Want books? Wichita library sale offers thousands of titles for $5 a bag

Get ready, book lovers:

It’s time for one last book sale at the old downtown library.

The Friends of the Wichita Public Library will hold another $5-a-bag used book sale this week – a final blowout before the library moves to its new digs at Second and McLean Boulevard later this spring.

“It will be bigger than past sales … and it’s kind of a celebration,” said Melissa Baum, operations manager for the Friends of the Wichita Public Library.

“We’ve got boxes and boxes and boxes of books that we are excited to share with the public.”

The sale features thousands of used hardback and paperback books in many categories, including fiction, non-fiction, cookbooks, young adult, vintage and children’s books. The sale also includes DVDs and CDs.

Some of the books have been donated by the public, Baum said. Others are library books discarded from the collection.

The sale is Wednesday through Saturday, March 7-10, in the auditorium on the third floor of the downtown branch, 223 S. Main.

The first evening of the sale – 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 7 – is for Friends of the Wichita Public Library members only. Gold-card memberships are available at the door for $25; a basic membership, which gains you entry into the preview, is $10.

The remainder of the sale is open to the public: Thursday, March 8, 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Friday and Saturday, March 9-10, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For $1, shoppers can buy a reusable Wichita Public Library tote bag, which holds about 22 hardcover books, and fill it for $5. Or, fill any standard plastic grocery bag for $5. (No large bags or totes.)

Proceeds from the sale benefit the Friends of the Wichita Public Library, a volunteer non-profit group that helps support the library system.

This week’s sale also will feature daily drawings for prizes, including jewelry and restaurant gift cards. No purchase is necessary to win, Baum said.

Library officials are planning their move to the new Advanced Learning Library being built just west of the Arkansas River downtown.

No date has been announced for the library opening.

The new library – the third-largest municipal building project in the past two decades – will replace the aging Central Library downtown next to Century II Convention Center.

“I think people are excited to have a new building, to have new technology available, to have a teen room and maker space and all that stuff,” said Kellie Hogan, president of the library’s board of directors.

“It makes a statement about our belief in the value of our community and in the future,” she said. “It’s a way to say, ‘This is our community, and we’re proud of it.’”

This story was originally published March 5, 2018 at 4:08 PM with the headline "Want books? Wichita library sale offers thousands of titles for $$5 a bag."