LONGMEADOW – This October, the Friends of the Storrs Library (FOSL) will once again host their annual Used Book Sale to raise money for the library. Before they can do that, however, they are relying on the community to donate gently loved items from their home libraries.

The Used Book Sale is the FOSL’s largest fundraiser. On average, the sale brings in about $4,500 to $5,000 each year. That money then pays for database subscription fees, museum passes and other programs that the library would not otherwise have in its budget.

Each year, the sale features about a dozen tables filled with books, hundreds in total.

“People love browsing through books,” said Friends of Storrs Library President Barbara Stechenberg. “It’s always surprising what people are interested in reading.”

People donate books of all kinds to the Used Book Sale, including cookbooks and children’s stories. “Last year, a man donated a pile of gardening books,” Stechenberg said. Occasionally, old books are donated that, she said, “may or may not be valuable.” The Discovery Room at the Storrs Library even has a couple of boxes of used books that it plans to donate.

Books are not the only items being sought for the sale. Stechenberg said they will also take used jigsaw puzzles that contain all their pieces.

Items left over at the end of the sale are donated to the Salvation Army and children’s books are usually donated to hospital pediatric departments. “Nothing goes to waste,” said Stechenberg.

The FOSL is collecting book donations until Oct. 5. Monday through Friday, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. books can be left at a drop-off location just inside the door of the Community House. On Sept. 24 and Oct. 1, the FOSL will be running a drive-through book drop off from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. “They don’t even have to go in the Community House, they can just pop their trunk,” Stechenberg said.

The sale will run from 2 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 7. On Oct. 8 and 9, the sale is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., to coincide with the inaugural Long Meddowe Fall Festival next door on the Town Green.

The Community House is located at 735 Longmeadow St. For more information about the Used Book Sale or about FOSL, visit https://www.friendsofstorrslibrary.org.