Flipping Through the Pages of the 2017 Used Book Sale Down Under
The serious final stages start with the saw horses out front on Thursday morning.
The LPL underground parking garage had to be kept clear on Sept. 21 so our custodial coordinator Annika Dailey and custodian Tony Veri could bring in the boxes of donated books that have been stored elsewhere in stages since patrons have dropped them off and volunteers have sorted them by genre into boxes.
Hundreds and hundreds of boxes.
There's a routine that's been established to get ready for the Annual Used Book Sale Down Under the community has grown to cherish over the years.
Tables are rented and set up.
Volunteers put together the signs that allow shoppers to find the types of books, DVDs and CDs they'd like to purchase.
More volunteers come and place all those boxes into the appropriate places around the can-signs.
Finally, staffers in charge of the event are satisfied with the setup.
Friday night comes the big test with Early Shopper/Dealer Night. Patrons buy tickets to get first crack at the merchandise.
A few of them bring in technological help in the form of a scanner. The man pictured here explained to me how his phone app feeds him much data from a book's bar code tied to its Amazon statistics. The read-out informs him how many copies of the book are being sold, and for how much on average. Importantly, he says, it also tells him how much Amazon will pay him for the book.
The sun shines brightly for the first free-admission day of the event.
A crowd lines up outside the entrance to get inside at 9 a.m. sharp on Saturday, Sept. 23, following one final hour of early bird shopping for those who paid $10.
Sunday starts with the biggest line to get in of the event. Customers queued up the garage drive and along Tulip Street, almost to the main entrance of the library.
Bag Sale Day of Sunday, Sept. 24, attracts the business.
The brown-paper bags donated by the kind folks at Nichols Supermarkets across First Street are handed out to patrons as they filter in. Everything they can fit inside costs $5.
And there's no limit to the amount of bags a customer can purchase for $5 each.
By this time, I've stopped thinking of it as a parking garage and started thinking of it as our book store.
Assembly member Pamela J. Hunter and LPL Board Trustee John Hluchyj think the Collectibles corner is pretty nifty.
As the closing time of 3 p.m. approaches, empty boxes are removed by staffers and volunteers and others are consolidated.
Customers are told to head to the Tally Stations and Cashiers so final break-downs can commence.
The good boxes must be broken down and saved for another year of use.
Other boxes are used to send leftover books north with folks that distribute them to needy organizations.
Empty tables are folded up, to be picked up by the rental company people.
And the Underground Parking Garage will be ready for action when LPL workers and then patrons arrive on Monday, Sept. 25.
