This year’s Lambton County Library used book sale runs July 24 at the Wyoming Fairgrounds from 1 pm to 8 pm, or until everything is sold, whichever comes first.
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Shoppers are encouraged to check county library social media – @LCLibraryCA – during the day to see if the sale is still on before they leave for the fairgrounds, said Brian Bowley, library technical services supervisor.
Books are priced at $1 each; kids’ books are 50 cents each. Shoppers also can bring a standard-size shopping bags and fill it up for $5. There’s a limit of six bags to a person. Other items, such as DVDs and audiobooks will also be available.
The sale accepts debit, Visa and Mastercard and cash.
About 700 people dropped by last year’s sale, Bowley said.
The county library holds the sale each year to clear space on its shelves for new books.
“We always have new books coming in,” he said.
The library has 25 branches spread among the 11 municipalities that make up Lambton and it has previously said about 27,000 new library items are purchased annually.
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Because space is limited at branches, and the library headquarters in Wyoming, books and items are taken out of circulation through the year.
“We have a lot of smaller libraries,” Bowley said. “It’s always a challenge to keep space for all the new stuff.”
Generally, books get tagged for the sale when they haven’t been borrowed for three years, he said.
Extra copies, purchased to meet initial demand that has since declined, also end up in the sale.
“What people will notice this year is that a lot of the books are gently used books that they are maybe not even a year old,” Bowley said.
The library hasn’t counted how many individual items will be in this year’s sale, but they filled 280 laundry-basket-sized storage totes.
“It’s going to be a little less than last year when we had about 350 (totes),” Bowley said.
Library staff will move the items to the fair building and set up on the day before the sale.
Money raised helps pay for programs and new books, Bowley said.
The library also makes books taken out of circulation available to local schools and community groups, he said.
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