Mother & Daughter Volunteer Team

It's opening day of the Friends of the Greenville County Library System's Spring Used Book Sale, and hopeful book-lovers line up outside Suite E2 of the Merovan Center on Woodruff Road. Over a dozen volunteers flutter about waiting to open the door to a world of books.

By the end of the sale, mother and daughter volunteers, Sandy Cogen and Cindy Goldberg, will have been part of a huge volunteer effort which will sell over 15,000 items to more than 1,500 guests. Raising over $21,500, this bookbuying extravaganza is one of two large fundraising events hosted by the Friends of the Library every year.

“I just need to be at that door. I welcome them. Here’s a map. What are you looking for?” Sandy says.

Her daughter, Cindy, adds, “It’s a lot to take in when you first walk in.”

“We give them a box. ‘Oh, we don’t need one.’ Yes, you do, you need a box.” Sharing the excitement with book lovers is the highlight of the sale for Sandy.

With over 70,000 books filling the space, the book sale features all those items people might be looking for and more to discover. An entire wall of mystery novels, New York Times

Bestsellers, local and Upstate history, popular fiction, cookbooks, and a giant children’s section satisfy the "to-read" lists often carried by attendees. But the real treats are the unexpected treasures found sitting on specialty item tables—rare, collectible, signed, and antique editions of books; dozens of books grouped by color palette for use in interior design; and “the Book was Better,” a bundled deal of a book and its corresponding movie.

Donated items flow in from all over Greenville County through the Library System’s 12 locations. Each book has lived a life already when it arrives on the doorstep of a library. A team of volunteers fans out to collect these donations each week, and take them to the Friends’ book sale center on Woodruff Road to be sorted, priced, and sold.

10 LIBRARY NOW // Summer 2019

Cindy Goldberg (L) with her mother Sandy Cogen (R)

Approximately 70 volunteers pitch in to assist in some part of this process during the year.

“These books are read. And somebody else loved them. And now it’s your turn to love them,” says Sandy, who began volunteering with the Friends over four years ago sorting book donations. “We have such a good group. We don’t even have to talk. It’s a well-oiled machine.”

Cindy joined shortly after her mother, and worked in the children’s section for some time before being nominated to serve on the Friends Board of Directors in the role of Book Sale Committee Chair.

“The charitable mission that people in Greenville have...it astounds me—people make a concerted effort to give back, and to serve others,” Cindy says.

Sandy and Cindy come from a long line of readers with a love of books as their family legacy. Sandy was partly raised inside a tiny library in Brooklyn. “It couldn’t have been any wider than this room. A couple of shelves. I lived there. That little library sustained me.”

It is a deep connection to stories that drives their massive efforts to support the Library System. The multiple lives of the books, the stories housed within those books, and those of people touched by the books.

“A woman who was expecting came in to stock a library for her baby. Then, she came back the next year with her baby,” Cindy remembers.

Sandy continues, “A grandmother came with her 7 year old grandson. And the child asked her if he could get these encyclopedias. It was an older set. You would think we had opened the doors to Fort Knox. It was magical. It was a real win.”

The Friends of the Greenville County Library System's Used Book Sales support special events for children all summer long throughout the Library System, including the recent Summer Reading Kickoff performer, Tim Sonefelt. Proceeds also support the Greenville County Library Staff Education Fund, a scholarship created in memory of Anthony Messineo, a former director of the Library.

“I tell people what I do at the Friends of the Library. They don’t know what that means.” What it means is a huge undertaking that brings books and the joy of reading into people’s lives.

“When someone says 'it takes a village,' they aren't kidding. Every charitable organization thrives and grows based on the devotion of its volunteers,” says Cindy.

"Each of our volunteers brings something special to the Friends. And not only skills they used in their work-life, but also who they are as individuals when they arrive as volunteers. Their love of reading, their joy about our libraries and their true passion for giving back to the community—they are the whole heart of the Friends.”

Sandy and Cindy love being a part of an organization with a community focus.

“I know we are putting books back in people’s lives instead of a landfill,” Sandy says.

Her daughter chimes in, “Someone else can love it and take it home. A child can read over the summer."

Interested in joining the Friends? Visit greenvillelibrary.org/ friends for more information about volunteering or becoming a Friends member in support of the Library System.

“Each of our volunteers brings something special to the Friends.”

Summer 2019 // LIBRARY NOW 11