Friends of the Galion Public Library book sale starts 10 a.m. Saturday

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GALION — With book donations piling up since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Friends of the Galion Public Library are running out of room in their storage area. To that end, they hope area residents come out for a book sale this Saturday, Sept. 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Denise Iden, president of the Friends of the Galion Public Library, said they usually would have sales earlier in the year, but the pandemic made that impossible as the library was closed. And, although the library is currently open, Iden said they can’t hold the book sale inside because there are only a limited number of people who can be in the community room at the library for an event.

So, due to health rules and regulations, and having received an OK from the Galion City Health Department, the book sale will be on the lawn of the library. Shoppers and visitors will be asked to adhere to social distancing guidelines and to wear masks.

What makes this sale unique is people can purchase as many books as they want with no set price. Iden said this is a “donation only sale” which makes it a perfect opportunity for people to stock up on reading material for the upcoming winter months.

“We’ve never had this many boxes of books before,” she said. “We’ve taken over the storage building, so we have a large amount of books and we’ve definitely got to do something with them. We’re doing this book sale, and we’re planning one for October, as well.”

That sale is Saturday, Oct. 10, also on the library lawn, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“We stopped taking donations due to COVID-19, and when when we started up again there was one Saturday where we had a three- to four-hour window where people drove up to the storage building and we went to their cars and took the books from their trunks,” she said. “We were four to five cars deep for four hours with people coming in with donations.”

And with this sale approaching, the donations have not stopped.

“That was a lot right there,” Iden said. “People have been bringing in more books. We’ve been trying to get books to the community by doing what we call ‘book bundles’ where we put 20-book bundles on our Facebook page. We also have it the bundles on a digital picture frame on the library counter. Patrons can go up once a week and put their name down if you want the book bundle. It’s a suggested donation of $5 — or more. We’ve ma Wde a lot f money that way.”

The friends group also takes book up to Galion’s Saturday farmers market.

Iden suggested people attending this Saturday’s sale should bring their own bags or boxes for the books they select.

The available section includes adult hardback, oversized fiction, paperback fiction, history, inspirational, videos, record albums, audio books, Christmas books and cookbooks.

“We only have so many tables, so we can’t put them all out because we don’t have enough room on the lawn,” Iden noted. She said if there if bad weather on the day of the book sale, the event will be canceled and they will just wait and put on the October sale.

Iden explained that all monetary donations they receive all go back to the library for various items they need. This summer, the group has donated funds for the summer reading program, and bought a baby changing station for the bathroom. She noted they are also going to donate some money toward the purchase of a doll house to put in the children’s area of the library.

Galion Inquirer file photo
Friends of the Galion Public Library are having a book sale this Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., on the library lawn. They have been collecting books for months, but have been unable to offer up their donations to the public due to COVID-19 regulations.
https://www.galioninquirer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2020/09/web1_Galion-library-book-sale.jpgGalion Inquirer file photo
Friends of the Galion Public Library are having a book sale this Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., on the library lawn. They have been collecting books for months, but have been unable to offer up their donations to the public due to COVID-19 regulations.
Saturday is the Friends of Galion Public Library book sale

 

By Jodi Myers

Galion Inquirer

 

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