Giant $2 book sale: Everything you need to know about this weekend's Eugene Public Library event
Tens of thousands of books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, games and more are set to go on sale this weekend for the annual Friends of Eugene Public Library Book Sale, the nonprofit's biggest fundraiser of the year.
Books of all genres and types will be featured, including rare and specialty books. Most are priced at $2.
Locals are invited to peruse thousands of boxes filled to the brim with all types of media in the Lane Events Center Performance Hall. Everything from video games to puzzles, cookbooks to children's books and vintage magazines to cassette tapes.
Here's everything you need to know about the sale
Fundraising for the public library
Friends of the Eugene Public Library, a nonprofit that supports the local public library, was founded in 1975 and spends most of the year preparing for this event.
The FEPL Book Sale first started in Eugene in 1979, according to Linda Ague, who has volunteered with the nonprofit since 2007. She said the event started at the Valley River Center, then moved to the Wheeler Pavilion for about 20 years, until finally the event outgrew it and moved to the Lane Events Center Performance Hall, where it has been since 2003.
Throughout the years, the sale has been a staple in the Eugene community. Eugene Public Library Director Angela Ocaña said many people know about the event just by word of mouth. Many attended as children and now bring their own children to experience the sale.
She recalled her childhood, attending a similar library book sale in California where she grew up. Her grandmother brought a brown paper bag and let Ocaña fill it with $0.25 paperback books.
"The joy that it brought me being able to have a book to call my own, to fill my own shelf, the magic and the joy that brought me as a child has stayed with me and as one of the reasons I got into libraries and my love of reading," Ocaña said. "The book sale is more than just the money that it raises... It's also about building community. The book sale is such an event in Eugene, it's such a place where people bring their kids because they went there as kids it's about people and relationships and bringing them together through their love of literature."
In 2023, over 3,000 people attended the giant book sale, their purchases raising about $80,000 for the library. These funds go directly toward Eugene Public Library activities and events, including Summer Reading books and programs for children and teens.
"Everything from youth programs to adult programs," Ocaña said. "It helps stock our teen room with fun doodads and things like that. Our programming is really robust because of the money that the Friends help raise through this program."
The April book sale is FEPL's biggest event of the year, but the nonprofit hosts several other smaller-scale sales such as a summer sale, a back-to-school sale and a holiday sale. FEPL also has a permanent store in the lobby of the Downtown Library with hundreds of lightly used and new books for sale.
Eugene library volunteers
FEPL is entirely volunteer-run. Over the weekend, 400 volunteers will be running the book sale.
Throughout the year, FEPL accepts used and new books to add to its collection. Volunteers then sort the books, some go to the permanent store, a few are too damaged to resell and are given to St. Vincent de Paul or thrown away, but the majority goes into a large warehouse where they await the giant sale.
This year, there will be 1,033 boxes full of books and other media, which is 300 more than the sale had last year, according to Jade Lazaris, a volunteer with FEPL. Each box can have anywhere between 20 to 50 books, meaning there will be tens of thousands of items attendees can purchase.
"There's a whole warehouse where this is kept throughout the year for this once-a-year sale," said LaVena Nohrenberg, who works at the Eugene Public Library. "It's so many they don't count books, they just count boxes."
Separate from FEPL there is also a Eugene Public Library Foundation. While the two work together to support the library, they are two separate entities. Lazaris said the Foundation is structured more like a traditional nonprofit and accepts larger monetary donations.
Happy National Library Week!
This year's book sale happens to coincide with National Library Week, which is from April 7 to April 13. Ocaña explained the importance of supporting local libraries.
"There's something for everybody," Ocaña said. "Being able to be connected to the internet is so important for people, and you can do that for free here at the library ... Just being able to sit and read the newspaper. You know, we print out extra copies of the Sunday crossword puzzle, so people can come in and do the crossword puzzle. The whole library actually now has tampons and pads.
"The library is books, but it's also so much more than books."
Beyond books, the Eugene Public Library offers a wide range of programs and services. It can be a place to charge your phone or do the weekly crossword.
Ague, a former library of 40 years herself, said the library accepts everyone. She said the book sale can act as a good gateway into interacting with the local library. It's an opportunity to start discussions about shared interests and start building a community.
"I've talked to people who come to the library just so they can be with somebody else, just as somebody will talk to them," Ague said. "We can lose track of the underprivileged and the elderly. A lot of different people have different situations, and the library is prepared and anxious and ready and happy to meet all of them."
Ocaña, who has been in Eugene for six years, said this community is especially supportive of its library.
"We can't operate a library without the community support," Ocaña said. "Libraries are a place that doesn't care about your social economic status. They don't care how you walk through the door. They want to provide something for everybody that comes in, whether that's just a nice chair to sit in, a book that ignites your imagination, a CD to listen to a DVD to zone out to."
Book Sale essentials
Doors open at the Lane Events Center for the general public at 9 a.m. Saturday and close at 4 p.m. The sale continues on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Admission and parking are free.
FEPL asks attendees to bring their own bags or boxes to carry purchases home.
For those eager to get in, members of the FEPL get early access on Saturday, starting at 8 a.m. Memberships start at $25 a year. Visit www.friendseugenelibrary.org/membership for more information.
You can sign up for a membership as late as 6 a.m. Saturday morning online to get early access, or bring cash to the door by 7 a.m. for the last-minute benefits.
Navigating the Book Sale
Lazaris said there will be a map of the sale for attendees to reference. Each patron will be given a map on an index-sized card, showing the layout. Volunteers will be wearing orange aprons and can answer questions.
Ague said there will be dozens of tables set up. The central area or "core area" will separated by genre, where most of the books will be priced at $2.
When entering, to the right, there will be the individually priced books. To the left are the "good as new" books. At the very back of the hall there will be a children's section, which will mostly be priced at $1. On the performance hall stage, there will be DVDs and CDs and more media.
Diehard book collectors are recommended to attend early Saturday. Ague said those who arrive before doors open will be given numbered tickets and admitted numerically starting at 7 a.m.
For those who may be first-timers or are looking for a casual perusal of the sale, it is recommended to go later Saturday or Sunday when there will be a smaller crowd.
"On Sunday, there are still too many books to choose from," Ague reassured.
For more information, visit www.friendseugenelibrary.org/shop/april-sale-2024.
Miranda Cyr reports on education for The Register-Guard. You can contact her at mcyr@registerguard.com or find her on Twitter @mirandabcyr.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Books, DVDs, CDs: Find deals and support the Eugene library
