FOL donations top $150,000

SANDPOINT — The Friends of the Library (FOL) celebrates its 20th year this month in rare form.  Last week, the volunteer group held another record-breaking book sale after announcing that it had donated more than $150,000 to the East Bonner County Library since FOL was formed in 1989.

“The amount of money we’ve been able to raise for the library is impressive, especially when you consider that we sell books for 50 cents-a-paperback, hardbacks for a dollar and romance novels and children’s books for a dime,” said Bette Heffner, past-president of the organization and chairman of the book sale.

FOL tried bake sales and booths at other events in its early years, but soon found that the sale held at the library was the most effective way to raise money. 

“We did over $1,600 at this past sale,” Heffner said.  “That’s the largest one yet.”

According to Pat Ramsey, another FOL past-president, interest began to snowball this year, taking sales right along for the ride.

“The community has discovered us over the past six months and we’ve become like a giant Farmer’s Market for book lovers,” she said.  “We have to keep people away until the sale starts, because they’re lined up right out the door.”

The popular event started well before the East Bonner County Library moved to its current location in 2000, taking place prior to that in the basement of the former library building on Second Avenue.

“We held it down in what I called ‘the dungeon,’” said Pat Stevens, who worked with local resident Jim Clarke to form FOL in 1989.  “Our first book sale netted exactly $23.15.”

Stevens recalls the excitement generated by the basement sales, with one in particular showing just how tenacious local readers tend to be.

“There were probably about 15-20 people at the book sale one morning when the lights went out,” she said.  “It was completely dark down there.  People just took a couple of books up to the landing, where there was still a little bit of light coming in through the glass door and, after they decided which ones they wanted, they’d go back downstairs in the dark and pick out a few more.

“Not one person left while those lights were out,” she added.

Pat Ramsey is convinced that the same spirit has carried over to more recent sales, which she described as resembling treasure hunts.

“There’s a palpable energy that starts building at about quarter to 10 and continues to rise as people find what they’re looking for,” she said.  “If you can do that — find a book or an author you love — it’s really exciting, almost triumphant.”

The local library’s cause has triumphed, too, thanks to FOL, which funded the Diana Schuppel mural in the Children’s Library before going on to fund a sound system and speaker’s podium in the meeting room, folding tables, the “new book” shelves at the entrance to the main library and an information kiosk in the outer lobby.

The most recent acquisition was an $11,600 color printer, which will be available for use by the public and library staff.

These donations are not automatic, Pat Stevens pointed out.

“The Friends of the Library is a 501(c)3 organization and the library has to come to us and make requests for things it would like to have,” she said.  “We’ve funded most of them, but we’ve also turned a few down over the years.

“We’ve provided computers and carts and shelves — and cash — to fill in where the library’s budget can’t,” she added.

A core group of about 15 members spends nearly 50 hours each month sorting up to 500 books for the FOL’s monthly sale.  The titles come from library books that have been pulled from circulation, as well as donations from individuals.

To help replenish the library shelves, FOL donates a new book every time one of its members marks another year of service and makes an additional donation when a member or someone in their immediate family passes away.

“It’s a nice way to get new books in there that aren’t in the library’s budget,” Heffner said.

FOL also supports reading throughout the community by donating books to the county jail and juvenile detention center. 

Following Hurricane Katrina, the group shipped a box of books to families affected by that disaster.

Ramsey views the book sale as a model of how to recycle and reuse, since many of the books come back through the event to raise money again and again after they have been read.

The upsurge in interest and the new income records set by recent events are nice, Heffner said, but the joy of watching customers leave with books under their arms is also one of the rewards of putting in the hours it takes to run a successful sale.

“This is a community that loves to read,” she said.

“And that speaks well of any community.”

Friends of the Library meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month at noon, except for July and August, in the “Rude Girls Room” meeting area at the Sandpoint branch of the library.  Book sales are held on the first Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the outer lobby.  Volunteers and board members are always welcome to join the group.

For information, call the library at 263-6930 or visit www.ebonnerlibrary.org