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Published on 01/25/1999 All articles from this issue

Friends of L.A. Library book sale draws a crowd

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By Clyde Noel

Special to the Town Crier

It's like the rush to find bargain merchandise the day after Christmas. Once the doors are opened, a tidal wave of people rush to stacked tables to select paperback books for 50 cents and hardback books from $1-$5. It's the three-times-a-year used-book sale by the Friends of the Los Altos Library. It started on Friday night for members, and continued Saturday and Sunday, open to the public.

Phil Dauber, of Los Altos Hills, kept looking for Tony Hillerman books. Los Altan Phyllis Border looked for inexpensive cookbooks, and Bill Smythe, of Palo Alto, checked out tapes and CDs.

"If you think this is crowded, I can remember when we only used one room of the old Hillview School. Now we need three multipurpose rooms," said Pat Johnson, a Friends of the Library volunteer for more than 20 years. "When we started we used benches to pile books on as well as tables, and it was complete congestion."

The first sale in 1958 netted $146. Today, 40 years later, people select from 25,000 books. In the sale last September, the Friends of the Library made $15,000. With the three major sales and the annual Christmas sale, Friends of the Library net more than $60,000 annually for the Los Altos library.

Volunteers make it happen. They've been collecting books since the last sale in September. Twenty volunteers put in two-hour shifts for a 13-week period, moving the books from the two Los Altos libraries to a collection room in Hillview Community Center where they are sorted into categories. According to Elayne Dauber, Friends of the Library past president, each volunteer works more than 100 hours a year.

Earl Pampeyan, of Los Altos, has volunteered for eight years. "I had good experiences in a library when I grew up, and I'll help the Friends of the Library any way I can." he said.

Los Altos residents, Hardin and Darlene Smith are co-chairs of the book sale. They see that books are moved to tables and prepare for the three-day event.

Darlene is the musical and art specialist. She selects big coffee table books for the art section and sheet music, tapes and CDs for the music section.

"The music selection is a big area because people look for music biographies, music dictionaries and music appreciation books," Darlene Smith said.

Johnson said the fiction section receives the most attention every sale, but the computer section is always well scoured as is the foreign language section.

"In last September's sale, everyone was looking for Russian language books," Johnson said. "Fiction just flies out the door, especially paper backs because people take their limit. Where can you get 15 paperbacks of current and popular authors for $7.50."

Books are placed in wooden fruit crates, 30 books to a crate. 21 crates fit on a 14 foot table.

Dauber said most of the crates were received from Mid-Town Market when they closed, but they beg supermarkets constantly for more crates to use because they receive more used books.

The event lasts three days with Friends of the Library members receiving first pick on Friday night. Saturday's sale is open to everyone and Sunday's sale is fill a big bag instead of 15 books per person.