My name is Allie and I’m a Friends bookstore volunteer and intern at the Friends Bookstore (at the Downtown Branch). In other words, my job allows me to sort through all of the books the community donates every week and decide what gets put in the Friends Bookstore for sale. Since I began interning in January of 2013, I’ve looked forward to every day that I get to spend time sorting, shelving, working the register, and meeting new customers. These activities are so fun and engaging to me that I thought it might benefit to blog about it. So here I am!

If you’ve visited the Friends Bookstore in the past few months, you may have noticed a few slight changes in the design of the bookstore. Genres have been condensed into more organized categories, alphabetized and regularly updated. We try to sort in more bestsellers and engaging reads, and we’ve also added some new shelves for graphic novels and comic books. Donation inventory is being sorted more frequently to change up the selection and allow for more reading options. Even the children’s section has been expanded to allow more room for children and parents to flip through picture books.

We rely on community book donations and volunteers who work at the Friends Bookstore to raise money for the Santa Cruz Public Libraries.

So on a new note: Why are community bookstores so essential? Why is it so important to support your local libraries?

One key thing to consider: Bookstores work as community centers: A place to bring your children and teach them the value of reading and learning, while occasionally sneaking off and looking at a few books for yourself. You may think of reading a book as a solitary activity but it’s not always. Books invoke communal experiences – bringing people together to read out loud, read to their kids, read in book clubs, etc. Bertrand Russell famously said, “There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.”

What’s thrilling to me about local and used bookstores is the pure personality to them. Used books are windows to time! That book you randomly pluck from a shelf and the pages you flip through belonged to a previous owner, another life, which adds to the pleasure of exploring new literature. It makes you realize that each story has been digested before, sometimes with great vigor, sometimes with disappointment. Dog-eared pages and inscriptions give you hints in that direction, but knowing that each page has been thumbed through by other like-minded readers is a peculiar reminder that you’re not alone.

So support your local nonprofit and enjoy the lovely atmosphere that a used bookstore like the Friends Bookstore offers.

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”
― Ernest Hemingway

Cheers,
Allie
Friends Bookstore volunteer and intern
(P.S. I work the bookstore register Thursday evenings, so stop by and say hello!)

Donation Location:

All Santa Cruz Public Libraries branches accept donations of cell phones (in the clear cylinders set out on the library floor).

Donation Location:

Library staff at the front desk at all Santa Cruz Public Libraries branches are happy to accept eReader donations to the Friends. We also accept eReader donations at the Friends Office in the Downtown Library Branch.

We Accept:

All brands of eReaders (with or without original packaging)

Books and media (including video and audio) donated to the Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries is sold in the Friends Bookstore and in Friends Book Sales to raise money to support the Santa Cruz Public Libraries.

If you have between 2 and 6 Boxes of Books…

Donate them at the Downtown Library Branch. To donate large quantities at the Downtown Branch or to get help with unloading donations, please tell a staff person at the front desk that you would like a hand unloading book donations. They will direct you to the back of the library (Locust Street) where a library aide will meet you.

If you have more than 6 boxes of books, please break up your donations to multiple trips so that library staff can accommodate the amount.

If you have 1 Box of Books (or just a few)…

You can donate them at any SCPL library branch! Donate at the front desk of the library branch during open hours.

We Accept:

Books in good condition
DVD’s and CD’s in their packaging
VHS tapes and audio tapes in their packaging

We Do Not Accept:

Magazines
Damaged, moldy, torn or smelly books
Encyclopedias
Out of date travel guides
Out of date computer manuals (more than 2 years old)
Out of date textbooks (more than 2 years old)
Records or LPs
DVD’s and CD’s without packaging
VHS tapes and audio tapes without packaging

All donations are tax-deductible.