The 49th Friends of the Westfield Memorial Library Book Sale ran from April 24 through April 28. Over 1,000 people attended the sale and over 60 volunteers gave their time and energy to make the sale a success. Volunteers came from all over New Jersey. They included members of the Friends, WHS students and even librarians from WML who just can’t get enough of books during their regular jobs.

We could not have had the sale without the ongoing support of the Westfield Board of Education, Westfield Fire Department, the Westfield Public Information Office, Westfield High School Community Service Club, Peterson’s Wines Unlimited, and the Westfield Department of Public Works (DPW) . This year, the DPW took the books that we couldn’t find new homes for to New Legacy Books, the town’s partner at the Conservation Center. DPW also made it much easier for us to recycle all our cardboard and bags. The entire team was just awesome.

We can’t begin to thank the entire staff of the Westfield Memorial Library enough. While we take over their space for two weeks, they are nothing but supportive and helpful. Thank you for cheering us on each morning and for your patience.

To those residents who donated over tens of thousands of high-quality books and CD/DVD’s, we could not have raised as much money without you. Thank you for sharing them with us. We received hundreds of donated reusable bags which helped our customers throughout the sale and made Bag Day an overwhelming success.

We estimated over 23,000 books and CD/DVDs were sold during the sale. For items that were left after the sale, some were donated to Better World Books to help them continue with their literacy efforts, some went to Green Drop to help benefit their non-profit partners, and the rest were put aside to be used in the Friends sponsored Little Free Libraries around town.

With donations and the support of everyone, we raised over $16,000. This will allow the Friends of the Westfield Memorial Library to continue to sponsor programs like Museum Pass, Winter Saturday Children’s Programming, Books on Wheels, offer media studies scholarships, the Hale Speaker Series, Sharing the Warmth, Lucky Day Books, and the Native Seed Library.

Thank you Westfield for enjoying and sharing reading as much as we do!

Amy Berman
Michele Martin
Audrey Zavetz
2024 Co-Chairs of the Friends of the Westfield Memorial Library Book Sale