Edmonds Library Daily Book Sale No Longer a Secret

Edmonds book lovers have a secret they don’t want you to know about.

But the secret—a stash of used books selling for next to nothing—is getting out. So much so that the sale of used books at the now nets upwards of $1,000 a month, according to Kathy Dahlstrom, president of the Friends of the Edmonds Library. All of the money goes to the Friends, a nonprofit group formed in 1979 that uses the money to support the library.

Started just a few years ago, the library’s ongoing sale is staffed by volunteers who change the selection daily. Shelves are stuffed with books for adults and children. Books are 50 cents or $1, and current magazines are a quarter. The top of one shelf features themes; a recent week offered a number of books by Stephen King and James Patterson.

The sale area features seasonal reading such as craft ideas and recipes for holiday events, fiction and non-fiction and children’s books, along with a good selection of recent popular magazines.

There are mystery, general fiction, romance, classics, sci-fi and Western titles in the fiction section. Nonfiction includes self-help, sports, history, religion, reference, self-help and poetry, among other genres. (It’s not just books—there are also CDs, DVDs, cassettes and records.)

All books are donated, and it’s the volunteers who sort through the stacks are left both inside and outside a deposit box in the library’s lobby. Other books are donated by retailers and even from Half-Price Books.

Some books titles are a few years old, but there are gems. They come from all over the world. A recent visit saw a U.K. version of Ben Macintyre’s Operation Mincemeat, a World War II bestseller released just this year in the U.S. but in 2010 in the U.K. Also found: a U.K. paperback version of Swedish mystery writer Camilla Lackberg’s The Preacher, another bestseller which was only just released in the U.S. as a hardcover.

Great titles at great prices means the Friends’ ongoing sales totals bring in an average of $10,000 to $12,000 annually. Dahlstrom says that's about what the popular Friends of the Library book sale at the takes in during its two-day sale in October. Sales from both venues benefit the nonprofit, which uses proceeds for scholarships, library events, programs and furnishings like the library’s fish tank.

So far this year, funds have gone toward a camera and book carts for the library, with more to come.

This year’s 31st annual sale will be held Oct. 29 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Prices there are also dirt-cheap. For the real bargain hunters, the fun starts after 2:30 p.m., when all you can stuff into a bag is $2. Friends of the Library members—it costs $6 for a year—can attend the member sale Oct. 28 from 4 to 6 p.m.

None of the book sales would happen without the Friends’ volunteers, including more than 200 member-volunteers. “The ongoing sale is constant work, but the annual book sale is a tradition that no one ever wants to stop doing,” said Dahlstrom. “But the amount of work is horrendous. It’s the moving of books, the sorting, the setting up.”

Dahlstrom and other volunteers—“We don’t make a dime”—do it because of the obvious: they love books, and they love the Edmonds Library.

Dahlstrom is, however, a little worried about the increased popularity of e-books. “People aren’t reading as much these days,” she said. “I mean, they’re reading, but not books. They’ve got their automated reading. I think it’s hurt our sales because people get used to reading on their different machines and they don’t want a book anymore. Me, I’m never going to quit having a book in my hands. That’s what I like. It’s soothing. I guess I’m just old.”

To learn more or to join the Friends of the Edmonds Library, you can go to its website.

The Friends of the Edmonds Library has its annual luncheon today, June 23, at noon in the library’s Plaza Room. The theme is Lure of the Wetlands. Guest speaker Keeley O'Connell will make a presentation titled Edmonds Marsh Restoration and the Edmonds Community.