Fall Is Here and Books Are Cheap

One of the great things about being a Friend of the Euclid Public Library is that you feel good about yourself. The Friends do a lot of stuff, but my particular Good Thing is the semiannual book sale–a service for the library and the community.

It's a service for the library because the library must–must!–get rid of material to make room for all those new books and movies. The shelves, being made of metal, not Spandex, don't stretch.

It's a service for the community partly because it's a place for people to donate books. Rather than going to the trash, they go to people who want them. And it's a community service also because where else can you find books, music, movies, etc., etc. so very cheap? Have you priced new books recently? Ouch!  Even e-books cost an awful lot.

But at the Friends' sale, the prices are 50¢ for a hardbound book, 25¢ for a paperback, and–the most expensive regular item–$2 for a DVD. How can you beat it?

Friday, October 24, is Members' Night, when members of the Friends can shop from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The library is closed Friday nights; only the sale rooms and rest rooms will be open. Non-members can pay $5 to join at the door.

On October 25, Saturday, the doors open at 9:00 a.m. and close at 4:00 p.m. I think this is the best day to shop; there's room to breathe (Friday night is crowded) and still a very good selection.

Sunday, October 26, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., is Bag Day. For $3.00, you buy a grocery bag to fill. Amazingly, there's usually more than enough left to make the bag a huge bargain. DVDs are included in Bag Day, though they're usually all gone by 1:20.

Books are divided into categories roughly corresponding to what the library uses. Most sections (Mystery, Biography, Children's Books, Religion) are easy to understand, but a few are a bit confusing.
        
1. The 100's are psychology and philosophy. Many self-help books, the ones that deal with the head rather than the body, are here.
2. Sociology and other stuff about how people deal with one another is in the 300's--law, money, politics; also etiquette, true crime, even folk tales.
3. If you want to learn useful things, you want the 600's, the technology section, which covers cooking, health, engineering, carpentry, car repair, makeup, roofing, and, unexpectedly, child-rearing and business.
3. For recreation, turn to the arts, the 700's–-painting and football, opera and crafting, swimming and skiing. Everything that's for fun or beauty rather than purely for practical use is in the 700's.

Audio-visual materials are sorted by type--DVDs, CDs, videotapes, audiotapes, records. (Remember records? The Friends sell them for 50¢.)

Every sale is a different treasure hunt.

Euclid Public Library is at 631 E. 222nd Street in Euclid, straight north off I-90 and SR-2. There's a Veterans' Memorial in front of it, complete with a tank, so it's hard to miss. Their website is www.euclidlibrary.org.