Hillsdale Community Library to host book sale

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Hillsdale Community Library to host book sale
Lisa Roberts displays “Readers are Leaders” T-Shirt. Josh Newhook | Collegian

On May 8 and May 15, the Hillsdale Community Library will be hosting a book sale from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in partnership with Friends of the Hillsdale Library.

Lisa Roberts, president of Friends of the Hillsdale Library and former library employee, said this is the first book sale the library has had in a long time.

“They used to have an annual book sale and it was always very popular,” Roberts said. “But it’s been quite a few years.”

On May 8, the first Saturday, paperbacks will be 25 cents each or 5 books for a dollar, and hardcover books will be 50 cents each, Roberts said. On May 15, they will have a “bag sale.” Bags will cost $5 each and will include as many books as customers can fit into them.

Mary Hill, who has been a librarian at Hillsdale Community Library since 2018, said they will be kicking off the book sale with all the books that the library has not circulated in the past five years, which they have collected and boxed during the COVID-19 shutdown.

The book sale will take place in the meeting rooms at the library. In addition, they might display some of the books outside.

“If the weather is nice enough, I think it will be quite lovely to have some of the things outside to entice people and make it more visually welcoming for passers-by to see that there is a sale going on,” Roberts said.

They will be coordinating the book sale with the two Saturday farmer markets in downtown Hillsdale, one of which takes place in the lower part of the library parking lot.

“We are hoping that people will already be in the downtown area for that and they’ll then wander into the book sale,” Roberts said. “This will be an ideal third venue for them to spend Saturday morning and early afternoon shopping.”

Friends of the Hillsdale Library is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that “helps the library with different funding opportunities and grants,” according to Hill.

Roberts said the group got off to a slow start due to the COVID-19 lockdowns that began briefly after they formed the organization in February 2020.

“We had a few meetings and then we didn’t have meetings. We just had our first meeting of this year a couple of weeks ago,” Roberts said. “We are trying to get things ramped back up.”

The organization is currently very small, but they are hoping to expand, Roberts said.

They are now accepting members for Hillsdale Friends of the Library. Annual dues are $12 for an individual and $24 for a business.

They will be also accepting monetary and book donations going forward. The library is also selling T-shirts, designed by a member of Hillsdale Friends of the Library, for $15 each.

Roberts said she looks forward to giving people the opportunity for books to get into the hands of people who might otherwise not buy them.

“I think these kinds of events are not only good as a fundraiser, but they are also good to get books into the hands of people who sometimes do not have the financial wherewithal to get them any other way,” Roberts said. “They may borrow books from the library, but if they want to own any books, it is not possible.”