Volunteer
Newsletter
September 2012
Spring 2012 Another successful sale!
The earnings of the Spring 2012 Friends of the Library Booksale continued to be very high, but the economy and rapid technological changes did have their effect...
We still had as many items for sale However, the success of
as usual and over 80% sold, but the book sale can be meabuyers tended to buy them later in sured by much more than
the sale. After the sale, coordinator money earned.
Beryl Barr met with category sorters to
discuss ways of maximizing income.
Some of her suggestions included:
1) Sending more books to Collectors Corner;
2) Being sure that all best sellers
are out on the first day;
3) Keeping shelves neat and organized at all times;
4) Moving books down from the
top and up from the bottom as shelves
empty;
5) Putting attractive books face
out on the shelves when space becomes
available.
The 224,000 Books, Games, DVDs,
CDs, LPs, videos and audio tapes that
were sold will provide long-term enjoyment and information to thousands of
buyers at very low cost.
A very satisfied children’s customer
Another bonus of the Booksale is the
pleasure that buyers get just from the
process of looking and finding treasures. This was symbolized for us
by the little girl who jumped into the
Children’s Room’s big blue chair and
threw her arms out wide, exclaiming:
“I JUST LOVE THIS PLACE!”
Continues on p.2
Curtis, a 2012 photography graduate of TC3,
is excited about the Photography Section.
Book Sale Coordinator Beryl Barr
tions, such as: schools, jails, hospitals,
daycare mothers, and religious organizations. Even partially colored activity
books go to such places as the waiting
rooms of Convenient Care, Samaritans, MacCormick Center, an African
orphanage and a Navajo reservation.
During the year, books are chosen
for the Christmas baskets of Cops to
Kids and the Salvation Army. Before
the sale, many items are taken by local libraries and school libraries. After
the sale, free books also go to a wide
variety of other non-profit organiza-
Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library
Inside this issue:
Anniversary Party
Foreign Language Section Anecdotes
Best Friends of the Friends
Photo Gallery
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4
6
7 8
www.booksale.org
Booksale Volunteer Newsletter
Spring Sale Con’t.
Finally, there is the enjoyment that the
volunteers, themselves, gain from their
work. When volunteers are asked why
they work at the Booksale, they often
say, “I like books or I like the people”.
However, observation leads to the conclusion that the time spent at the great
green warehouse provides many kinds
of satisfactions.
Love of Books: Some workers just love
books - art books, old books, those on
a particular topic or - just any book. A
new worker entering the building for
the first time was heard to exclaim: “I
think I’ve died and gone to heaven!”
Socializing: For many the contacts with
other book lovers, as they work or have
coffee together, are a major motivation.
In addition to their shared interest in
books, workers talk about their families,
their jobs or other interests, for example, the quilters bring each other up to
date on their work.
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Reminiscences from Anniversary
Party Attendees...
The first book sale the Friends had in
1947, made $400 for the public library,
which was used to purchase a record
player and some records for the library.
One of the officers said afterwards,
“Well, I guess we will have to continue
to have the book sales until the attics of
Ithaca are empty!”
~ related by Betta Hedland
A few years ago, I biked into Ithaca,
thinking I might make a new home
here, after having traveled around
New England for a few months. A certain Friends’ volunteer, Jeffrey Juran,
struck up a conversation with me outside of Greenstar, where I was buying
lunch and wondering where to sleep
that night. Sure enough, I spent that
night on Jeffrey’s couch, and the next
morning, he brought me along to the
warehouse. After a few minutes there,
I said, “Oh! I’m staying!” Thanks Jeffrey! Thanks Friends!
~ Tyler Neill
that delving into each new box is like
opening Christmas presents - you never
know what to expect!
Winnie Kostroun and Connie Thomas
examining a “find.”
Solitude: Surprisingly, the Booksale can
also serve as a refuge for those who need
time to themselves. One can work quietly at fine sorting in one’s own category
with only brief contacts with others.
A number of years ago when I was
cashiering, a lovely college girl came
through, purchasing a boxed set of
Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights with
block print illustrations. I exclaimed,
“Where did you find that? My father
used to have that!” She paid for them
and then handed them to me, saying,
“You should have these; they obviously
mean more to you than me.” I told her
I didn’t have my wallet with me. She
said, “They’re a gift - remember your
father.”
~ Virginia Fenton
June 17th was a spectacular day...
What did we celebrate? The 65th anniversary of the book
sale, twenty years at Esty Street, and 4½ million dollars
given to libraries in Tompkins County!
We had toe tapping music by the Holler Tree band, adults and children were
spell bound by Mike “the Magician”
Stanley, many games, and lots of conversation. Mr. and Mrs. Tony Egner
were honored because they made our
presence at Esty street possible. They
sold us the building for a very reasonable price and the parking lot for one
dollar. And if you always wondered
how we get the booksale together this
was a chance for a behind the scenes
tour. It was all made possible by the
hard work of our volunteers. The generosity of “Cops, Kids, and Toys” tents
provided much appreciated shade. If
you did not come you missed a great
(More party photos on the back page.)
time!
Phyllis Rappaport admiring the yummy
raspberry-filled whipped cream cake.
Working with James Bond and Mr. D!
Painting the kitchen area. Thanks!
~ Kal__ Smith
Avoidance: Working with books can
provide a respite from the tasks and
stresses of everyday life. A frequently
voiced reason for being at the Booksale
is to avoid doing something else - such
as cleaning house, or something unpleasant such as the noise of roofers
pounding at home.
Party organizer, past president, and long-time volunteer, Ellie May,
presents flowers to Joan and Tony Egner.
Ellen Bonn, longest serving volunteer
with 40 + years, wears the anniversary
pin created by Frances Fawcett to honor
past presidents, coordinators, and those
with over 20 years of service.
Service to Others: All of the workers
find satisfaction in supporting the libraries and selling books to be reread
instead of recycled. Most enjoy helping
customers find the books they want.
Organization: Many people gain satisfaction from sorting and putting things
in order (who as children sorted their
crayons by color and their blocks by
shape). As primary sorters they enjoy
being sure that each book goes into its
proper box. If they are category sorters, they love making their sections neat
and logically organized.
Curiosity: One of the cookbook sorters added Curiosity to our list. She said
I was cashiering and a man had an old
paperback. It was 10 cent day. After he
paid for it he opened it and the message
was: “Dear Grandpa, We stood in line
three hours to get you this signature of
Micky Mantle!”
~ Anon
The Friends throw a party!
Larry Jensen fine tunes the organization
of the Science Fiction & Fantasy section.
Pride of Achievement: As one longterm volunteer said: “We may not be
the largest book sale in the country,
but we’re the best!” IT’S ONLY HUMAN TO FEEL PROUD OF OURSELVES FOR OUR PART IN MAKING ITHACA A GREAT PLACE TO
LIVE!
Mike Stanley’s magic show was enjoyed by all ages.
www.boksale.org
Volunteer Julie Johnson organized a mini
booksale.
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Booksale Volunteer Newsletter
5
BOOKS, LIVRES, LIBROS, BüCHER, BOEKEN,
KNIHY, KIRJAT
The number of different languages to be found in the foreign
language section is amazing. While there were many shelves
of the French, German, and Spanish, there were a total of
50 different languages in the Spring Book Sale.
Japanese
Maori
Fred Gleach, who works in Collectors Corner, sent us this picture of a Bible in Fijian
(which he bought from this shelf) .
Swedish
Fijiian Bible from the foreign
language section
While the Children’s Foreign Language section is small, it contains many interesting
books and sells well. There is usually a full
shelf each of French, Spanish, and German
with a number of books in each of Russian, Dutch, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese and
Chinese. In addition there are always one
or more books in a wide variety of unusual languages. Recent examples: a coloring
book in Obijwe (a Canadian Native American language), Little House on the Prairie in
Turkish, and Peter Rabbit in Latin (Pabula
German
Lorrie Young sorting the Foreign Language Fine Art section.
www.booksale.org
Petro Cuniculo). Lorrie has been extremely helpful in identifying unusual languages
for Laurel, who sorts Children’s Foreign
Languages.
We wonder who contributes books in such
languages as Basque and Yoruba and once
contributed, who buys them? We don’t
know the answer to the first question, but
we do know that many people buy books
they can’t read. For example: Fred Gleach
can’t read his Fijian Bible. He told us
that linguists often collect Bibles in different languages as research tools. When the
great linguist, Edward Sapir, first met his
prospective in-laws they were quite impressed, thinking that he must be a very
religious person because of all the Bibles
on his shelves!
Arabic, Armenian, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Coptic,
Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Fijian, Finnish, French, Gaelic, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian,
Irish, Italian, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maori, Mayan, Mohawk,
Nepali, Niger-Congo, Norwegian, Nyanja, Obijwe, Papiamento, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Swedish,
Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish, Yoruba. (Nyanja is spoken
in Southern Africa and Papiamento is spoken in the Caribbean Islands.)
Lorrie Young as been in charge of the section since 1997; before that she did Sociology. Her helpers include Christi Lerch who sorts German, Dutch and Yiddish, Viktor
Kislukhin: Russian, and Laurel Hodgden: Scandinavian languages. Lorrie sorts all
the rest and is extremely knowledgeable about languages in general. Lorrie initiated a
special section for art, architecture, travel and other books with beautiful illustrations.
There is also a special shelf for Bibles in many languages.
Indonesian
French
The following conversation was overheard in this section between two college
students “Are you buying any more Latvian poetry today?” “No, I have enough”.
When asked if he reads Latvian, the student replied, “No I just liked the way they
looked on the shelf ”. Finally, many of the
art & architecture books mentioned above
are purchased just for their pictures. Of
course, with the very cosmopolitan population of Ithaca many of the books, even from
the more exotic languages, are bought by customers who buy them to read.
Chinese
Czeck
Italian
Spanish
Cherokee
Georgian
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Booksale Volunteer Newsletter
April...er, June... Fool!
The following E-mail was received at
the Booksale in June: “I have 42 boxes
of books I would like to deliver Saturday before noon, but I may be a little
late, but not more than two hours probably. They are mostly Time-Life books,
Readers Digest Condensed books, and
encyclopedias. I would like a receipt
but I don’t know how to count them.
For example, if the covers have fallen
off a hardcover does it count as a softcover? And if a Readers Digest Condensed book contains four books does it
count as four? I’m also letting you have
instructions on how to remove mildew,
which should be useful. You don’t have
to count it. “ - - - Because Sarah is a
very nice person, she replied politely to
indicate that none of the items which
this person wished to donate were acceptable----and then discovered that
the E-Mail had come from Rich!
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Book Sale Anecdotes
A treasure Found
When I (Laurel) was a child my father
enjoyed reading to my sister and me. He
liked classic children’s books as much as
we did. One of his students told me that
he once quoted from Winnie the Pooh
to a class in advanced electrical engineering. His favorite quote: “The rea-
son, my dear, seems exceedingly
clear, it’s my duty, and has to be
done!” was from a character known as
“Policeman Bunny.” (Which my father
repeatedly said, whenever there was
something he didn’t want to do.)
Most comics books go to their own
section in the front of the sale though
some less violent ones go to Children’s,
for example a copy of Blondie - which
happened to be written in Cherokee!
Sometimes it is unclear to which section
a comic should go; for example, should
a comic on the development of psychoanalysis go to adult’s or children’s Comics or to Psychology? Finally there are
those which should be comic books and
aren’t - Children’s received a hard paged
baby book of X-Men. Baby books are
intended for one and two year olds,
which X-Men definitely is not!
The Tutmobile
This unusual Vehicle was parked in the
Booksale parking lot; would you guess
that the owner was visiting the Archeology section?
Psychoanalysis Comic
Policeman Bunny
Years later we tried to track the book
down for him, but without either title
or author, were unable to do so. This
spring, one of the incoming boxes in
Children’s contained an oversize linen
book from the 1930’s. When Kyllikki
opened it, some crumbling paper fell
out – which happened to be a page from
“Policeman Bunny,” complete with the
quote!
Unusual Titles & Topics
The back of the van says, “Let’s hear one
for the Tut! Honk if you love the boy king.”
Never too Late...
A customer was seen leaving the art
section with her arms full of all the
“How to Paint” books from the shelves.
She explained that a 92 year old friend
is learning to paint and she wanted to
give her a little help.
A volunteer left us this list of “Titles
that made me laugh”: “Anatomy of the
Wood Rat”, “Stray Shopping Carts of
Eastern North America: A Field Guide
to Identification”, “Frugal Gambling”,
and “The Bed-wetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee”. A title from
another source: “The Sterbotactic Atlas of the Chimpanzee Brain”.
A paperback entitled “Vampire Dream”
appeared to be a typical young adult
occult-romance paperback until one
noticed the small print indicating that
it serves as a resource for preparing for
the SAT vocabulary exams. (Another
in series is titled “Busted” about an undercover agent posing as a teenage high
school student to ferret out a drug ring.)
Kama Sutra Pop-up
Appropriate sex-education books written for children are included in the Children’s Science section. However, we
were taken aback recently when the following four books were sent to us in one
week! “How I worked my Way Through
College Using Sex”, “Nancy Clue and
the Hardly Boys” (a lesbian parody of
Nancy Drew), and a book picturing a
football scrimmage titled “Dealing with
Sexual Interactions,” which turned out
to belong neither in sports or sex, but in
religion. Finally an old Pop-up book –
the Kama Sutra – with amazingly pornographic illustrations!
Peg Lacey’s Lola Jane, an SPCASpecial
Best Friends of the Friends
One of Tom and Kyllikki Inman’s outside
pets - one of their many flying squirrels...
The many pet owners who volunteer should be sure to check out
the Pet section in the back right hand corner (across from Sports).
Well organized by Louanne Gordon, the section contains non-fiction and fiction books
about dogs, cats, and a wide variety of other pets from gerbils to turtles. Three titles of
interest: “Enslaved by Ducks”, “Insects As Pets”, and “Potbellied Pigs in Your Home.”
Tom (Photography Section) and Kyllikki (Children's Section) Inman have
inside pets and outside "pets.” Inside
they have 2 cockatiel parrots, Rocky
and Sydney, who are tremendous fun.
Outside, they have 9 (or more) Flying
Squirrels who come to their 3 feeding
platforms. Tom has put up infrared video cameras so they can watch all their
squirrel antics every night - they are always the best thing "on TV.”
Heather Linton and her family have
made homes for three abandoned dogs
from Puerto Rico. Heather writes: “I
took my first trip to Puerto Rico in February 2008, and learned about the terrible problem they have with stray dogs
(or “satos”). The residents often don’t
spay or neuter due to lack of awareness, and the dogs run rampant in the
neighborhood, so there are many unwanted strays. After returning home, I
researched shelters and adopted Charley from the small island of Vieques,
off Puerto Rico’s eastern coast. He was
found in the woods with 8 other puppies,
Sex is not the only controversial topic to
come to Children’s. A cute book recently came in with a picture of a mother
squirrel holding her little boy squirrel on
her lap. The title? – “Why Mommy is a
Democrat.”
A paperback “Playing the Hand Life
Dealt and Winning the Jackpot !” with
a winning poker hand on the cover was
found appropriately in Games - only
very small print at the bottom indicated
that it was about dealing with Irritable
Bowel Syndrome and Fibromyalgia!
Frances & Nate Fawcett’s yellow lab,
Moby Duke, enjoys a dip in their pond.
and all were flown to Boston’s Logan
Airport to go to various adoptive homes
in the Northeast.I had told the shelter
that I wanted a medium-sized dog with
a big personality, and I got him.
“Three years later, in May 2011, I
took my second trip to Puerto Rico. We
steeled ourselves against adopting another dog, but two puppies on a deserted
beach really adopted us. After following
us on the beach for 45 minutes, Pancho
and Rosie wormed their scrawny bodies
into our hearts. After returning home,
I found a local shelter that was willing
to pick them up and get them healthy
enough to fly to the US (dogs coming
from Puerto Rico only need a health
certificate and rabies vaccine). We originally thought they were 2-month old
Australian Shepherd mixes, because of
their cropped tails, but it turned out they
were 5-month old Terrier/Chihuahua
mixes. My sister now owns Rosie, and
Charley has a new little brother named
Pancho. For more information on helping stray dogs in Puerto Rico, you can
visit saveasato.org or allsatorescue.org.”
Ruby and Leaf Turner
have four cats. Here
Jenny, Pamina, and
Aphrodite wait for
their treats, while
Messalina poses in
solitary splendor on
the stairs.
Inside pets Sydney and Rocky enjoy
their favorite treat - popcorn!
Pancho and Charlie with Heather Linton
Jean Nowak’s cat Sydney extends
a helpful paw.
Boomer and Cooper,
Nancy Cool’s good
friends
www.booksale.org
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Booksale Volunteer Newsletter
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Photo Gallery
Eric and Cheryl Humerez were married in their backyard garden
June 10th, 2012, in a small ceremony with the only attendants
being Eric’s parents and brother Ron, Cheryl’s sister and brotherin-law (Gail and Jere Furcha), and of course their son Patrick. Eric
writes, “The family that sorts CDs together stays together!”
The finished book sale quilt made by the Book Sale Quilters for a fundraiser for Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. See
the full quilt on our website: www.booksale.org
More photos from the party...
Karen Trotter & the Library Cat
Deb Miller with a friend
Happy winner of a tote!
Barbara and Usha
Sue Merrill
Kyllikki Inman
Chalk drawing in the parking
lot was a popular activity.
Nancy Cool & Ellie May
Sarah Hatcher and Don Trotter
Doug Reid & Bill Mutch
Kids had fun making their own “little books.”