By Corinne LestchThe Daily Northwestern
Thousands of books will be on sale for only $2 this weekend at the downtown Evanston Public Library.
Most of the books were donated specifically to be sold, but the library made its own contributions.
“If we buy a book that is a bestseller at the time, we’ll buy a lot of them, and sometimes we’ll have extra that we no longer need,” said Executive Secretary Kate Todd, a spokeswoman for the library. “They’re all in good condition.”
The donations come from community members, and the books attract mostly used-book dealers, teachers and diehard book lovers.
“We do our best to get the word out,” Todd said.
In addition to advertising in the Evanston Review and Chicago Tribune, she and her staff sent out postcards to a mailing list of about 2,000 people, some in Evanston and others from as far away as Wisconsin, Indiana and Kansas, Todd said.
“There’s a cottage industry in selling used books,” Todd said. “For our bigger sales, we get a lot of the dealers.”
Hundreds of people flock to the book sales. The library usually hosts two or three book sales per year, with “mini sales” in between. This will be the library’s 11th year running major book sales.
“It depends on the volunteers and the amount of books (we get),” Todd said.
This book sale will be run by about 20 volunteers.
Blanche Gildin, a 30-year resident of Evanston, has been the head volunteer at the library’s book sales for about 25 years.
“Many of them (volunteers) have been with me for many years,” Gildin said.
She and other community members gather on Mondays year-round to volunteer, have lunch and tell stories, Gildin said.
A computer graphics artist, Gildin said she thoroughly enjoys not only coordinating the book sales but also involving herself in the library’s renovations. The planned improvements include construction of a permanent home for the ongoing book sales in the library’s lobby, Gildin said.
“What we do now is we sell (books) throughout the year in carts in the library,” Gildin said. “But they’re going to be remodeling.”
Gildin said as far as she knows, the Evanston Public Library is the only place to go for major book sales in the city.
Not many undergraduate students show up, Todd said, “but we probably have a fair number of graduate students.”
The sale’s books are organized into sections such as children’s, bestsellers and current fiction. The sale also boasts a large classics section.
“The only thing we really don’t have is textbooks,” Todd said. “But aside from that, we have everything from art to history to science.”
In addition to typical book genres, Gildin said the sale also has a recommendation section, where she, the volunteers and librarians offer their favorite selections from the bestseller list along with their own personal choices.
“It’s wonderful,” Gildin said. “You always come across books that you’ve always wanted to read.”
Reach Corinne Lestch at [email protected].
Take one home with you: Books on sale for $2
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The sale will be open Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Where: The third floor on the east side of the building, 1703 Orrington Ave.
