A large crowd of bargain book shoppers jammed the Friends Room Saturday at the Callaway County Public Library in Fulton to select books to buy for summer reading.
One of them was Barbara Preston of Fulton. "I love books and I enjoy reading," Preston said with seven books stacked under one arm.
"I buy books whenever book sales are held. It's a good chance to pick up some bargains," Preston said.
Mary Fennel of Fulton, co-chairman of the Friends of the Callaway County Public Library, said about 1,500 books had been assembled in the room for this month's sale.
"We have four big sales a year every quarter. Then on months when we don't have a quarterly sale, we have a cart sale. We roll out a cart full of books during those sales, which we have every third Thursday evening during months that we don't have our quarterly sale at the Callaway County Public Library," Fennel said.
"We are so grateful to the people who donate books regularly to the library for the sale. They can donate throughout the year. All of the money raised by the volunteers from the Friends of the Callaway County Public Library goes to support the Callaway County Public Library in Fulton," Fennel said.
The co-chairman of the book sale fundraiser for the Friends of the Callaway County Public Library is Sue Lippincott of Fulton.
"In addition to cash donations to the library from the book sales," Fennel said, "the Friends of the Callaway County Public Library also has donated furniture and cabinets to the library."
Volunteers on Saturday also were selling $4 tote bags for people to use to carry home the stacks of books that many shoppers purchased during the sale.
"We provide great bargains. A hard cover book and large trade paperbacks are only $1 each. Small paperback books are only 50 cents each. Books for children range from 25 cents to 50 cents," Fennel said.
"Everyone working at the sale is a volunteer. They are members of our organization. It's easy to join the Friends of the Callaway County Public Library. For an annual membership, it's only $5 per person or $10 for a family. We also offer a lifetime membership for $50," Fennel said.