A Bookworm's Delight

So many titles to scan, so little time! Or at least that's how it feelsto inveterate booklovers. The sales run all weekend, but somehow thepressure is on to find those jewels hidden among thousands of othervolumes.

In Raleigh, the Wake County Public Library is holding its sale at theBrendle's Building in the Kidds HIll Shopping Plaza, right behind CrabreeShopping Center on Creedmoor Road. Doors open tonight at 6 p.m. Morethan 188,000 volumes will tempt customers. Admission is free. Tonighthardbacks will cost $4 and paperbacks $1. Saturday they will be $2 and 50cents, and $5 for a box of books, and Sunday $2 for a box of books.

For more books, head to Chapel Hill's book sale at the library itselfat 100 Library Drive. Sponsored by the Friends of the Chapel HillPublic Library, the sale runs tomorrow from 9 - 5, and Sunday from 1 - 3.Books are individually priced, but on Sunday, bags of books will be $3each.

Durham also had a fall book sale; it raised more than $11,000 for thelibrary.

To give an idea of the dimensions these sales can reach, Raleigh's salehas books spread out on 536 tables in a 60,000-square foot area.

If you have never been to such a sale, here are a few tips. If youhave a little wheeled cart used to carry suitcases through an airport,bring it. And a couple empty boxes. Sometimes they have them, sometimesnot.

Wear a fanny pack or have money in your pockets; a swinging shoulderbag impedes progress. Go first to those book areas in which you havegreatest interest; book sales often have category areas posted on largesigns to lead you straight on.

To save time, If you are so-so about a book, toss it into your cartonand then assess what you have, both for content and for price, just beforecheck-out.

Hand your rejects to the staff or put them back yourself; don't justabandon them in a pile. People think that the pile is waiting for you toreturn, and they won't redistribute the books to their original tables.