Yesterday was the Great Book Carry Down Day. A significant number of intrepid volunteers showed up to help as we slid hundreds of bags and boxes of books down a corrugated plastic, homemade ramp on the attic stairs. In the 16 years I’ve worked here, the book sale has steadily grown both in the number of books we collect, sort and store and in the length of time the sale runs (through August this year.) I don’t know if it’s a side effect of COVID that people have reorganized their home libraries, or just some strange aberration, but — egads! — do we have a LOT of books this year!

We have so many books that we weren’t able to bring them all down because, even with highly inventive book-stashing, there was just no place left to put them. That means that this year, the sale will be constantly replenished. I hate for it to be that way because the first day of the sale is always our biggest one, but there is no other way around it. What that means to all of you who love books and love the Dyer Library Giant Annual Book Sale is that you have to keep coming back to see what new treasures we’ve put out. That’s your job!

This year we seem to have especially large collections of children’s and young adult books, a very, very ample amount of fiction, and much more than usual in American and world history, gardening and biographies. (Oh where, oh where to put all the biographies? There must be at least another 50 bags of those still to come down from the attic.) We have more than usual mass market paperbacks, DVDs and audio books, and a hefty number of records, although most are classical music. All of the books are sorted and carefully arranged by topic. Most important is that they are also very cheap! None are more than $1.50 each and many are quite a bit less than that.

To alleviate congestion in the sale areas, we will be running our checkout line outside. Please remember to bring your own bags—although we always have lots of spare boxes for you to pack up your purchases. The book sale opens on Saturday, July 23 at 9:30 a.m. and will remain open during the hours the library is open right through the end of August. There is always a line to get in on the opening day, but don’t worry as we have the perfect dozen or so books for you — or more! So DO YOUR JOB and come to the GIANT annual book sale! ALL proceeds go to support the operations of the Dyer Library and Saco Museum which is (have I mentioned this before?) a private, nonprofit organization that each year endeavors to raise a substantial portion of our operating budget with fun stuff like book sales!

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