BY TYLER STOCKS

Washington Daily News

One could get lost in this sea of books, endless rows categorically arranged on folding tables, awaiting someone to snatch them up.  The Friends of the Library annual book sale is being held at the Washington Civic Cener today and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

With such a vast selection of books from which to choose, bookworms and booksellers can peruse and purchase old classics and new releases by the bagful. Dr. Rachel Mills, former president of Friends of Brown Library, provided a walkthrough and pointed out that Brown Library is more than just a library.

“It’s a repository for the community. People use computers in the library to look for jobs, children learn to read and when you walk through the library on a given day, you’ll find people doing 14 different things,” Mills said, adding that the book sale has been going on for the last 25 years and the crowds get bigger each and every year.

“We have people from as far away as Wilmington and Charlotte come to this sale. We are all a bunch of book lovers who float from sale to sale,” she said.

Katie Lake, president of Friends of the Brown Library, said she remembers how small the sale was when things got started years ago.

“It started off in the library with 10 boxes of books and we’ve now gotten it to over 1,000 boxes of books,” Lake said.

This growth and success has allowed the group to raise a significant amount of money for the library and pay for much needed resources.

“We’ve helped the library net at least $18,000. This pays for computers, computer software and licenses for the history room so people can do genealogy. We’ve actually paid for the wiring for some of the Internet services they have now,” Lake added.

“A lot of the things that we do pay for the things the city doesn’t have the budget for. It (The sale) helps the library keep up and they can put more of their budget toward books, things they need to keep the library going. We kind of supply the extras. The extras sometimes become very important,” she continued.

Having people come in from all over the state helps and taking advantage of the $5 bag of books deal on Sunday has helped the group move books in high volume. “We’ve done a good job, especially with the $5 bag of books on Sunday. We’ve moved an awful lot of books, even if we’re only open for three hours,” Lake said.

According to Lake, Friends of Brown Library currently has over 468 members and the group is hoping to increase their numbers over the weekend.

Friends of Brown Library membership starts at $15 per person. Lake said the benefit of joining is evident when one sees young children reading at the library.  However, even if membership isn’t right for you, with the thousands of books, CDs, tapes, videos and assorted items selling for under $2 dollars, it might just be a win, win.

For more information, visit www.friendsofbrownlibrary.com