Library Sale Boasts 70,000 Items for Less Than $1

There are usually some 200,000 items available for check out at the Clinton-Macomb Public Library’s main branch, but from March 2-7, more than 70,000 books, DVDs, CDs and games will also be on site and on sale for less than $1 each.

The Friends of the Library’s Winter Book Sale, which opens to the public on March 3, has been 4 1/2 months in the making.

“This sale represents four and a half months worth of collecting,” said Jan Jones, Friends of the Library member. “These are donations from everybody–anybody that cares to donate books to the library as well as the books that are deleted from the library’s collection.” 

Book sales, which occur throughout the year, are the Friends’ primary means of raising money for the library.

“All monies go to the library to fund the entertainment programs for children and adults, for special items the librarians would like to have but there are no funds for and special programs at all the branches,” Jones said. “We just bought two new computers for the children’s area and defibrillators for every building (with funds raised through sales).”

The CMPL’s primary fundraising organization, the Friends help supplement the cost of library programs such as the Sunday Concert Series, movie nights and summer reading contests.

“We buy everything that they want that they haven’t got in their budget,” said Bea Galaska, Friends of the Library member.

While the first books sales more than a decade ago raised only a few hundred dollars, sales in recent years have totaled more than $50,000.

“The library needs money, and it’s a lot of fun and you meet a lot of different people,” Galaska said.

Jones said visitors to the Winter Book Sale will find books in every nonfiction category and all fiction genres as well as an entire room of children’s books, a second room filled with VHS tapes, DVDs, CDs and books on tape, and a third room devoted to quality hardcover’s and special editions. Each section is clearly marked for genre and alphabetized.

“You name it, we have it,” Galaska said, save for parenting texts, textbooks and outdated medical and computer guides which are not included in the sale.

Doors open for members of Friends of the Library from 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. March 2. Membership for the group is available at the door for $15.

The sale is open to the public from noon-8 p.m. March 3, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. March 4-5, 1:15 p.m.-3:15 p.m. March 6 and 9:30 a.m.-noon March 7.

Shoppers can purchase a bag of books on March 6 for $5 and remaining items are free on March 7 as the sale draws to a close.

In addition to the sale, the Friends of the Library will also host a quilt raffle, courtesy of the Quilt Guilt of Metro Detroit. Five handmade quilts will be raffled off during the sale and shoppers can purchase tickets for $1 each or six for $5.

All proceeds benefit library programming.

“(The sale is important) to fund special programs and meet the interests of different people,” Jones said. “If we can get the books in the hands of people who can’t afford to buy them new or to have books in their homes, we’re happy.”

The Winter Book Sale is held at the Clinton-Macomb Public Library's main branch, 40900 Romeo Plank Road, Clinton Township.

No strollers, cell phones, scanners or other electrical devices are allowed at the sale.