. “I make greeting cards with the books that can’t be sold.”
They also sell book bundles and even held a small book sale with their rare and collectible books in the fall.
The volunteers safely sanitize books that are donated for the used book sale, too.
“When a book comes in, it usually sits for a few days,” Parr said. “We wipe down both sides of the books and make sure they’re clean, and then we price them.”
Combine all that with a passion to make their library a better place, and it’s an effort the group knows pays off in the end.
“We love being able to serve our community and in response to that, the community actually loves the book sale,” Chew said.
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