Library holds largest public book sale

 

Kitty Simmons, library director at La Sierra University recently walked among stacks and boxes of books filling the library’s receiving room, pointing out volumes of history, literature, plays, religious works, children’s books and many other topics.

Kitty Simmons, La Sierra University library director stands among roughly 3,000 books she plans to sell during the library’s annual sale beginning March 31.
Kitty Simmons, La Sierra University library director stands among roughly 3,000 books she plans to sell during the library’s annual sale beginning March 31.

“There’s something for everyone,” she said. And with the cornucopia of books slated for public sale totaling around 3,000, she may be right. On Mon., March 31 at 8 a.m. the library kicked off its annual spring quarter book sale with this year’s event shaping up to be the largest in the library’s history.

The sale is being held in the library’s Lincoln Room and will continue through June 8. Opening sale book prices range from $3 for hardcovers to $1 for paperbacks, CDs and other media items, with pocket books selling for 25 cents.

Additionally, 32 different book sets will be available with prices ranging from $10 for the “Technique of Psychotherapy,” to an Encyclopedia Judaica set for $150. Other book set titles include the American Heritage Picture History of World War II for $30, the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” by Edward Gibbon in two sets for $30 and $40 each, the Encyclopedia of Bioethics for $50, “Testimonies for the Church” by Ellen G. White for $50, and eight volumes of the “Bible Story” series by Arthur S. Maxwell for $75.

Individual book titles run the gamut from “The Road Ahead” by Bill Gates, Mark Twain’s “The Gilded Age,” the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series, Winston Churchill’s “The Crisis,” “A Frantic Woman’s Guide to Life” by Mary Jo Rulnick and Judith Burnett Snyder, works by renowned psychologist B.F. Skinner, to poetry by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and many others.

The library sells books that are donated by community members and by university faculty and staff, as well as older library books and books that need to be discarded due to duplication or publishing of newer editions. This year’s sale is larger than usual in part because of book donations from faculty members who moved into new offices as the university expanded with the construction of the Tom and Vi Zapara School of Business and the renovation of several buildings.

Proceeds from the annual book sales help pay for special library projects such as art pieces for the walls, patio furniture, an atrium fountain and other items. “This year we bought a new sofa for the library from this fund,” Simmons said.

Simmons sends unsold books from the library’s sales to BetterWorldBooks.com which supports worldwide literacy programs. She is already taking in books for next year’s sale event and is planning ways to sell this year’s large haul over the quarter. “Every year the books offered are from ‘fresh’ stock,” she said.

Book sale shoppers will take home their purchases in eco-friendly bags provided by the library. The book sale is open during library operating hours of 8 a.m. – 12 a.m. Mon. – Thurs., 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. Fri., and 1 p.m. – 12 a.m. Sun. For further information call 951-785-2515 or 951-785-2044. La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Parkway. The library is located off of Middle Campus Drive.

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