BY CHUCK VAN SLUYTER, PRESIDENT, AND CINDY PIERCE, SECRETARY
Have you ever wondered how over 7,000 books miraculously appear on tables in well-ordered categories at the Friends major book sales in the Barrington library twice a year?
Of course you haven’t.
It is now long overdue that we reveal how the miracle happens.
For many years, several student members of the Barrington High School National Honor Society have chosen to volunteer at the book sales to meet their Community Service requirement for graduation. Usually, 10 to 12 students arrive at the library a day or two before the sale to begin the process of moving thousands of donated books out of storage in the basement to the Gallery and auditorium on the second floor. Hand trucks are essential to get the books into the library’s one elevator, which will only take 12 boxes of books at a time.
Believe it or not, it only takes the students about four hours to move over 300 boxes. Heavy lifting is only the beginning of the process. As the books arrive upstairs, the students join several other volunteers to unpack the boxes and arrange the books onto tables into one of 25 categories.
After the sale is over, the students return to repack many of the unsold books into boxes by category and return the boxes downstairs. Many other books are given to charities.
The Friends are grateful for this partnership with the National Honor Society high school students, which for years has been essential to the success of our major book sales. We could not have done it without them.
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