Bookworms rejoice — with more than 60,000 used books collected and organized in the course of a year, the Book Bazaar is prepared to meet the needs of thrifty readers in the Baton Rouge community.
In addition to literature, the bazaar, which kicks off today and lasts until Saturday, also offers DVDs, VHS tapes and a collection of roughly 2,000 vinyl records, including everything from The Beatles to opera.
Hosted by the Friends of the LSU Libraries, money collected from the sale goes into an endowment fund, where it can be used to benefit University library projects and other needs, said Madeline Mocan, publicity coordinator for the Book Bazaar.
Last year’s sale raised $85,000, and the Friends of the LSU Libraries have raised more than $1.5 million in the course of 35 years, Mocan said.
Mocan said anyone could easily leave the bazaar with an armload of books without breaking the bank.
“This event provides a great opportunity for people to affordably build a personal library,” Mocan said. “Secondly, everything is so affordably priced, you can try out a book without any major commitment.”
The items were collected in the Book Barn, a storage area on River Road where donors can drop items off directly. Books are also collected in bins located in Kean’s Fine Dry Cleaning. Full personal library donations also contribute largely to the sale’s collection.
This year’s sale has more than 1,500 science-fiction novels, including about 200 vintage “Star Trek” paperbacks and a large collection of “Star Wars” books and ephemera, Mocan said.
Mocan said she hopes students are interested in attending the Bazaar.
“Often late in the day we get a big load of students coming in,” Mocan said. “This is a good event for students, especially with the large music collection, as well as the literature, history and poetry.”
While many of the books are priced at less than $5, a collector’s table will host more valuable items.
Anne West, manager of the Book Barn, said a first-edition Ernest Hemingway book will be available for sale, in addition to two first-edition copies of “A Confederacy of Dunces” with dust jackets.
Faye Phillips, associate dean of LSU Libraries, said the Book Bazaar is a great event for the community because it brings people together in a positive way.
“It gives people an opportunity to acquire books they’ve been looking for,” Phillips said. “There are some unusual rare books, and there are some for a dollar.”
The Book Bazaar will be open Thursday and Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the 4-H Mini Farm and the Nelson Memorial Building.
 
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Contact Morgan Searles at [email protected]