Photo by Danny Fulgencio.
To benefit our Lakewood Branch Library, the Lakewood Library Friends are hosting their 21st annual June Leftwich Book Sale next week.
The event, named after the woman who used to organize the Downtown library’s book sale, will take place 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9 (members-only night); 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12; and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13 (50% off discount day).
Roger Carroll has led the book sale at Lakewood Branch Library for about a decade, or ever since he retired from the Dallas library system.
“I guess a retired librarian doesn’t quit,” Carroll said. “Lakewood Library needs extra help, and we provide a service, and we provide money to buy furniture and supplies that the City can’t provide. We pay for programs, so the book sale is a good source for that. And the public likes it. We have a very, very generous neighborhood, extraordinarily generous.”
Carroll emphasized that the Lakewood Library Friends don’t just fund programs but also things that are more tangible. The book sale is the Friends’ only fundraiser.
“The chairs that people sit on in the auditorium at Lakewood Library were paid for by the Friends of the Library,” he said. “The tables that are in the auditorium are paid for by the Friends of the Library. A lot of the signs and commercial display units are paid for by the Friends of the Library. There are a lot of things you can see, not just hiring somebody to do a program for the children, but you can see what we have bought physically. We paid for the renovation for the circulation desk.”
All kinds of materials will be available at the sale: books (including the ever-popular cookbooks), magazines, DVDs, CDs and audio books, Carroll said, as well as some signed first edition books. The event is made possible at least in part by the community donating these things to sell, and the library will continue to take donations up to the last day of the sale.
“The last two years, we’ve been very impressed by how loyal our neighborhood is and how great the neighborhood is in donating wonderful items,” Carroll said.
The last day of the sale is not only the discount day but there will also be some “surprise offerings” available then, Carroll said.
