Friday Report

[adair]

Very little decluttering done this week. I spent a lot of today at the B2P book sale, preparing things for tomorrow - from 10-5 when we hope to sell a lot of books and make a big chunk of money to pay for shipping. We had a lot of help - a women/s group called Altrusa, students from 2 fraternities, some people recruited one by one. Thursday a few of us set up tables and organized the room; then Thursday night 35 students carried endless boxes up a stair with landing, across a big space and into the sale room. I was not there, but this morning at 9 am about a dozen people unloaded the semi-sorted boxes, arranged them on tables, romed books sorted in the wrong category. I spent at least an hour sorting donated odds and ends - cds, dvds, vhs tapes (Lots of VHS tapes) unused journals, maps (Lots of maps) a small wooded book holder, an old Bingo set, empty binders, empty photo books, - I could go on. These all had to be priced and laid out so at least some could be seen.

I also shopped the books for my other gig - collecting books for Illinois prison libraries. I had 3 lists - two were not things I expected to find, but one was 5 pages, organized by author from A-D. It looks like they are filling in sets or replacing damaged books. I got a start on those - brought home 12 books, including 3 on Java and two hardcover Jean Auel books.

I am tired. Tomorrow is the sale; I will arrive at 8 and probably stay until 2-3. I am a cashier, and I will also look for more books. I have a Lot of experience organizing books - looking for them and trying to let go of them. Neither is easy.

Comments

[rmc28]

Good luck with the sale!

[adair]

The sale went fairly well; we made $3166.90. That's not a bad haul, but most of us are exhausted. Selling books, and moving them about is hard work. We got a lot of volunteer help on the day - saved my back.

[tanaqui]

I hope the sale goes swimmingly, you raise lots and lots of money, and there are many fewer books to be carried out at the end. (And that you find some more that are on your lists.)

[adair]

Thanks for the good wishes. The sale went well enough; we made 3166.90, including $585 paid b a dealer for the leftover books. I think she pays 9 cents an inch, and we have a batch of students to pack the books and put them in her truck. I found over a dozen books from my list.

I am exhausted; been slugging around all Sunday, but I did manage to shred a bunch of B2P letters; that's something.

[didotwite]

i didn't know about prison library lists! cool.

[adair]

Yeah, I volunteer for a group called 3Rs - Reading Reduces Recidivism. We are in Illinois, where state prisons have received NO money for library books since 2001. There are libraries but staffing is very irregular - prison librarians are low paid and the prisons are largely very rural. When there is a librarian 3Rs tries to supply needed books. We have very little money so most are donated or collected at yard sales and public library discards. Books most needed - recent personal finance, how to get a job, how to start a small business - are very hard to come by. Our best collections are popular fiction - thrillers, major fantasy series, some classic novels. I lucked out at the B2P sale - got 3 books on Java, an unusual request, several requested thrillers, a couple of Jean Auel books, and Nelson Algren's The Man With the Golden Arm, another unusual request. I am going to WindyCon in November, where I will try to find fantasy series, like Mistbourne, Robert Jordan, Michael Sullivan, Terry Goodkind, and R.A. Salvatore. Last time a used book dealer gave me a bunch of DragonLance books for have the price he was charging.

I like your login name;