Post Road Basement Workplace

Submitted by Kim Ottesen

Most of us wouldn't think of the Post Road basement as a workplace, but to some of our Friends volunteers it's where they do some of their most important work. That's because the basement serves not only as a staging area for all or our Friends Bookstores, it is where countless book donations are handled.

Friends Bookstores get their inventory from a few places. The Materials Department donates many weeded items to the Friends. Before the Friends Bookstores, all donations were managed by Materials, so this is a valuable service to the library. Our patrons donate all kinds of materials to the Friends, but one of their biggest donors is Read It Again Bookstore. They also receive donations from Kings Ridge Christian School and the Teacher Reuse Exchange.

Every item donated to Post Road by patrons or picked up twice weekly from Read It Again Bookstore is assessed by a Friends volunteer. Books they think our community will buy go on shelves in an area that any Friends Bookstore can choose from to restock their shelves. Some nonfiction books are set aside for an online bookseller who buys many of them. Most books that do not meet their standards are boxed up and sent to Better World Books—about 4200 pounds of books every month! Better World Books pays all the shipping costs and pays the Friends a small percentage for the donations. 

Donated media is either sold in the Friends Bookstores or passed on to local charities. Jodie Barger, FCPL Friends and Advocates President, said that nearly all vinyl albums donated are guaranteed to sell since vinyl has made a resurgence. Similarly, CDs are still popular with patrons who do not want to pay for digital music. 

What do the Friends need more than donations? Volunteers! As appropriate, please let people know about this volunteer opportunity they may be interested in and enjoy. Friends volunteers help in the Friends Bookstores, but they are also needed for the hard work involved with sorting all the donated books.