Wednesday, September 21 the Library book club meets at 7:00 in the Library Board Room to discuss The end of overeating by David Kessler.  Contact the reference desk at 541-766-6793 for more information.

Thursday through  Saturday
The 10th Annual Fall Festival Fine Arts Showcase will be held in the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library’s Meeting Room and features the work of over 30 local artists who were invited to be a part of the show.  Hours are: Thursday 10:00 – 5:00; Friday and Saturday 10:00 – 5:00. Click on the link to the Corvallis Fall Festival website for more information.

On Saturday, September 24, from 10:00 to 4:00, the Friends of the Library will be having a used paperback book sale on the Library’s front plaza.  Cake in honor of the Friends  50th anniversary will be served at 2:00 pm.

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

Image credit: “The Perfect Place to Take a Book” by Brian Hathcock on Flickr

Fall Used Paperback Sale & Anniversary Cake
September 24 | 10:00 am — 4:00 pm | Library Front Plaza
50th Anniversary cake and ceremony at 2:00 pm.

Young Writer’s Workshops
4th and 5th graders are invited to participate in a 2‐day Workshop.
Required application will be available September 10 at the Youth Services Reference Desk.
October 1 | 10:00 am | Main Meeting Room
Small group sessions‐participants will discuss writing with
authors, journalists and illustrators who have written in books,
newspapers and electronic formats.
October 22 | 9:30 am | Main Meeting Room
Young writers will share and display what they have written
since the last workshop.

Halloween “Read” Scarecrow Display
Jackson Street Youth will create scarecrows with Friends
T‐shirts for display around the Library, from mid‐September
through Halloween. Celebratory cake & cookies will be
offered to honor the crafters.

Random Review Readers’ Theater
October 12 | 12:00 pm | Main Meeting Room
Nine outstanding presenters will read passages of popular
books from the past 19 years of Random Reviews. Directed
by Jane Donovan.

Kwik Witz Quiz Show
October 22 | 3:00 pm | Main Meeting Room
Local celebrities and teens battle it out in a test of brains in
our question-and-answer quiz show from the last 50 years!
See them win Fame, Accolades, and Very Small Prizes!

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

Image credit: “Crazy autumn colorful cupcake” by D. Sharon Pruitt on Flickr

Here are the dates and times for the sale. Get them down on your calendar!

Friday, 2/25: 5 pm to 9 pm

Saturday, 2/26: 10 am to 5 pm

Sunday, 2/27: 11 am to 4 pm

At the sale the Friends will be accepting cash, checks, Visa, MasterCard and Discover.  Last year they raised a record $37,000!

They will be selling paperbacks, hardcovers, and kids’ books. They will also have CDs, DVDs and VHS videos.

Thanks, as always, to the Friends for working so hard to support the library. You do great work! And thanks to all you die-hard book sale customers!

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

*Image credit below

As many of you know because you were there scooping up bargains, the Friends’ Big Book Sale was the last weekend in February.  What a whopping success with a record $37,000 earned!  It was the first book sale where folks could use their debit and credit cards and about 17% of the sales came from plastic.

Dozens of volunteers pitched in to make it happen.  There were 30 ROTC cadets as well as Youth Volunteer Corps and College Hill School helpers, plus the throng of regulars.
A Friend talked to a lady from Montana at the sale.  Apparently, the lady’s family plans their reunion every year to coincide with the book sale.  She comes from Montana and her sister comes down from Seattle. Our book sale is a destination vacation!

So if you missed it this year, come next year.  Read the blog to track the smaller sales throughout the year.  (To be sure you don’t miss a post, sign up to get the blog via email (top right of this page), or subscribe to our RSS feed.) You can always buy some reading material between sales in the Friends’ area here at the Corvallis Library or the Philomath Library.

In a little while, the Friends will begin accepting donations again. They have scored a new storage area on Wake Robin.  If you are sorting books as part of your spring cleaning, hold those items.  You will soon be able to bring them to the main library and leave them for the Friends.

Posted by Amy, a second floor librarian

*Image credit: AQS Collector Books “hurt” book sale by circulating, on Flickr

• Friday, Feb. 26th, 5 pm – 9 pm
• Saturday, Feb. 27th, 10 am – 5 pm
• Sunday, Feb. 28th, 11 am – 4 pm

All of the proceeds from the sale go to support your library. Just one more good excuse to go stock up on great used books, music, and more!

Update (2/23): Just heard from the Friends of the Library that on Sunday, a whole box of books will go for just $5.00!

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

Yatzy by Anders Adermark on flickr

The Friends of the Library do a great job locating presenters for their wildly popular book review series Random Reviews.

Not only are the reviews great to attend, but you can always catch up on those that you miss via podcast. The Random Review archive is now 2 years deep!

The next review will be February 10th: My Antonia by Willa Cather.
Reviewer: Penny Fulton Brassfield

Posted by Christopher, a Second Floor Librarian

*Photo credit below

Well it’s that time of year again – the Friends of the Library’s Holiday Book Sale is back!Join the Friends at the Corvallis library this Saturday, December 5th, from 10 am to 4 pm. You’ll find high quality used books ready for gifting, plus lots more.

To learn more about the Friends and how you can help, check out their website.

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

*Photo credit: Colorado 2005 – 054, by Michael (mx5tx), on Flickr

used books, by babblingdweeb, on Flickr

The Friends of the Library are holding a summer book sale in July, for one day only!

Come to the Corvallis Library’s main meeting room on Saturday, July 11th, from 10am to 5pm.

There you’ll find 50 boxes of books for sale, with every book priced at $3 or less.

Time to go load up!

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian

A Rainbow of Books, by Dawn Endico, on Flickr

The library generates a lot of used books. We buy lots of new books each year, which means a bunch of old stuff has got to go.

People also like to donate books to the library – boxes and boxes of them! Many of these aren’t in the sort of condition we require.

So what happens with the thousands of books that we need to get rid of each year?

Well, there’s a couple of things that happen. Some of our used books go to the fabulous Friends of the Library, who sell them in their thrice-yearly book sales or on the 50 cent bookshelf in the library. Some books aren’t in any condition to be sold, even for 50 cents – those ones get recycled.

The Friends also go through donations for books that can be sold online for more money – things like first editions, signed books, and other items that are special in some way. This venture is called Benton Books, and you can read more about it here. Benton Books sells on Biblio, Amazon, Alibris, and AbeBooks (just search for Benton Books as the seller). Since January 2005, Benton Books has raised over $30 000 for the library!

All of this is just one example of the amazing support the Friends give to the library. Thank you Friends! You guys are awesome.

Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian