by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Free parking. Free admission. More than 150,000 books, CDs and DVDs for sale starting at 50 cents each. That’s not the kind of deal you find every day.
It’s the kind you only find once a year when The Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library hold their annual “Great Jacksonville Book Sale.”
The event probably began more than 50 years ago, said Friends President Harry Reagan.
“There have been book sales as long as the Friends have been in existence, but it became truly organized about 20 years ago when the sale was held in the exhibition hall at the old Civic Auditorium,” he explained. “Later it moved to the Morocco Shrine Center on St. Johns Bluff Road and now it’s so big we have to have it at the Fairgrounds. It’s amazing to see the looks on the faces of people who come here for the first time. They can’t believe how many books we have for sale. We have used every table the Fairgrounds owns.”
For weeks, a small army of volunteers has gathered each Saturday morning at the University Park Branch Library to sort, pack and stack boxes of books onto pallets that have been shipped to the Fairgrounds for this weekend’s sale. Every category of book is available including fiction, nonfiction, reference, collections and children’s books. In addition to books that have been donated to the Friends by individuals, much of the inventory was previously in circulation within the library system. Boxes of excess inventory have also been donated by publishers, so there are quite a few new books to be found at the sale as well.
“This year it took five tractor-trailers to get them all here,” said Reagan. “We estimate there are at least 150,000 books this year.”
Friends member Burt Kagen has volunteered for the book sale for the past 12 years. He said one of the things he enjoys most about the event is seeing some of the same people come to find bargains year after year.
“By now I recognize a lot of the regulars’ faces, even though I don’t know their names,” said Kagen.
He also has some stories to tell about past book sales. One time a woman came to the sale looking not for specific authors or titles, but for something else entirely.
“She walked up to me and asked where we kept the purple books. I asked her what the color of a book had to do with anything, so she explained to me that she was redecorating her den and she already had red books and green books. What she needed was purple books,” recalled Kagen.
He said he and his fellow volunteers devote hundreds of hours each year to make the sale a success and they are bound by a common trait.
“We just love books,” said Kagen. “When I pick up a book I’ve read it’s like an old friend. The sale is fun because we’d like to find a new home for every one of these books.”
With so many books for sale, that goal isn’t attainable. In years past, on Sunday the volunteers would pack up the remaining inventory and haul it back to the warehouse for next year’s sale. This year, something new has been added to reduce the number of books returned.
“Publix has donated paper grocery bags that people will be able to fill up with books on Sunday. Whatever you can get in the bag will cost $10,” said Reagan. The offer does not include volumes designated as “better books,” CDs or DVDs. Those will be sold Sunday for half-price.
All proceeds from the sale are donated each year to the Jacksonville Public Library. The funds were used several years ago to develop the library’s collection of DVDs and audio books. This year, the proceeds will support programs for children and teens as well as to supplement the budget for buying new books, a line item that City Council cut last year by $1 million.
The Great Jacksonville Book Sale is open to the public today from 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday from noon-6 p.m.
356-2466