Karen O’Meara, President of the Friends of Patrick Henry Library, helps a customer load his backpack with books at the Fall Book Sale Saturday. Photo by Colin Stoecker/The Connection
Saturday morning, the Patrick Henry library in Vienna was packed with eager shoppers looking to find gems in the heap of books for sale. The second book sale this year had books and customers overflowing the tables and maneuvering with boxes of genres labeled books.
Book sales are a way for public libraries to raise money by selling the donated books back to the public.
Karen O’Meara, a Vienna resident and president of the Friends of Patrick Henry library since 2000, checked out customers who came to her with stacks of books to purchase. “It makes money, everybody seems to be enjoying rummaging through old books,” said O’Meara.
Sky Maburna, a restaurant manager, was one of the customers at Saturday’s book sale. “These books are to decorate in the restaurant that I work at,” he said. “We look for old books with a classic look.” He was purchasing a collection of old books for $50.
“I think these book sales are great and I think that the special automatic scanners should be banned,” said Keith McCormick, another shopper at the sale.
He referred to the electronic book scanning devices that dedicated amateurs and book resellers use to identify books that have a greater resale value. They then can resell them online. Some people believe that it gives them an upper hand at community book sales.
The book sale did have a sense of urgency where shoppers competed with the clock to find a few good books out of many. However, opinion on which books were the best was different for everybody.
“It’s fantastic for kids books,” said Mike Janik, a Vienna resident who attended the book sale with his son Zachary. “My wife and son walk down here during the week to read and we come every time they have a book sale because it’s a good deal. We love Vienna and the library because it’s good for families,” said Janik.
The book sale is expected to raise $5,000 for library goods and services. “We are not allowed to buy new books through the Fairfax County Public library system,” said O’Meara. But the money will benefit the library staff and customers who use their community library.