JARRETT GOODMAN
Staff Writer
The Friends of the Library in Marion County recently hosted a book sale at Whitwell’s Orena Humphreys Public Library for the first time in the library’s history.
Each year, Friends of the Library hosts book sales across different libraries throughout the county, from South Pittsburg’s Beene Pearson Public Library to Jasper’s Carolyn Stewart Library. Barbara Roberts, president of the organization, stated how each library provides the organization with collected books to sell off to the public. She noted how every facility sorts out what books are to stay and which ones are to be put on the market prior to each sale, with members of Friends of the Library providing assistance to library staff while the task is performed. When enough books are collected, they’ll go out for sale for people to buy.
“Jasper has one every year, and we had one with South Pittsburg last year, and this year we’re doing it with Whitwell. So they’ll alternate depending on how many books they can manage to gather to have one,” explained Milly Echeverria, volunteer for Friends of the Library.
Book sales are hosted every spring and fall during the start and height of the school year. Milly stated that this year’s Orena Humphreys book sale was delayed later than originally planned, as the library’s summer reading program was still active at the time, leaving no room for a proper book sale to be scheduled with conflicting with the program.
Several books sold during the sale were donated from community members to the library, with all libraries across the county accepting book donations at any time. Various collections of books as well as cassettes were on display for guests visiting the library to purchase. Genres included fiction and nonfiction, to children and young adult novels alike.
“We normally get great support from our communities at the book sales. And as Milly said, we do them every year. And its exciting and fun,” stated Roberts.
The Friends of the Library is established nationwide, where each county of every state has a chapter of volunteers dedicated to providing support to all local libraries within the area. Marion County’s chapter works alongside all library directors to further progress on different goals, while also ensuring the awareness and appreciation of all libraries is shared throughout the communities.
Whitwell’s book sale was hosted on Friday, August 8 and Saturday, August 9. Both days received a great deal of support from the community and overall turnout in books sold. This helped establish the event as an overall success for all involved at Orena Humphreys Public Library. Plans to have another book sale hosted at the library are currently in mind.