News from PG Friends
Beginning in 2008, a small group of volunteers, under the auspices of the Friends, began what is now called the “First Saturday Book Sale”. This event, with rare exception, is held the first Saturday of each month from 10am until 4pm in the arcade at the front of the library. Starting in April 2016, the Friends board begins active management of the Book Sale.
Sale books are almost exclusively donations made by library patrons. Book donations are made to the library throughout the month and processed by volunteers for resale. This includes evaluating the books, cleaning the books, and sorting them into various general categories (history/biography, cooking, etc.) The library also receives donations of music CDs, DVDs, and audio books. The book sale has raised over $55,000 for the library book fund. We hope to be able to increase the amount raised annually.
Donations often include old and rare books, sets of books, special production art books, specially bound volumes, and many other unusual books that are evaluated and specially priced.
Adult Books
Hardbacks: $2
Trade Paperbacks: $1
Mass Paperbacks: $.50
Children Books
Hardbacks: $1
Paperbacks: $.25
DVDs: $3
Audiobooks: $3
Music CDs: $.50
Specially Priced Books -- as priced
Donating books:
If you would like to donate books, you may make your donation at the circulation desk at the front of the library. Donated books need to be resalable (very dirty, discolored, mildewed, damaged or detached covers, old text books, old computer books, etc. are not suitable for resale). Please don’t donate books that you wouldn’t consider buying yourself.
Volunteering to help:
Before each book sale, volunteers must move an enormous number of books from storage locations in the library, set up tables for display, and more or less set up a “book store” in the library arcade. This needs to be done before the library opens for business in order to minimize impact on operation of the library. Likewise, at the end of the sale, unsold items must be returned to storage locations for use during future sales. Everything must be returned to storage before the library closes for the day. This is a lot of work and additional volunteers are always appreciated. We can also use volunteers during sale hours to help with purchases and keep an eye out on the inventory. If you can contribute 2 or more hours once a month to help with the Book Sale, please contact Friends' board member and volunteer coordinator Peggy Hansen, email: phansen@redshift.com
We have a limited number of giclee prints of a few of Nancy Hauk's paintings. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of these prints sold at the library will go to the library's restoration fund. You can purchase these from the library, while supplies last.
Shown here is one of six prints available at the library.
Give a beautiful gift and help the library at the same time!
The Friends of the Pacific Grove Public Library has a book club. The club meets the second Monday of each month, unless there is a federal holiday on that date. Meetings are at 2:00 p.m. in the Little House in Jewell Park, across from the Library and the museum.
If you enjoy shopping on Amazon, the online giant has a new way to help your favorite nonprofit in the process. AmazonSmile is simply another access to the same products, prices, and services. When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon donates 0.5 percent of your eligible purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. Once logged in under your existing regular Amazon account, you can pick your nonprofit, as well as change it whenever you wish. In Amazon style, the company provides every possible organization in its menu—including The Friends of the Pacific Grove Library!
Go to www.smile.amazon.com
It’s a daunting thing to meet our heroes. We library fans tend to be book lovers. We tend to feel a deep connection to our favorite books. For mystery fans, especially fans of mystery series novels, there’s a connection to the characters that spans the years; we know these people. And while we feel we have a right to develop certain expectations of our favorite characters, we have no such right to expectations about the authors. The artist, after all, is presenting his or her art, not his or her self.
So, as a long time Anne Perry fan, one of four very lucky library supporters who won the fantasy opportunity of a tea with one of mystery’s most beloved authors, I worked hard to keep the situation in perspective. She’s only a person. I can like her books whether or not I find her a likeable person.
Well, it turns out I’m a fan of Anne Perry the person, too. She was humble, kind, and patient —and one of the loveliest tea companions I’ve had the pleasure to spend time with.
The tea was held at Crema on Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove, a lovely little café/wine bar that proved to be the perfect venue for a fantasy tea. In addition to Anne Perry and her friend Victoria Zackheim, the tea party was attended by library supporters Linda and Robert Felice, Laurie Sheehan, and myself.
The tea and treats were delicious and the conversation was warm, lively and companionable. Anne Perry was gracious, funny, and wise. The guests came away with writing tips (Don’t spend too much time drafting and re-drafting as you compile your manuscript; keep your focus and get that first draft down on paper before you start fiddling with details.), juicy plot hints for upcoming novels (Watch for some good news for Oliver Rathbone in a future novel from her Inspector Monk series!), and words of wisdom (“Courage is a virtue without which all others are at risk.”).
As a relatively new member of the Friends of the Pacific Grove Public Library, I sing the praises of the Friends’ “Meet the Authors” committee. They have arranged some truly wonderful events over the years. With a sense of amazement last week, I realized that (thanks to them) I had now met—in person—my two favorite living mystery writers (Anne Perry and Laurie King). I didn’t have to leave my hometown to do it, either. They came to me—to one of my favorite places in the world: the Pacific Grove Public Library.
So thank you, Friends!
As I wrote to a friend the next day, I felt like a child whose storybook had just opened up and a favorite character stepped out into the room with her. I’m still smiling!