Just a bit of useful information for those looking for used books.

I live about 10 miles from a larger town that has several public libraries. Three times a year the "Friends of the Library" have a used book sale as a fundraiser. The books are either donated by library supporters or culled from the library shelves. Many times there are books from the school district as well. Last month was their winter sale and I got several wonderful gardening books, each $1.00. Especially exciting was the three volume Victory Garden Companion and a gardening encyclopedia from the 1940's, both just a buck. At their fall sale I bought about 20 childrens books for $5.00.

Each library also has a used book shelf that sells books daily.

This has been such a great resource, I just wanted to let everyone know so that they can inquire with their own library. If your library dosen't have anything like this it would be a good suggestion.

It's been a great way to build my homestead library, inexpensively.

-- jennifer (schwabauer@aol.com), April 12, 2001

Answers

I'm in that "choir" too. We add 10 to 20 books per week to our library at a cost of less than $10 per week. Even donating back to the freinds program at the library, we are starting to run out of space. I am considering adding a second floor over my study with a circular wrought iron stairway for additional bookcases in the next few years.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 12, 2001.

We too always check out the library bookstore every time we go into town. But Jay I have to warn you we used to have the library out in my shop. It was in the only room out there that had a regular wooden floor the rest were concrete slab. Danged if the floor didn't collapse. Those books are heavy and please take that into consederation when you add the second floor and put books on it. We built a new library and used a concrete floor just because of the weight. The library has some really good books at times and good prices.

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), April 13, 2001.