Library set for annual book sale

Lynne Wood, the manager of the Friends of the Sisters Library used book store known as The Book Corner, sent a note out to her volunteer force: "FOSL's yearly book corner outdoor book sale is being held on Saturday, July 8 on quilt show weekend. This is one of our BIGGEST fundraisers and we will need LOTS and LOTS of help!"

Little did Jean Wells know when she and her crew put together the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show that so many businesses and public institutions would climb on the bandwagon. Signs pop up all over town that this-or-that service will become available not only quilt day - but "all quilt week!"

Not to pass up the opportunity to breathe life into the financial hopper for the Sisters Library, Friends of the Sisters Library took advantage of having all the quilt people in town and put on a book sale that has generated much-needed income that has been added to what FOSL provides for many of the Deschutes Public Library's needs.

And it's not one-sided. Many, many of the books that quilt lovers go home with from the sale are not just "used books." In many cases they are rare and valuable books that visitors to Sisters have been looking for. It's not uncommon for the volunteers that work the book sales to hear such comments as: "Look, Helen! I've been looking for this book for over a year!"

And among the younger generation the excitement of finding a new (used) book can be like suddenly re-discovering an old toy.

Wendy Vermillion, one of the solid volunteers that works the Book Corner, said this about used books: "Something special about browsing through used books is the rather comforting feeling that someone else has read, and either valued or rejected, each book!

"That fosters curiosity but also makes the purchase more personal than acquiring a new book, because it connects us with someone else! Someone is sharing a piece of his/her life with us."

Which goes to the very heart of the Book Corner: It would be impossible to run such a valuable money-raising operation without the hundreds of Sisters Country residents that bring their used books to the library.

Wood and her never-fail volunteers are offering all books 10 years old and newer, excluding religious subjects, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. They don't keep travel books and hiking books older than five years or so, as they become outdated quickly.

Books that are in good condition older than 10 years go in large storage boxes during the year so The Book Corner will have a really varied selection for sales during the rest of the year. They keep all children's books, sometimes even if they're "used" a little more than they like.

Ideally, the Book Corner staff would like to have the generous donors sort through the books before they give them to FOSL. But who's going to look a gift horse in the mouth? Sure, it takes more time for the busy volunteers to sort, but in amongst what might appear as "unwanted" books, there are often treasures.

When the dust settled last year, and Wood counted all the income, this is what she came up with: "The annual quilt day sale is a major fundraiser for the local library. Last year we brought in $1,499 during the sale, and $288 from the quilt raffle. An additional $3,163.25 was raised from the book corner during the year.

"I'd say our little volunteer project goes a long way toward helping the library buy books and fund programs, and I thank you all for your volunteer time."