The Bookends: A busy friends group for a small library
PROSPECT — Twice a year, dozens of boxes of books fill up the Prospect Volunteer Fire Department for a days-long book sale hosted by Prospect Community Library. This was the case Thursday, Oct. 9, the day the library’s fall edition of the sale kicked off.
Those books don’t get there on their own though, and they are not carried solely by the library’s only two full-time employees. Donated books are stored in the basement and transported to the fire department and back by The Bookends, the Prospect Community Library’s friends group.
According to Suzanne Adams, children’s librarian, the friends group is what keeps the library going through its fundraisers, such as the book sale that takes place each spring and fall.
“Because we are such a small library, we need these funds to continue,” Adams said. “It helps us with programming, buying supplies for the library.”
The Bookends is a bit of an unofficial name for the group of about a dozen people who regularly help the library. The group was established in 2019. Christine Jones, one of its longtime members, said The Bookends was just a fun name someone in the group came up — and it ended up sticking.
This casual atmosphere persists among members of The Bookends, who also meet about once a month for planning purposes. Some of its members also meet for discussions like a book club. Anyone is welcome to attend either type of meetup, Jones said.
“We really stress the ‘Community’ in Prospect Community Library,” Jones said.
The Bookends are mainly responsible for organizing the book sales that take place twice a year at the library. Adams said they used to take place in the library and outside on its lawn, but they recently moved the sales to the Prospect fire hall, which has much more space for tables to set boxes of books on.
“We have more books now than we have ever had before,” Adams said.
The library and Bookends members get a steady stream of book donations at all times of the year, and the library’s basement is big enough to store all of those donations, at least so far. Adams said the large variety of books attracts a large variety of readers each time the sale takes place.
“We get at least a couple hundred people each time,” Adams said. “Everything we have downstairs is here.”
There is also some strategy in choosing a day to attend the three-day book sale, according to Adams.
“On Thursday we get a lot of people looking for the best selection,” Adams said. “On Saturday, people come and load up because it’s $5 bag day.”
During the book sale that took place Oct. 9 through 11, books were organized by genre and author, but most people who entered the fire hall walked down each row of tables taking a chance at finding hidden gems. The book sales are not just for book lovers, however, they are also for sweet tooths, because The Bookends also sell baked goods at each one.
Jones said many people who attend the sale already know what they want to read, so group members are present mainly to help direct them.
“People come in with lists of what they’re seeking,” Jones said. “We try to help them out if we can.”
Jones said that in addition to the book sale, The Bookends group plans an annual DJ bingo event, also in the Prospect Volunteer Fire Department. This is the library’s No. 2 fundraiser, Jones said.
These events are fun fundraisers for the library, but they take a good amount of work to pull off. Jones said anyone can join The Bookends — not just people who live in Prospect.
“We need volunteers all the time,” Jones said.
For more information on the Bookends, contact the Prospect Community Library at 724-865-9718.
