Lancaster County Edition
November 2011
Vol. 17 No. 11
(Re)Making the Sale Exceptional Volunteer Maximizes Profits for Library Book Sales By Megan Joyce To say that Pat Ditzler has a knack for organization is like saying Bill Gates knows his way around a computer. Ditzler has volunteered with the Friends of the Lancaster Public Library for almost 30 years and chaired its enormous used book sale nine times. One of the largest and most well-attended book sales in the country, it raises vital funds for Lancaster Public Library. Much of that success in recent years is due to Ditzler, a retired accountant who has used her organizationally inclined mind to develop procedures for researching and pricing rare books, training volunteers to sort books, implementing Internet book sales, and honing book-sorting and display strategies. In fact, she has been so successful and her system so revolutionary that Ditzler was honored with the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award from Pennsylvania Citizens for Better Libraries. Though she has lived in Central Pennsylvania since 1960, this selfdescribed “Army brat” was born in Monterey, Calif., but moved around frequently, actually graduating high school in Naples, Italy. An avid library goer as a child, Ditzler remembers frequenting the library at the NATO base. “It just seemed like a wonderful place—the smell of the books, the feel of please see SALE page 26 Library volunteer and book-sale expert Pat Ditzler will soon see her own book on display when A Book Sale How-to Guide becomes available this fall.
Inside:
Caregivers Forum Will Offer Information, Support page 2
New Flu Vaccine Offers Better Protection page 15