The Garden City Telegram
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Book sale a chance to grab deals
Published 6/1/2009 in Beef Empire Days-Entertainment
By SHAJIA AHMAD
Shoppers thumbed through New York Times' bestsellers, summer blockbuster movies, advice from Christian scholars to the Dalai Lama, and paperback romance novels.
"Many of the items are still like new — it's pretty hard to damage a book," said Ken Harsha, a Friends of the Library volunteer, during his shift at the book sale Saturday. "What's interesting is to watch how people shop and what they're looking for."
Most of the used books, videos and music at this year's Friends of the Library book sale are items that are deleted from circulation, while others are donations from the public.
The annual sale that began Saturday and runs in conjunction with Beef Empire Days is much larger in size and collection than the Bag of Books sales held each January, though both are aimed at raising funds for new library materials. Volunteers hope to raise about $3,000 during this year's annual sale, as they've done in previous years, they said.
Harsha said one of the most surprising purchases by shoppers looking for a bargain are the dozens of vinyl Gramophone records, which represent music spanning decades as early as the swing era of the 1930s and '40s and to more modern, eclectic tastes and styles.
The volunteers also have created a new section entitled "Old and Collectible" at this year's sale, where antique books printed as long as 75 years ago lay for treasure-hunting readers. Older editions of classic titles such as "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes and "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens also were among the classics.
While some shoppers basketed only a couple of paperbacks, others took advantage of the $1 and 50 cent copies of their favorite titles.
Earlier Saturday morning, Harsha said some shoppers bagged $40 and $64 worth of books and multimedia.
"I don't remember how many books that was, but you've got to have a lot to get to that amount," he said and laughed.
One shopper with a stack of books at least two feet high said his love for Kansas history and politics brought him to the bargain sale.
Larry Kepley, a farmer from Ulysses, added that because he has so many books at home, the annual book sale is his way of recycling books he's already read or no longer wants, and finding new ones.
"You know, I've got so many books, I estimated once that I would have to live until I was 130 to read all of them," Kepley added and laughed.
After bagging his new reads, Kepley walked out with dozens of books and movies at a bargain price: $35.
The book sale runs through Sunday and is open during regular hours at the Finney County Public Library, 605 E. Walnut St. in Garden City.
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