Memorial Day Weekend Book and Plant Sale 

The Friends of the Simon Fairfield Public Library are organizing a book and plant sale for Saturday, May 29, from 9 a.m. to noon. Rain date is Sunday, May 30.

This will be the first in-person book sale since Oktoberfest 2019, so the number of books that need new homes is significant, and not a single one of the books, DVDs or audio in this sale has been featured in any previous sale or auction.

Prefer plants? Need a pot? Headed by Kristin Stevens, the Friends are collecting seedlings to sell alongside the books. If you would like to contribute, there is a giant collection of pots behind the Library into which you can deposit your extra bulbs or separated perennials. You can take a pot, put a plant in it, label it, and leave it outside the Library any time in the week before May 29. For questions or help with plants, please email [email protected].

The Friends call it a sale, but you get to take what you can and donate whatever you want. Especially when it comes to the books: please take as much as you can. They all have to go. Library Director Justin Snook says, “I’m not carrying them back in.”

This will be an outdoor event spread out around the Library in order to encourage proper social distancing. Masks will be required. There will be nitrile gloves and hand sanitizer available. Bags will be provided, and we ask that everyone browse with their eyes and not their hands. If it is interesting enough to touch, it is interesting enough to take home and rescue from imminent recycling.

Friends of the Library to sponsor home delivery in Douglas

The Friends of the Library traditionally help the Library in two major areas: programming and outreach. There really have not been many bills to pay in terms of programming in recent months, but outreach has been more critical than ever. The library website, the newsletter, the Zoom account, Wowbrary, and many more of library’s windows to the world are funded by the Friends.

Home delivery is yet another form of outreach--one that puts a lot of miles on library staffer Gail’s truck as she delivers books all over Douglas. The Friends have graciously committed to paying that mileage moving forward. That means the library will not have to take that money out of its operational budget, which means more books. Thanks, Friends.