Successful Library Bookstore Raises Funds for Library

“S.F. library nonprofit stores a success story” is the title of a 3/14/11 story in the San Francisco Chronicle. What a promising title! And sure enough, this is a positive, uplifting story –- something we all need these difficult days –- about the Readers Bookstore, the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library’s used bookstore in beautiful Fort Mason, in a gorgeous setting by the Bay (one of my favorite places in San Francisco). This bookstore received 750,000 donated books last year. It operates like a used bookstore, but with lower prices, and the sales last year brought in $1.2 million to help support the library and its programs. People are happy to donate their books to such a good cause. One 79-year-old woman who collects books from her neighbors twice a month and donates them says, “It’s spreading books around. It’s keeping books alive. And everything we can do to keep libraries in our civilization is good.” Well said.