BY SHERI TRUSTY

The popular Friends of Ida Rupp Public Library annual used book sale will kick off with a Friends members-only preview sale on Wednesday, Aug. 9 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. The book sale will be open to the public on Thursday, Aug. 10 from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Friday, Aug. 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Friends members who take advantage of Wednesday’s preview day will receive a $5 discount for that evening. Memberships may be purchased at the door for $10. During Friday’s public sale, books will be marked down to $5 a bag. The book sale will be held in the community rooms at Ida Rupp at 310 Madison St. in Port Clinton.

The Friends of Ida Rupp Public Library has aided the library since Myrtle Smith founded the group in 1976. Peggy Debien, who served as Friends president twice, for a total of eight years, said a generous donation transformed the Friends’ ability to fund improvements at the library.

“When I first join the Friends, there was almost no money. Then sometime during the 90s, ‘Tiny’ Miller gave his estate to three community groups, and one of them was the Friends. He gave a large monetary gift which was a huge change for us,” Debien said. “We invested it with Edward Jones to get it built up.”

Funding a new child-size desk for the children’s section was the first project funded by the Friends. Later, the group funded the outdoor Friends Plaza, and it eventually purchased property adjacent to the library on W. Third St. where the library hopes to eventually create a story walk trail. Through the years, the Friends have funded special events at the library and helped support library levies.

“Our purpose is to raise money for the library. Every year, no matter how much money we had, we helped fund the Summer Reading Program,” Debien said. “The Friends give the library $15,000 to $20,000 each year.”

This year’s used book sale, which will offer a wide variety of books, gives the public a chance to contribute to the Friends’ efforts to support the library.

“The book sale has used books culled from the library collection and books that were donated,” Debien said. “There will be DVDs culled from the collection, and we almost always have a lot of children’s books.”

Teachers are welcome to visit the book sale on the last day to receive free books for their classrooms.