The biggest fundraiser for the library, director Sarah Rosenblum said this is the third year the sale has been held. She said she will be happy if the sale raises $3,000. The money will be used to purchase new materials.

“People get to buy their own material and we get books into people’s hands,” she said.

Almost every genre of book can be purchased at the library during the sale — from collectible tomes to children’s books, from autographed copies to anime.

One of the rarer books is “Secrets Behind the Comics,” written by Stan Lee in 1947. There were only 1,000 copies made and the Marshalltown Public Library has one of them.

The Marshalltown Public Library has one of the 1,000 copies ever made of “Secrets Behind the Comics” written by Stan Lee.

Coffee cake will also be on sale for people to snack on at home after they find their must-have reads.

“There’s western. We have a devoted western reader community here,” Rosenblum said. “Science fiction owners are pretty devoted to their books so we don’t get a lot of things donated unless somebody sadly passes away.”

The community meeting room of the library is almost filled to the brim with tables and books. A glass case containing the more valuable books is resting on the other side of the sensors.

Plus the donations keep coming in.

“This year we don’t have as many mass paperbacks and I don’t know why we don’t have as many,” Rosenblum said. “We’re taking everything — paperbacks, romance, mystery, Stephen King, cozy mysteries versus more hard boiled mysteries.”

A book written by Richard Bachman a.k.a. Stephen King, is kept safe inside the collectible display case for the Friends of the Library Book Sale which begins Friday.

She said the library is always excited to get children’s books donated because then they can get them into little hands.

Friends of the Library members will get a chance to get a hold of books before anyone else. There will be a preview night for the members from 5 p.m. -7:30 p.m. on Friday. Members will get a chance to look through and purchase books before the general public. People can also become a member of Friends of the Library by paying the $10 due the day of the sale.

On Saturday, hardcover and trade paperback books will sell for $1 and mass market pocket paperbacks will sell for 25 cents. The popular bag sale will be held on Sunday when people can buy a grocery bag full of books for just $1. On Monday, the library will have an admission fee of $1 and people can take as many books as desired.

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY BOOK SALE:

WHERE: 105 West Boone St.

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.