Check out our latest newsletter here – Summer-Fall 2020, to see what we’ve been up to!

SOCIAL DISTANCING BOOK SALE IDEA—Drive Thru Booksale

Most all of the typical friends fundraising efforts have been suspended during the pandemic. As libraries resume service and life slowly returns to normal, creativity is crucial in finding new ways to cope.

The Friends of the Madison County Public Library recently held a drive through, touch free book sale and sold out within the first hour. They are planning a second, bigger sale. The Friends of the Laurel County Public Library borrowed the idea and held their own sale.

Susan Fawbush from the Laurel County Friends emailed about their experience:
“We found it to be very successful and a lot of fun. We got the idea of a drive -thru sale from Madison County. Our sale started at 10am and we had patrons in line before 9. We had pre-filled approximately 350 bags of 7 different genres. We mixed the bags with donated books, discards, paperbacks, and hardbacks. We charged $5 for a reusable library bag of books. We created a half sheet list of available genres with a place to mark down the number of bags requested. When a car arrives, we would write down the color of the vehicle, and fill out an order form. Someone would then fill the order and load it in the vehicle. We had one Friends member taking the money. It ran smoothly. We alternated order takers and fillers. We sold out in an hour and 45 minutes. I think the only thing we would change is to have more bags ready next time.”

I’m sure the Friends in Madison and Laurel would be happy to share more about this if you are interested. Of course there are many variations you can use on this idea. I imagine everyone has lots of books that they would like to move at this time! If you have any other fundraising ideas, please pass them along to contact@friendskylibraries.org, and we will share
them.