Somerset bookseller Bookbarn International has stepped up its support for the local library network after better than expected sales of ex-library stock.
Bath Library will receive a cheque for £2,500 for ex-library book sales generated through its vendor agreement with the Hallatrow-based Bookbarn.
Bookbarn International Chief Executive Officer Fenna Leake believes businesses and individuals could be doing more to support local libraries in danger of being closed down because of council cutbacks.
Fenna said: “We are thrilled to be able to present the cheque and help with the upkeep of this vital community facility. We have watched one local library after another come under threat of closure.
“One of the most immediate ways we can help is by taking old library stock and selling it on with a percentage of the income going straight back to them.
“The sale of printed books has grown in the last few years, just as the sales of second-hand books at Bookbarn. Libraries are an expression of a community’s humanity and we lose them at our peril.”
Bookbarn International has around 4,500 vendors signed up to the current system. It sells overstock books from libraries, schools, charities and private collections from the public.
Fenna added: “Our customers are sometimes concerned to find books have been stamped with the name of a local library and have return forms and date stamps in the covers – we have to re-assure them we are fully authorised to sell them on the library’s behalf!”
