COLUMBUS — Thousands of bargain books, records and movies are on the tables at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Main Library this weekend, as the Friends of the Library Fall Big Book Sale runs Friday and Saturday, Oct. 16 and 17, before closing with a fill-a-bag clearance day on Sunday, Oct. 18.
The sale fills the Main Library at 96 S. Grant Ave. in downtown Columbus. Friends of the Library members got first pick at a preview sale on Thursday afternoon, and the doors are open to everyone from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with no membership or library card required to shop the public days.
Prices are set for stocking home shelves on the cheap. Children’s books and comic books start at $1, vinyl records start at $1, and adult fiction and nonfiction start at $2, with DVDs, CDs and audiobooks also on the tables. The stock is made up largely of donated items and materials rotated out of the library’s own collection, so the mix changes completely from one sale to the next.
Sunday is the day the serious bargain hunters circle. From 1 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 18, the sale switches to clearance pricing: shoppers can fill a sturdy bag they bring from home for $5, and work through whatever is left on the tables before the sale ends.
The money raised does not disappear into the shelves. Proceeds go to the Friends of the Library, the membership organization that supports Columbus Metropolitan Library, helping build awareness and resources behind the system’s programs and services across Franklin County. Friends memberships start at about $20 to $25 a year and come with perks that include early access to sales like this one.
Volunteers do much of the heavy lifting that makes a sale of this size work, from sorting materials at the library’s operations center to unpacking boxes, stocking tables and helping count items in the checkout line. In return, volunteers earn early shopping access and a free book for each shift, although first-time volunteers must sign up early enough for a background check to be completed.
The Big Book Sale is a recurring fixture on the library’s calendar, held in spring, summer and fall editions each year, and the fall sale lands on a busy downtown weekend, with the Columbus Marathon and concerts also drawing crowds into the city on Oct. 17 and 18. Shoppers heading to Grant Avenue should expect company, and plan a little extra time for parking and traffic near the marathon routes.
Anyone who misses this round will not have to wait a full year for another chance, but the tables are only out through Sunday afternoon. After the $5 bag sale ends at 4 p.m. on Oct. 18, the fall edition closes and the remaining stock is cleared away until the next sale.
