Processing donations — sorting, placing, pricing, packing and storing — require a considerable amount of effort by a large number of volunteers throughout the year.

Sorting

Sorting requires a certain level of knowledge of books that is acquired by experience, dedication, and a willingness to learn. The physical process requires a degree of dexterity and fitness. Sorters need to be detail oriented.

Sorters examine each donated volume to determine:

• Is the particular item saleable?
• If not, should it be donated to another cause, or recycled?
• If suitable for sale, is the item rare and/or valuable? Is it otherwise collectible because it is signed, inscribed? what is the edition, printing or state (or issue) of the book? Is it an author’s first book? A limited edition?

Placing

Physical effort is required in moving carts loaded with books around the work area, and delivering books to the appropriate station.

Pricing

Certain books, largely fiction, can be priced using a simple formula provided by the Friends. Other subjects require a more subjective assessment and pricing within more general guidelines which are provided. A degree of knowledge of the subject area is beneficial.

Packing

Packing books for storage is extremely important for the safety of the books and for the Friends’ staff and volunteers and contributes significantly in the economic use of limited storage space. Packing requires a degree of physical work, but not the handling of full and potentially heavy boxes.

Storing

Volunteers may, if they are able, transfer boxes of priced items to carts. The delivery to storage areas and the physical stacking of boxes is undertaken by paid staff.

Interested in volunteering year-round? Please contact us at info@jmrlfriends.org or call 434.977.8467.

Before the sales can begin, volunteers and staff handle physically demanding tasks:

• moving and setting up tables and shelving
• delivering full boxes from storage areas
• placing and arranging sale items on shelves

Throughout the sales, volunteers play a vital role as Storage workers, Shelvers, Checkers and Cashiers.

Storage workers

• handle heavy boxes
• load carts
• deliver loaded carts to the Shelvers
• remove and store empty boxes
• are physically active

Shelvers

• keep the shelves tidy and restocked throughout the sale
• straighten the shelves to make room for fresh inventory
• should be detail oriented

Checkers

• interact with the public, often during extremely busy times
• deal with numbers and simple arithmetic functions
• provide a total value for an individual’s purchases
• largely work sitting down
• handle customers’ purchases, some standing and a degree of physical dexterity required

Cashiers

• collect the cost of customers’ purchases
• should be good with numbers, detail oriented and capable of making change
• are responsible for a cash box and for the collection and retention of payment slips
• largely work sitting down
• are not normally expected to encounter any extraordinary physical exertion

Money Counters

Count and total the money in returned cash boxes, reconciling the results with supporting sales vouchers. Count and bundle cash and check receipts, making them ready for bank deposit. Volunteers for these positions need to be practiced in handling money, numerate, and detail oriented. Volunteers must be able to work in closed spaces; claustrophobics need not apply!

Bulk Sales Area

• receive, pack, and store purchases made by customers who buy in bulk.
• physically handle large quantities of books and heavy boxes
• keep a cumulative total of purchases for each bulk customer
• complete appropriate records
• must be detail oriented
• may be involved in the physical transfer of boxes to the buyer’s vehicle
• must be able to work under pressure, keep a cool head and a calm appearance

Room Managers

Room Managers are responsible for the management of a particular sale area.These positions are ordinarily reserved for volunteers with several years’ practical experience, and are filled by invitation of sale management.

My preferred type of work:

Bulk Purchase
Cashier
Money Counter
Checker
Clean-up
Set-up
Stocker/Shelver
Wherever I’m needed

Best days for me to work:

Weekdays
Weekends
I’m Flexible

Best hours for me:

Mornings
Early Afternoon
Late Afternoon
Evenings

Name:

Email:

Preferred phone number:

Can volunteers do Community Service work during the Sale?

Although not normally possible throughout the year, community service by a limited number of individuals is possible during the sale. Such service is usually performed by younger, physically capable individuals who are able to cope with the demands encountered moving boxes in storage and sales areas. Applications for such service must be made well in advance of the sale.

More info:

(434) 977-8467
email us at info@jmrlfriends.org

Endowment Fund

In July of 1992, the Friends of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library created the Library Endowment Fund with the Charlottesville Albemarle Community Foundation. Starting with an initial gift of $ 20,000 from the Friends in honor of Jane and Art Hess, long term volunteers with the Friends and the “heart and soul” of the annual Book Sale, the Endowment Fund has grown from that initial $ 20,000 to well over $950,000. The growth represents three sizable bequests, annual gifts from the Friends and countless donations from individuals and groups over the intervening 15 years.

The purpose of the Fund is to support the charitable and educational purposes of the Friends and its affiliated agencies, including the library. The Fund is not used to replace existing and future public funding for JMRL or its State Aid book budget.

Examples of the grants which have been made are:

• Hiring of summer Librarian interns
• Expansion of JMRL collection of books on tape
• Upgrade of Mont Ave web site
• Foreign language materials for Hispanic and other immigrant communities
• Purchase of archival reproduction equipment
• Joint funding with community groups in Nelson County of architectural study to support grant request to double the size of the County’s branch library

If you are interested in giving a bequest, contact:
John Halliday, Director
Jefferson-Madison Regional Library
201 East Market Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Phone: 434-979-7151 ext. 206

We appreciate your delivering donations in boxes (cardboard, wood, plastic, any shape or size) or in shopping bags (plastic or paper) if you have them. If you do not have a container then please stack them on the table.

Where to Donate:

The Friends of the Library is located in the Gordon Avenue Library Basement Lobby (off the parking lot). The Gordon Avenue Library is located at 1500 Gordon Avenue, Charlottesville, VA. Inside the lobby, to the left as you enter, there is a large wooden table upon which donations should be placed.

Or, bring your donations to any branch of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library during branch opening hours.

When NOT to Donate:

After the first week of March and before the second week of April, i.e. during the sale’s preparations, the sales proper, or during the sale’s take-down.

What we would like to receive:

• Books on all subjects, of all ages, for all ages, in a condition that will sell.
• Pre-recorded audio and video tapes.
• Records, compact discs, sheet music.
• Specialist magazines in fine woodworking, military and naval history.

What we DO NOT want donated:

Books that are in a poor or bad condition, i.e. having one or more of the following:

• broken spine; missing pages or covers
• water, food or other stains; mildew; rot; excessively yellowed pages
• crudely, heavily or excessively annotated, highlighted, underlined or otherwise marked

Books for which there is no ready market:

• Reader’s Digest Condensed Books; 1950s Book Club Editions of hard back general fiction
• Hallmark or Gibson books; Harlequin paperback romances
• Omnibus editions of books categorized as general fiction, however, we DO accept omnibus editions of fiction in crime/mystery, westerns and science fiction.

Other items we cannot sell:

• Books bearing the “Daedalus Books Complimentary Copy” stamp.
• Home recorded audio or video tapes.
• General magazines – simply because we no longer sell them.

Please note that donations that we cannot use are disposed of in one of the following ways:

• given to another worthy cause: e.g. schools, institutions, self-help groups, etc;
• made available to the public through the library branches’ free paper-back book boxes
• ecologically recycled.

Back by popular demand, this amazing sale gives you the opportunity to buy gift-quality items and, because of the Friends’ working motto – Great Books at Great Prices for a Great Cause (J-MRL) – you know that you are onto a win-win situation!

Throughout the summer Friends’ volunteers carefully select those special gift-quality items and set them aside for the Annual Holiday Sale!

The items on sale include:
Books in a wide range of genres: general fiction, in hardback and paperback, ranging from the classics to modern thrillers, humor to court room drama, westerns, romances, and mysteries – the un-put-down-able “who done it?”

Books on cooking, crafts, family, gardening, health and beauty, nature, new age, pets, photography, self help and travel.

Reference books feature those fascinating tomes that deal with obscure words, facts and events.

Other non-fiction books include popular titles from history and the sciences.

A good selection of those ever-popular coffee-table books.

Children’s titles cover the range from the very earliest age, through toddler, child, and on to young adult. Something for every age!

DVDs

A wide range of compact discs featuring all styles of music.

Location:

Gordon Avenue Library
1500 Gordon Avenue
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903

Parking:

Overflow parking for the Sale is available at the Venable School.

More info:

Your donation entitles you to voting privileges for one year.

Membership Levels

Friend- $5
Good Friend- $10 – $49
Best Friend – $50 or more
Contributions in excess of $5.00 are tax deductible.

Please print out the form and mail to:

Friends of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library
1500 Gordon Avenue
Charlottesville, VA 22903

Please make checks payable to: Friends of the Library

Membership Form (pdf)

Ways to Volunteer

1. Help with the Friends’ activities:

• throughout the year, helping to process donations
• work the book sale in the spring of each year

2. Help your local library staff with time you can spare or special skills you have. Someone in the library will be glad to tell you how to find out about volunteer opportunities.

3. Donate books, records and magazines to the FRIENDS for their annual book sale which is the main source of funding for many library programs. Also, the FRIENDS can re-donate some of these items to schools and service organizations. Donations are accepted all year long. Bring them to the parking-lot entrance of the Gordon Avenue Library, or to your local library or the bookmobile.

4. Patronize the book sale. Help advertise it by word of mouth.

5. Tell others about the FRIENDS’ activities.

6. Help us recruit new members and volunteers.

Sept 13, 2007
Nov 15, 2007
Jan 17, 2008
Mar 13, 2008
June 12, 2008