‘Tens of thousands’ of library books part of weekend sale in Albany

ALBANY — So many books … and soon to be so little room.

The Dougherty County Library System is holding a gargantuan book sale at its Northwest branch over the weekend, offering “tens of thousands of books” for as little as 50 cents apiece.

“There are multiple reasons for the sale,” Library Director Pauline Abidde said Wednesday morning as she and Assistant Director Wanda Brown sorted through the mountains of books that will go on sale starting at 9 a.m. Friday. “The money that we raise will go into our book budget that allows us to purchase new books. But just as important is that we have to clear out the space at the Northwest branch.”

The Fiscal Year 2017 budget passed by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Nathan Deal includes $2 million for renovations at the Northwest branch. Abidde was surprised to learn that the wheels of government actually turned fast in this instance, so the need to clear the “extra” space at the library branch became more of an immediate priority.

“I wasn’t sure how this process works. We haven’t received state funding in the time I’ve been director, so I was assuming that it would take a good bit of time before funding (for the renovations) was available,” the library director said. “But it appears that this is moving very quickly.

“I think (the state’s) plan is to submit the bonds (for purchase) later this month, so we’re getting ready to secure an architect for the project. That means we’ve got to clear this space here. This will no longer be for storage; it will be part of this branch.”

Bibliophiles and bookworms will be the beneficiaries over the weekend, as the tens of thousands of books, sets of encyclopedias, audiobooks, VHS movies, albums, music CDs, DVDs and other materials will be available for greatly reduced prices. Most hardcover books, movies, audiobooks and music albums will sell for $1, paperbacks for 50 cents, CDs and DVDs for $2, and full sets of encyclopedias for $30.

“I’ve been working on this project since right after Southside opened (Feb. 25),” Brown said Wednesday as she sorted books by category. “We’ve got enough books here to stock a library, more than we have at the Southside and Westtown branches and maybe even more than Tallulah Massey. And we’ve got enough books boxed up to replenish what we have on the tables.”

Abidde notes that the weekend sale, which will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon-4 p.m. on Sunday, is the first at the library in almost a decade.

“You can accumulate a lot of books in 10 years,” she said. “There are newer books that we have multiple copies of, and there are books that are timeless, books that never get old.”

The book sale is one of a number of big events planned as part of the library system’s June “On your mark, get set … read” calendar. Other events include toddler time and “Terrible Tuesday” events June 14, 21 and 28; “Alien Antics Story Time” and “Twilight Tales” on June 23; Dads’ Day events at Northwest June 18 and at the Central branch June 19; and Lego day at Tallulah Massey June 30.

Information on the book sale or other events at any of the library system’s five branches is available online at www.docolib.org or on Facebook.