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Chapel Hill Public Library hosts annual Big Book Sale

If you're searching for cheap books, DVDs, CDs and vinyls, look no further — the Chapel Hill Public Library will be holding their Big Book Sale from Sept. 7th to 9th. 

The event is being hosted by the Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library, which is a volunteer organization, and all the proceeds will go directly to the library.

The library gets donations all year-round to supply their sales, which they hold annually in April, September and December. 

Each sale has around 15,000 to 20,000 books, as well as a vast selection of DVDs, CDs and vinyl. 

“It’s a miracle of sorts,” said Martha Brunstein, the publicity chair of Friends. “The donations just keep rolling in. We are absolutely amazed — as is everyone else who hears about it — by the number of donations we receive. It’s a tribute the people of this town, how many books they have and how unwilling they are to throw them away because they want to find new owners for them.”

The sale will last for three days, each day being distinctly different. The Friday sale, which is from 3 to 7:30 p.m., is only for members of Friends. Membership can be purchased at the door and requires a minimum donation of $25 or $10 for students. All books are $3 and all CDs, DVDs and vinyls are $2. 

On Saturday, the sale runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is open to the general public — and the prices drop respectively to two and one dollars. On Sunday the sale is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and customers are able to fill a bag with as much as they can for only $5.

The sale is expected to make around $15,000 to $20,000. However, the sale was not always this successful. Back in 1971, its inaugural year, the sale only raised $400.

“Just like the library, the sales have grown ever since then,” Brunstein said. “When we moved into the new building — the expanded building — in 2013, the influx of donations was so enormously increased we knew that there had to be more people and we had to find a new system.”

One unique aspect about the sale this year is that the library had a large donation of classics that they hope will attract an academic audience. 

“We would love to have people, graduate students and faculty from the humanities at UNC. We think that they would find this particular sale particularly interesting,” Hank Becker, a Friends volunteer said.

The library believes the sale has something for everyone.

“I made a whole list of books I wanted to read and I didn’t get to most of them so I’m hoping I can get them at the book sale,” UNC sophomore Giselle Pagunuran said. “A lot of the reading we do is related to classes, so it’s kind of nice to have an opportunity to read something just for you.”

arts@dailytarheel.com

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