Lambton County Library used book sale returns Wednesday

Organizers of Wednesday’s Lambton County Library annual used book sale at the fairgrounds in Wyoming are trying something new to boost the chances regular readers can go home with a fair share of treasures.

This year’s annual sale of older books, audiobooks and DVDS will have a six-bag per person limit in an attempt to prevent used book dealers from scooping up all the best titles at the event set to begin at 1 pm and run to 8 pm, or while supplies last.

“There has been some concern in the past about dealers, perhaps, taking more books than they should,” said Brian Bowley, a technical services supervisor with the county library.

“We’ve had some members of the public with concerns about fairness at the book sale, so we’re trying to implement a fair limit that will let everybody have a good selection of books.”

Bowley said they settled on a six-bag limit after seeing a number of families at last year’s sale buying four to six bags of books.

The fairgrounds are at 595 Main St. Wyoming.

While library staff don’t have a count of the number of items available, Bowley estimated about half as much will be on sale, compared to last year..

“Last year, we had about two-and-a-half years of stuff saved up” because the sale wasn’t held during pandemic restrictions, he said.

“Now we have about a year’s worth of stuff.”

The books and other items have come off the shelves at the county library’s 25 branches for a variety of reasons and the sale is an opportunity to make room for new titles.

“If something hasn’t been borrowed by a patron in three years, that’s typically an item . . . to get deleted out of our collection and put into the book sale.” Bowley said.

“Typically, in the lifecycle of books, when it’s new there’s tons of interest. . . and generally that interest runs out and the book just starts sitting on the shelf.”

The library also typically buys several copies of a new popular book to keep up with initial demand and duplicate copies go into the sale when demand slows.

“A lot of our library spaces are quite small so we’re constantly trying to fit in new materials,” Bowley said. To do that, “you have to get rid of some of the old stuff.”

At one time, the library held two smaller sales each year but moved to a single summer sale following the pandemic.

“Last year there was a tremendous response,” Bowley said. “There were almost 2,000 people who came to the book sale, and a lot of those people came within the first couple of hours.”

Many books sold quickly, he said.

“The turnout was a lot higher than anyone was expecting,” Bowley said. “It’s probably because we hadn’t had a book sale in two-and-a-half years.”

There was a long line of customers waiting when the doors opened last year, he said.

“It was nice to welcome everybody back to the sale,” Bowley said. “It was just a lot of people.”

The building’s capacity limit could mean some customers may have to wait outside so library staff are recommending buyers come prepared with umbrellas for rain and cold drinks if it’s a hot day.

Items will be sold for $1 for adult titles and 50 cents for children’s titles, or $5 for shopper’s own standard-sized shopping bag filled with books. Sales are cash only.

Proceeds from the sale are used to help support the library system and books not sold may be recycled, saved for the next sale or go to a community group, Bowley said.

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