THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 16, 1994 TAG: 9409140128
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
There will be books, books and more books this weekend at what has been a tradition for Chesapeake book lovers.
Readers from throughout Chesapeake and neighboring cities are ready for the annual book sale sponsored by Friends of the Chesapeake Public Library.
At this weekend's sale, browsers, readers and bibliophiles will get the opportunity to dig through thousands of books donated by Friends members, generous citizens, community groups and the library.
This year's sale takes place Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the former Peoples Drug Store site in the Great Bridge Shopping Center, Cedar Road and Battlefield Boulevard.
The cost?
Hardback books will sell for fifty cents, paperbacks will go for a quarter each and magazines will be sold for a dime. That means you'll be able to haul away several pounds of books for only a few dollars.
Book choices will be as numerous as the thousands of offerings available. You name it, they'll have it.
There will be textbooks, medical books, computer books, cook books and titles in history, sociology, the arts and the sciences, not to mention the thousands of fiction works covering all types of novels from romance and gothic to thrillers and mysteries. The biggest sellers, though, will be hundreds of children's books available each year.
Profits from the sale will be used to support projects of the Friends of the Chesapeake Public Library, a volunteer group of citizens under the leadership of its president Sara McBride, who enhance the public library experience through donations of equipment and needed items. In addition, the Friends support various library activities and special events including the annual summer children's reading programs, the Poetry Festival, Civil War Days, Visiting Authors events and many others.
The Friends also help support the Tidewater Literacy Council of Chesapeake and help advertise all the library's special events, services and other features through its newsletters and bulletin boards.
There are about 500 on the Friends' membership roster. To join, one simply has to fill out a form on the back of its regular newsletter and mail in the appropriate dues, which will be used to help fund the group's library services. Members are asked to attend only the group's annual meeting, usually held at the first of the year.
The group is financially supported through sales of library tote bags at each branch and from the scores of copying machines it maintains at each Chesapeake public library site.
But this weekend's sale is its biggest fund-raiser.
``To lose the Friends would be like losing a right arm,'' Margaret Forehand, Chesapeake Library Director, said of the group.
And Friends members will have one up on everybody else in the city during the weekend book sale: they get first crack at all of the thousands of books before the public gets its chance.
The members-only sale takes place Friday from noon until 8 p.m. The public will get its chance on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.
Wish you could get in on the advance book sale?
No problem. Just show up at the members-only sale on Friday and become a Friends member at the membership booth by the door, then you'll be able to join the other members as they gleefully ferret out those great book bargains. MEMO: To join the Friends of the Chesapeake Public Library, drop by your local
branch, ask for a Friends newsletter and fill in the membership form. In
addition, membership booths will be at this weekend's book sale. Dues
range from $5 for one year, $8 for two, $10 for three and $100 for a
life membership. There are also patron and corporation memberships
available. by CNB