The Friends of the Moorestown Library will officially open the facility’s book sale room with a ribbon cutting at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 27.
“If this is a way that the public can find out more about this contribution of the Friends, then that’s another win, because we would like that to be more well known,” said library director Joan Serpico.
Years ago, the library’s board of trustees had an idea to turn the space into a cafe, but that idea didn’t seem to work. Since several New Jersey libraries are successfully selling books in their lobbies, Friends’ board of trustee member Lynne Schill thought it would be a good idea to bring a book sale room to the building, according to Serpico.
It’s been a process with a lot of volunteer hours, and the Friends have planned and prepared everything. Every dollar from a book room purchase will be spent by the Friends on library programs, a great way to raise visibility for the organization and the facility, said Friends president Elyssa Bojarski.
“It’s like a hunt or a thrift, and we’ve heard from so many people who shop our book sales and carts that they love browsing,” she noted of the sale room, “because they never know what they’ll find. And I think that there’s so much excitement around the library …
“I love the idea of people getting excited about another facet of the library.”
Bojarski would also like for the community to see the space as an extension of the library, all its programming and its resources.
“This book room is another really great resource, and I’m proud that the Friends can be a part of it,” she offered. “I’d also love to see it as a way that individuals and families can build a library of their own at home – whatever that looks like for them at a reasonable price, and I also really love the idea of people finding a treasure, be it a favorite book that they’re rediscovering or be able to show to somebody else in their life.”
The book sale room is an additional stop in the library to meet a different need that’s connected, Serpico pointed out, connected to people from not only from Moorestown, but residents from other towns as well.
“This is a whole other piece of literacy and education and love of books that now the building has – thanks to the Friends – and we’re super excited,” Serpico enthused. “If there wasn’t the Friends, we would not have movie nights and concerts, story times, museum passes …
“If it’s really cool, it’s probably because the Friends gave us the funding for it and we love that.”
.
