Volunteers Busy Sorting Books for the Scarsdale Library Book Sale

As many of you may know, The Friends of the Scarsdale Library holds an annual book sale to benefit the library. The sale has become a well-known tradition in Scarsdale. Every year, just after the 4th of July, the Friends start collecting donations from people throughout Westchester County. In recent years, they have collected almost 50,000 books in total. Donated books are sorted into categories like Trade Fiction, Classics, World History, Biography, How To and Children's Books to name a few. However, the Friends do not only collect books; they also sell CDs, DVDs, audio-books, cassettes, and VCRs.

Needless to say, the preparation for the book sale is a lot of hard work! And the library is grateful to have almost 30 active volunteers who help to make the sale preparation process move along faster. Volunteers start with sorting bags and boxes of donated books. These bags and boxes are all brought downstairs to the basement where their contents are loaded onto carts. From these carts, each book is deposited into a cardboard box based upon its category. When a box is full, it is folded up and a new one is stacked on top. In August, all of the boxes are moved to the Scott Room, where they are laid out and further organized in preparation for the sale. Volunteer Phyllis Heine reflected: "Book sorting involves an understanding that everyone makes mistakes and the sorting process can take time to get used to and perfect, but the end result is a successful book sale." The dedication and knowledge of Kathy Steves, head of the book sale and a librarian herself, is greatly appreciated by her fellow volunteers; she always knows where to sort an odd book that could belong in three or four different genres.

In addition, there is a lot that volunteers gain from helping. As Mrs. Steves stated: "[Volunteering] is addictive. There is always one more box to open to see if that treasure's inside." Ms Heine also remarked: "You can come across books that you have never even heard of and wind up with a great summer read!" The library is also a great place to get community service hours. Tenth graders Virja Metha and Chris Teresa are among a few teens who volunteer everyday for about three to four hours. Their jobs include carrying boxes of books from the basement up into the Scott Room. Virja noted: "You see what different books there are. It also teaches you valuable life lessons like how to work." And Chris included he likes coming to the library because of "the joy of helping people out." For some people, volunteering is really like a summer job: they spend hours working each day. Others stop by to help a few times a week.

The book sale has grown over time. The first year Mrs. Steves worked the sale, which was about 10 years ago, volunteers could fit all of the books on the sale tables and there were no books stacked below. Now, books are not only stacked underneath the tables, but they are also presorted and stored in boxes in the back rooms. In addition to the growing quantity of books, there are also more volunteers. Mrs. Steves noted that this increase is most likely because of the growing awareness of the sale.

As one volunteer stated, "the book sale is mass recycling." Every donated book finds its way into another hand by the end of the sale. Because of the enormity of the collection, not everything can be displayed at once, and each day new books are put out as others are purchased. Therefore, many people return to the sale day after day and still come home with new surprises each time. Hard covers cost $3 each and paperbacks sell for $1 or $2, depending on size. There are also specially priced books, such as those that are autographed. There are actually quite a few autographed books and, this year, this collection includes one signed by Al Gore and another by Isaac Bashevis Singer. About 90% of the books sell, and what is left is donated to charity.

In the past, the funds raised through the book sale have allowed the library to redo the Children's section, fund children's programs like the Writer's Conference, and purchase tables and chairs for outside the entrance. Many years ago, the funds were used to help the library's collection of books itself. Leni Glauber, Assistant Director of the Scarsdale Library, indicated that the book sale was very important to the library: "We really do appreciate the generosity."

August 24th is the last day the library will accept donations, so please drop off your donations soon.

The Friends Preview will be held Friday, Sept. 6 | 7pm-9pm. The Regular Sale will begin Sept. 7 | 9am-4:30pm; Sept. 8 | 10am-4pm; Sept. 9 | 11am-8pm; Sept. 10 | 11am-8pm. The Half-price sale begins Wednesday, Sept. 11 | 11am-8pm; Sept. 12 | 11am-5pm; Sept. 13 | 10am-4:30pm. The Blow-Out Sale will be Sunday, Sept. 15 from 11am to 4pm. If you have any questions, visit www.scarsdalelibrary.org/friends or call (914) 722-1300.

Marie Ceske and Carly Glickenhaus will be sophomores at Scarsdale High School this fall.