CFPL Friends’ paperback sale will ‘give a book a second chance’
The sale will run from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on September 12, concurrent with the Ag Day celebrations in Acton Center.
Imagine finding — at a discount — a literary gem like the Acton Antiquarian Society’s “An Olde Acton Christmas” or a handy primer like “Lacrosse: Fundamentals for Winning” by David Urick.
These titles, along with an anthology of pieces by American wits including Will Rogers and Mark Twain, remain in Matt Boger’s library to this day. He picked them up long ago at book sales organized by the Friends of the Acton Free Public Library, of which he is now president.
“Those [book sales] have been extremely successful, and a great way for the community to gather,” says Boger. He hopes the upcoming sale, focused entirely on paperbacks, will “encourage people to come downtown and shop in Acton and see the great historical aspects that we have.”
The sale will run from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on September 12, concurrent with the Ag Day celebrations in Acton Center. This year marks the Friends’ second annual all-paperback sale; the group also holds sales in June and December.
The Friends receive “literally hundreds of donated books each week” from Acton-area residents, Boger says. Volunteers sort and store those books twice a week.
‘So many donations’
“[As] opposed to getting rid of them, this is a good way to give a book a second chance and put it into people’s hands,” Boger says. “The quality of [the] books is fantastic; in a lot of ways, these are almost like brand-new books. And because we get so many donations, we’re able to curate them to a very high level.”
Proceeds go to the library as biannual grants to provide funding for community programs, including public lectures, children’s services such as storytimes and the Musical Monday concert series, and the museum pass program for discounted tickets.
“Anyone coming to participate in purchasing any of these books can trust that that money goes right back to the community,” Acton Free Public Library Director Emily Smith says. “It’s all part of the library’s mission to support the community and be a sustainable partner in town.”
This month’s event will include a special “Teacher Appreciation Hour” from 2-3 p.m., when educators presenting credentials can fill a bag with free books for their classrooms.
“We have often donated to schools who request [books], and were happy to have different schools reach out to us for specific purposes,” Boger says. “We know that teachers are doing wonderful work, and we want to support their efforts, specifically in the literary aspects, for younger kids, but also for older individuals as well.”
For more details on the sale, visit concordlibrary.org.
