Friends' book sale nets $2,400 for Gulf Breeze Library
BY LISA NEWELL Gulf Breeze News lisa@gulfbreezenews.com

Lisa Newell/Gulf Breeze News Pat Potter sorts books for the book sale.

The Saturday, March 25 book sale at Gulf Breeze Library was well worth the hours of sorting through hardbacks, paperbacks, cookbooks and foreign language books donated.

"It was the best we ever had," said Pat Potter. The event raised $2,429.60, well over the typical book sale proceeds of $1,800.

Thursday afternoon, a group of volunteers began the task of clearing the meeting room and setting up tables for the book sale. Then, they began to sort the books into four piles: hardback fiction, hardback nonfiction, paperback fiction and paperback nonfiction.

Paperbacks were sold at $1 each while hardbacks fetched $3 each.

"That's a lot of books sold to come up with $2,439.60," Potter said.

The Friends of the Library will use the funds to meet the requests of Librarian Jan Gough. Since the Santa Rosa Library is becoming its own entity, separate from the West Florida Regional Library System, Potter assumes the funds will help fill in the gaps of the library's collection.

The next book sale is scheduled for October and the library will accept donations of books.

"We do not take magazines," Potter said, adding that textbooks and leftover books are donated to the Waterfront Rescue Mission.

Another money maker for the library is the book store located inside the Library building.

"The book store made $10,000 last year, and that was pure profit," Potter said.

"We're just volunteers, all of us, and we love the library and we love to read."