Pre-COVID-19, the Friends of the Burke County Public Library earned about $10,000 each year with semi-annual book sales. A sale involved BRIDGE workers (Young Offenders Forest Conservation Program) hauling boxes of books on city trucks from the Morganton library to the Collett Street Recreation Center. Dozens of library volunteers assisted, setting up tables and working long hours to sort, categorize and display the thousands of books. Shoppers carted away their bargain-priced selections over a two-day period from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon.
The library has held no book sale at the Rec since September 2019.
As a former Friends of the Burke County Public Library board member, I’d been involved in these sales for many years. I recently spoke with Kim Luddington of Morganton, a Friends board member who chairs the book sale committee, and asked her what the library was doing to make up for the loss of income.
People are also reading…
Luddington, a retired veterinarian who moved with her husband from Minneapolis to Fayetteville in 2004 then to Morganton 11 years ago, has volunteered for the public library since 2013. She said in addition to about $200 monthly income in used book sales from Morganton library’s Book Nook, the library has partnered with ThriftBooks, an online seller of used books. (More later on the Book Nook.)
“ThriftBooks is nationwide, and they get a lot of books from libraries,” Luddington said. “We have to box and palletize all our books for them, then shrink wrap each filled pallet.”
Each finished pallet is about 1,000 pounds and requires lots of physical labor and space.
“The History Museum has generously allowed us to use their annex,” Luddington said. “We keep the books there for a few days because there’s no space in the library to keep all these books on pallets.”
She scheduled three ThriftBooks shipments in September. The goal is to have the maximum 10 pallets ready for every pick-up.
“There’s a shipping charge every time they come,” Luddington said. “We don’t have a dock, so we can only do a small truck and they can take 10 pallets.”
How much is earned from ThriftBooks? Luddington said, “We get a percentage after their sales and shipping charge. It’s been great since we couldn’t have book sales. They recycle or donate everything they can’t resell.”
The Friend’s first ThriftBook sale earned more than $2,200. She said that so far, the proceeds from the September shipments have reached $1,200.
One of the issues after book sales at the Rec was what to do with the leftover books. Not a problem with ThriftBooks.
“Their big thing is to find new homes for books and resell or repurpose in a sustainable manner,” Luddington said. “They also tell us how much of a difference we’ve made—saving landfill space, thousands of gallons of water, electricity, greenhouse gasses and trees.”
She added that none of the ThriftBook shipments would be possible without the labor of the BRIDGE workers.
Books sent to ThriftBooks are those from library shelves which haven’t been checked out in years and also many books from community donations.
Luddington emphasized that the generosity of the community is key to earning funds for the library, especially with the Book Nook, the Morganton Library’s used bookstore located to the right after entering the front doors. Hundreds of books are available there.
“The community’s been very generous in donating books and in very good condition,” she said. “The Book Nook is all community donations.”
The library does place some of the donated books on its shelves for readers to borrow.
Offerings at the Book Nook include young adult and children’s volumes in addition to contemporary fiction and nonfiction.
“We pretty much try to have a little of everything,” Luddington said. “Volunteers add new books every week.”
Prices are $3 for hardbacks, $2 for trade (large-sized) paperbacks, and $1 for mass market paperbacks.
In addition to Luddington, regular Friends of the library volunteers who sort and box books and help with the Book Nook are Barbara Degen, Betty Ann Winters, Carol Ann Bauer, Billy and Judy Wright and Dan Craig.
“The staff takes money and are a tremendous help,” Luddington said. “Jim Wilson, library director, helps with processing and moving donated items.”
She said the Friends are tentatively planning a book sale at the Rec in April 2023.
One important thing people can do to support the public library is join the Friends of the Burke County Public Library.
“I’d like people to join Friends not just for the book sales, but to support library programs,” she said.
Among other programs, Friends fund the Summer Reading Program, the library’s free access to Ancestry.com and the Wowbrary service to inform readers about new books available.
For more information about the library’s programs or joining Friends, call the library at 828-764-9260.
Gwen Veazey is a member of the Morganton Writers Group.
