Joy Whittington of Burke, book sale coordinator: “Even with the e-readers people still want books.” Photo by John Esper/The Connection
The Burke Centre Library hosted a book fair last week Thursday, June 2 to Sunday, June 5. People came by to search the bookshelves of the library to find a great book for a low price.
Books are provided by donations from local residents coming by with boxes filled with books of all different genres, enticing all book lovers. This book fair helps kick off a summer of reading, encouraging kids to read over summer break and adults to find a good book or two to read.
“I love books per se and this neighborhood loves books,” said Joy Whittington of Burke, the book sale coordinator. “Even with the e-readers people still want books,” Whittington said in an interview at the library in one of the backrooms; it was filled with boxes of books marked with different genre names.
Whittington said books are brought in by donations and this year received over 300 boxes of books. The books are sold a fraction of the price of what they were originally sold. Money received from selling the books is given to the library to help support it with whatever help it needs. This way money and books are recycled in a system of buying and donating and buying again.
Book sales is Whittington’s job, she coordinates four large book sales along with two children’s book sales. She also helps with a daily sale in the library’s hallway. “It’s an everyday thing almost 24/7, not quite,” Whittington said with a laugh.
The book sale was seen as a success. According to Whittington hundreds came out to look for books to bring back home while helping out their local library. People of all ages could be found looking for books of every genre.
“These little three-year-olds look up to you with their book and say ‘Thank you for the book’ … it’s just too cute,” Whittington said.