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Members of the Friends of the City Library gathered for breakfast Saturday morning to discuss the fate of the physical book.
How long, they wondered, until the bound volume of paper pages was replaced by the Amazon Kindle and other e-readers?
They got an answer of sorts later that same morning at 6:30 a.m. Braving the late spring snow, more than 100 early risers lined up to be first to pick through the Friends' spring used-book sale when doors opened at 7 a.m.
"It's kind of spooky when you get here at 6 a.m. and no one else is here. You wonder if anyone else besides you needs books," said Joshua Brown, a 39-year-old Salt Lake City computer programmer, and first in line for Saturday morning's sale.
"Then you look behind you and the line grows. It's nice to have that kind of confirmation."
Friends of the City Library, the Salt Lake City library system's volunteer arm of 50, has organized and hosted the semi-annual event for so long no one knows for certain the exact year it began. All Friends president Jeannine Marlowe knows for certain is that it's at least 30 years old. It started with just a few tables of boxed books on the patio of the old downtown library, now known as the Leonardo Center. It soon moved to the basement, where book lovers sometimes squatted in the old library's dead-end aisles to browse titles. Competition amid the science-fiction and fantasy shelves was especially fierce, said Paul Cunningham, a Friends member who remembers those days.
The fundraiser, which includes donated books and low-circulation titles libraries want to clear for new books, has since grown to raise approximately $50,000 every six months. Marlowe said the money goes to staff training and scholarships for the library system, plus literacy programs for kindergarten students in Title 1 schools and for mothers with infants.
Online booksellers come armed with barcode scanners and laptops to determine a book's resell value. Seniors come for romance novels, thrillers and westerns. Teenagers pick through manga titles and graphic novels. With prices at $1 for a hardback and 50 cents for a paperback, everyone comes looking for deals.
Brenda Jean Rose, an LDS missionary from Sheffield, England, said she spent $50 on the last sale. This time she's brought a bag and cart to better manage her finds.
"There's a bit of 'muchness' whilst you're bending your head looking for that certain book, but there's lots to find," she said.
Some call on Salt Lake City friends or relatives for sleep-overs to get up early for the big sale. Travis Cook, a 25-year-old biology student at Utah Valley University and friend Reilly Ryan, a 27-year-old English teacher who lives in Provo, did just that.
By 8 a.m., Ryan had amassed a box of titles that included a quartet of novels by William Faulkner, the complete short stories of Guy de Maupassant, six plays by Henrik Ibsen and two heaping volumes of Marcel Proust.
"Last year I set myself on a budget of $60 for the sale, and I got 100 books," Ryan said. "I definitely have books I haven't read from the last time I was here." —
Friends of the City Library semi-annual book sale
When • Through Tuesday; Sun., 1-5 p.m.; Mon., 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Tues., 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
Where • Salt Lake City Main Library, 210 E. 400 South, Salt Lake City
Info • Books from 50 cents to $1 through Sunday. Half-price books, Monday. Bargain-day books $5 for one bag, $3 each additional bag, Tuesday. Call 801-524-8200 for more information or visit http://www.slcpl.lib.ut.us.