Every year, tens of thousands of donated books come through our doors during donation hours that are staffed by volunteers 4 days a week. We also accept music on CD and vinyl, movies and series on DVD, puzzles, and games. Most of these donations end up at one of our quarterly used book sales. The best-of-the-best are stocked in our Used Book Store located on the main floor of the Library, just beyond the printing station.
Each donated item is carefully evaluated by our volunteers. We have 11 volunteers who come in weekly to accept and sort the donations. First, they check for condition – some books come to us having been really well loved! Our volunteers check for broken spines and loose covers, excessive writing, and damage from water or pests. Some categories of books, such as travel guides and technology manuals, are also evaluated for age. We want to make sure we stock our book sale tables with books that 1) will sell and 2) will hold up to being read and re-read.
After the initial sorting, books are loaded onto a library cart and moved to our storage room in the Library’s basement. We have another crew of 8 volunteers that work weekly in the basement organizing the books into more than 30 individual categories. Next, volunteers load books into boxes, by category, for storage. On average, our boxes hold 55 individual books and weigh 45 pounds! At least 300 boxes of books are required to stock one of our quarterly Used Book Sales.
Our Used Book Store is maintained by 3 volunteers who restock the shelves every week with used books in excellent condition. Popular categories in the bookstore include Yellowstone, Montana history, birding, and recent fiction.
Our crew of regular volunteers make all this work possible. Bill, who does most of our book boxing, also volunteers on book sale set up days to make sure that each box is carefully flattened for future reuse. Priscilla volunteers about 20 hours each month, keeping our bookstore well stocked and attractively organized. Marilyn traveled to Nashville in January to watch her grandson win a national championship with the Montana State Bobcats football team on Monday and took a red-eye flight back in time for her weekly volunteer shift on Tuesday. We’re all proud to play our part in accepting donated books, making them available to readers at affordable prices, and turning the funds raised into free community resources at our wonderful Bozeman Public Library.
Visit our used book webpage to learn more about donation hours, our next Used Book Sale dates, how to volunteer, and more!
