The biennial Memorial Library book sale represents a great opportunity for Madison residents and students to add to their libraries for nominal prices. The selection is quite impressive, including everything from Jane Austen to Isaac Asimov, from cookbooks to children's books. Everyone who attends can find something to read and enjoy or something to give to a relative or friend. The book sale also has another facet to it - business.
Every year, book dealers from all over the state flock in droves with their large Tupperware tubs, nearly salivating at the prospect of picking up tons of books for extremely low prices and then re-selling them at sometimes hundreds of times what they pay at the book sale.
Often, they work in teams, indiscriminately grabbing at new books and antique books alike, amassing huge piles in minutes. In the past, individuals jostled me about and even shoved me in pursuit of a few good books.
Something seems off about all this, especially since locals who most likely want others to enjoy their books as much as they did, not to profit from them, donate most of these books.
Technology threw yet another dimension into this already unsettling equation - now the book dealers collect mountains of books, check their values wirelessly with their Blackberries, and then return the books they deem unprofitable.
I remember attending library book sales as a child and using those events to build my literacy and awareness of a wide variety of important literature.
The experience was about community and people coming together over a love of books and reading. There were just as many enthusiastic people readily grabbing at books (my dad and I still laugh about the woman who crawled under a table and over our feet at a sale), but at least I felt like they were excited about reading - not about making money.
Certainly the library system needs and uses the money raised from the book sale and it helps to support the programs and infrastructure which makes the libraries in the system as strong as they are. The first day of the sale includes a $5 preview sale admission price and the books are priced higher, two factors which inevitably increase the revenue from the sale. But, it just seems like there has to be a better way.
Perhaps for the first day or two of the sale, there could be a limit on the number of books one could purchase and the price could stay higher throughout the sale to account for the difference.
I don't exactly like the idea of a restricted book sale all that much, and I know that no matter what rules the library imposes, these book dealers will figure out a way around them. I would, however, like to see this gluttonous behavior curbed to some extend.
After all, I think the library book sales should be about reading, and I do not think any connoisseur of literature ever consumed books in Tupperware tub quantities like the money-hungry book dealers.
Kerry Gabrielson is a senior majoring in English and political science. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
