• Take home an entire bag of items for only $2
This week, the Star Valley Branch Library is offering their Spring Book Sale. Books of all types and genre are available for purchase at affordable prices through Saturday, March 29.
“We have a system called ‘weeding’ where we let go of books that no longer are being checked out or are no longer current,” said Kestina Roberts, Youth Services Librarian at the Star Valley Branch Library in Afton. “We especially try to keep nonfiction books only a certain number of years so that the information is up to date.” Librarians follow guidelines from a manual that outlines criteria for rotating content on the shelves. This is the process that the librarians go through in their decisions “to pull older books and make room for new books.”
Book sales are offered quarterly at the library, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Hard cover books can be purchased for $1. Paperback books, children’s books, and DVD’s are $.50 each. Patrons who wish to purchase items in a bundle can take an entire bag home for only $2.
The objective of weeding is to keep current content on the library shelves. Funds from the book sales are earmarked for the Library Foundation, which sponsors the library’s carnivals, book balls and summer reading programs. Occasionally, funds go toward book club kits and other types of library offerings.
According to Roberts, book sales have been offered for at least 20 years. Books selected for the sale that do not sell are placed in storage until the next sale. If an item does not sell within two sales, it is donated.
Book sales “keep us close to the community,” said Roberts. “It’s a really fun time to see some new faces. Book sales draw new people to the library which is always fun to get more people in here,” whether you are buying or renting a book. “This is a more affordable way for you to own some of the books that you love that we won’t have in the library anymore or that we might have replaced. Sometimes in our book sales, we have really popular ones that people might want or have been wanting to get and this is an easier option for them. It’s a little bit more affordable. It’s just a nice place to find all of these things that you might want in your home.”
