T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Librarian Sarah Rosenblum shows “Martha’s Entertaining: A Year of Celebrations” by Martha Stewart, amidst the thousands of books available at the annual Friends of Marshalltown Public Library Book Sale. The sale begins tomorrow, and will last through Monday at the library.

The Friends of the Marshalltown Public Library Annual Book Sale begins tomorrow.

Thousands of books are neatly sitting on tables for eager readers to buy and enjoy. Library Director Sarah Rosenblum said there is usually a line of people waiting to get in when the sale kicks off, eager to have the first pick.

“This year we have a lot of cookbooks,” she said. “It’s kind of hit-or-miss on what we get. Sometimes somebody passes on, and [the family] cleans out the home. You can tell they were a World War II buff or liked to cook.”

The books are organized according to type, such as fiction or nonfiction; and genre, such as science fiction or sports. Signs are on top of the tables to clearly mark where a certain type of book can be found. Rosenblum said the fiction is “kind of rough” in the sorting, but they have gotten a lot better.

“If we have time, we go through and try to get all of the Nora Roberts books together,” she said. “It’s fun. I like to go through and see.”

There might not be as many books this year, compared to previous sales, but Rosenblum said they are still taking donations.

“We are still accepting donations,” she said. “We take books, DVDs, CDs, records. If we don’t put them in this sale, we will sort them for the ongoing sale.”

Rosenblum said sometimes they get a lot of donations at the last minute. They are also more careful in choosing what is included in the annual sale.

“We’re more judicial about things we put in this sale, the ongoing sale or add to the collection,” she said. “We get brand new books, and we add it, or if we know it’s going to circle a lot, we keep it as a backup, such as ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ or ‘Lessons in Chemistry,’ kind of the hot books.”

Book lovers who want to access the sale right away tomorrow will have to get a Friends of the Library membership. Fortunately, Rosenblum said they will sell memberships at the door for $10, which is affordable for a lot of people.

“We do get some dealers who come,” she said. “Sometimes they will buy 10 boxes of stuff. They use their scanners on their phone, and maybe they are getting a really great treasure.”

There is no fee to go to the sale on Saturday and Sunday. During the first two days, hardcover and trade paperback books will be sold for $1 and mass market, pocket-size paperbacks for 25 cents.

The traditional bag sale will be on Sunday. A person can get a grocery bag of books, movies or CDs for just $1. She said they do not want people to use garbage bags.

“We get a lot of people who do come, and they will come a couple times on Sunday,” Rosenblum said. “A lot of children’s books tend to go out on Sunday.”

There will be a $1 admission fee on Monday, and people can take as many books as they would like.

“On Monday, you can take whatever you want,” she said. “We do have some people who come in and take a lot. We also work with retirement homes, and will set aside books for them.”

In addition to the large annual sale, Rosenblum said library volunteers are now selling books online on eBay, such as the “Foundation” trilogy by Isaac Asimov.

“We’re plucking stuff out we think has some value,” she said. “We’re making some more money. We do have some things of higher value. We have two wonderful, dedicated volunteers who are doing that. They get very excited when they get a ping, telling them a book has sold.”

Online sales is something Rosenblum has wanted to do for several years. Up to now, she said the library has made money through volume, but some research has helped them raise the price on the more valuable tomes.

Rosenblum said they also bring in some funds through the ongoing sale in the main section of the library. She has a goal of making $30 each day from the ongoing sale. Sometimes they meet that mark, and other days they do not.

“Some days we make more, and some days not at all,” Rosenblum said. “We have people who come a lot.”

The annual sale is one of the biggest fundraisers for the Friends. Rosenblum said they have raised $4,000 from the sale in the last two years. Proceeds are used to buy material and pay for programs at the library.

“It would be nice to make $4,000 or $4,200,” she said. “It depends on what is going on this weekend.”

EVENT DETAILS:

Name: Friends of the Marshalltown Public Library Annual Book Sale

Where: Marshalltown Public Library

Address: 105 W. Boone St.

Hours: 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., Friday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday; 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday and; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.