One of the highlights of Park City’s annual Miners Day celebration (see page A-1) is the Friends of the Park City Library’s used book sale.
This year’s sale will be held on Sunday, Sept. 1, and Monday, Sept. 2. Members of the Friends of the Park City LIbrary, an organization that raises money to supplement the library’s annual budget, will be admitted for a two-hour, pre-sale preview at 8 a.m. on Sunday, before doors open to the general public from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Memberships can be purchased at the door or at friends-of-the-park-city-library.square.site prior to the sale.
The sale will continue for the public from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday and will feature a tote-bag happy hour from 2-4 p.m. where shoppers will be able to fill a provided bag for $15, according to Rachel Sahlman, Friends of the Park City Library board member.
“All paperbacks for adults are $2, and adult hardcover books are $3,” she said. “And those include coffee-table and art books.”
In addition, the sale will also feature children’s books for $1, and they will be set together with puzzles, according to Cathy Lanigan, Friends of the Park City Library co-president.
“Those will be available in room 301, while the paperbacks and hardcovers will be in the Community Room,” she said. “So, when you climb the stairs, you go right to the children’s section and left to the Community Room.”
Payment options include cash and Venmo, with credit cards accepted for purchases over $10.
Although the rest of the library will be closed save for the third floor during these days, Lucky Ones Coffee, located in the lobby, will be open, Sahlman said.
“They just renovated their space,” she said.
All the books in the sale have been donated by the public, according to Lanigan.
“This sale will clear out everything in our storage room,” she said. “So, after this sale, we will start collecting for our next sale with an empty storage room.”
Sahlman is grateful for the donations, which can sometimes be overwhelming.
“It’s like the chocolate-factory episode in ‘I Love Lucy,’ except it’s books and not chocolate,” she said with a laugh. “We move a load of books, and then we have another pile. They just keep coming.”
The books will be sorted into 20 to 25 different categories, according to Sahlman.
“The categories include cookbooks, hobbies or sports, but it will be like a mini exploration,” she said. “The categories are broad enough so people can investigate, and we’ve had people in the past who spent a long time wandering through the areas and finding things they didn’t know they were looking for.”
The paperback will also be broken down into alphabetical order by authors, Sahlman said.
“It’s amazing how many people come in looking for particular authors,” she said.
The Miners Day used book sale, along with the Friends of the Park City Library’s Fourth of July used book sale, benefits the Friends of the Park City Library programs, Lanigan said.
“(Our organization) looks to support the library as it engages the community at large,” she said. “That includes things like live Music on the Patio to wider programs like One Book, One Community, which is partially funded by the Park City Library.”
The object is not just to provide the programming, but to use these programs to get the community involved with the library, Lanigan said.
“From our perspective, this book sale is another program,” she said. “It brings people who love reading, people who love the library or people who don’t know what the library has to offer together.”
The money raised through the sale also supports the library’s pilot programs, such as mindfulness classes, according to Lanigan.
“If those programs are successful, they end up on the library’s annual budget,” she said. “We also use the money to provide training for our librarians, and we often help send them to professional training events and conferences.”
The Miners Day used book sale has attracted return customers over the years, Lanigan said.
“We identify them as potential volunteers and look for ways to get them more engaged and supportive of the library,” she said. “We are always looking for volunteers because many hands make easy work. And we depend on community members to help with events like this book sale.”
Sometimes those volunteers end up on the Friends of the Park City Library board, Sahlman said.
“There will be board members who plan to volunteer at our book sale, so if anyone has questions, there are always people who can answer questions and talk with folks about opportunities,” she said.
Miners Day Used Book Sale
- When: 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 1, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday, Sept 2
- Where: Park City Library, 1255 Park Ave.
- Web: parkcitylibrary.org