This Deal is a Real Page Turner
It’s not a one-time deal or an outrageous coupon but volunteers and generous donations that can turn a $25 book to cost only $2. The Poughkeepsie Public Library District Friends’ Book Store has been around for years, making their presence in the community at local stores like Linens and Things and Stop & Shop hosting annual book sales.
All the books come solely from donations, and as time passed the over-generous community proved to be too much. The Friend’s needed more room to store and display their infinite amount of books, CDs, DVDs, and audio books. Luckily, almost four years ago, the Boardman Road Branch Library had just opened and after one instant phone call, they had offered The Friends’ a warehouse attached to the back of the library where they could open a store to sell their books.
What is typically a small corner in a public library is a warehouse with over 20,000 books on display and more than that in the back that have not yet been looked at or sorted through. The store itself has only been open for a year but has accumulated about 80 volunteers from the community according to Gail Brittain, Chair of the Book Sale Committee. There is no set schedule for volunteers so they come in when they please to sort books, find acceptable donations, help in the store and anything else The Friends’ are involved with.
After asked what makes The Friends’ so special, Brittain said it was “the size, which is roughly 3,000 sq. feet and the generosity of people in the community providing for us.”
“We have been trying to do more community outreach,” said Patricia Breen, store manager. Some of our volunteers like Yvonne Laube will come up with craft ideas for the kids like designing bookmarks and displaying them in the store. In addition to community outreach, The Friends’ have pledged over a half a million dollars to different areas of the library to show their gratitude and support.
What they do for the community does not go unnoticed. “I could just go on and brag about the people here and the staff,” Breen said. “They’re amazing and the friendliest people I’ve ever met. People will come once a week. He [referencing a nearby customer] brought us to bottles of wine for the holidays, one for up here and one for in the warehouse”
If the community locals weren’t enough, meet David Nicholas, who lives in Idaho, but has been coming here for a few weeks. He has been helping clean out his now deceased mother-in law’s house and visiting his family in Connecticut. “My brother lives in a resting home and loves war books, so where else can I find a cheaper deal?” he said. “I mean, where else can you get a book for $2 that costs $30 in stores?” he said. Nicholas was first spotted dropping of three bags of books he was looking to donate and claimed, “I just recycle them. Drop some off to make room for new ones.”
Nicholas is one of many who come for the deals and the people. Donations are supposed to be dropped off at certain times but most donators will just leave the books outside regardless. The hours of operation are only Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. due to lack of staff and inability to mandate volunteer hours. Nonetheless, volunteers have continued to support this organization even when they do not work in the best working conditions. “There was no heat, no air conditioner, no bathroom, and no water,” Breen said. “The worst was when it was 30 degrees, after a while our fingers just didn’t work and we had to call it a day.”
What used to be a generating plant for IBM is now a 1-year old success. Once you pass through the little blue awning, you enter what is “becoming a community center,” said Breen. Among the pages and bindings are genuine people with a love for reading. “It’s a dream,” said Breen. “I never thought we would be as big as we are but I couldn’t be more grateful.”
