Where am I? It’s dark in here; oh, I’m in the Friends of the Library drop box at the library with all these books piled on top of me. Hey, there’s Crafty and Cookie and Handy and the Kiddie family.  Here comes Burt to load us on a cart and take us downstairs to be screened. Hi Jeanette; run that scanner across my bar code; I hope I’m worth a lot. Wow! Fifty-two bucks! I go to the internet stack since I’m worth more than ten bucks. Here comes Jackson who lists lots of books on the internet.  Hey Jackson, I hope you can list me for sale on the internet and I go to a new home. Later, I’m off to the internet shelves with a forty-dollar price tag and a stock number higher than 42,000. Two days later and here’s Ron to pack me up and take me to the post office. I’m glad Ron is careful to put me in a box or envelope, so I don’t get damaged in shipping.  Farewell KGL. I wonder what happened to the other books.

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   Mary sorted the Kiddies books for lobby, third floor, and book sales. Some books are old and tired, so they go to charity.

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   I’m Crafty, I didn’t make the cut for the internet, so Jeanette put me on a cart with other books to be screened for lobby or quarterly book sales. Barbara picked me for possible lobby sales and put me on Maria’s shelf to be selected for lobby sales or book sale. Oh-oh, I’m not quite good enough for lobby sales, so I’m on the wall shelf waiting for Ken to pack me up to go to the community room for the next sale.

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    Barbara picked Cookie for lobby sales, so Mari will give her a wash and put a price tag on her endpaper. She will go to the lobby shelves when there is space available. At her bargain price I’m sure she’ll find a new home.  

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    Barbara put the books not good enough for lobby sales on the sorting table where Jeff and company sort them into categories for the book sale. Irene sorts the fiction into Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller and General Fiction so Elfrida and Lorraine can put them on the shelves in alphabetical order. Library withdrawn books, not of internet value, join the donations on the sorting table. Some of these books are not of adequate quality so they go to the bulk buyer or the recycle bin. Maybe they were singed in a fire or dropped into a bathtub. It’s getting crowded on the shelf, but Ken will be here tomorrow to pack.

From my place on the wall shelf I see the mass market and trade paperback fiction in stacks on a sorting table. There’s Burt K., sorting them into categories and putting them spine up into copy paper box tops. They stay there until they go upstairs to the sale. They are packed snugly so they don’t get bent standing there spine up.

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    It’s book sale set up day and I’m on my way to the community room. One of the volunteers will take me out of the box and stand me on the table spine up for easy viewing. I’ll be with my friends from the drop box and library. The fiction books are in alphabetical order on the tables, but the rest of us are with the other books of our classification. The Friends volunteers spend much of the day unpacking and setting up for the sale.

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    It’s Friday afternoon and the members of the Friends of the Library are lined up to make a mad dash into the sale room. Some have just joined the Friends at the membership table in the lobby. 

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     Hey, be careful handling me; I don’t want to be damaged. I’m finally in a bag with other books under and on top of me headed to the checkout counter. I have a fixed price, so the checkout volunteers don’t look inside my cover for a price but just count books of each type and determine the total cost. What a bargain we are. I’m out the door and headed to a new home. I hope my new owner enjoys reading me and can use the ideas inside me. At the end of the book sale teachers may take remaining books for their classrooms.

Some of my book friends weren’t sold, so on Monday morning the bulk buyer picks them up for giving to charity or another sale venue. Good luck guys.