The Friends of VCU Libraries fall book sale  returns Oct. 26-31 with help from its partner, the VCU Emerging Leaders Program.   

The book sale offers a wide assortment of materials: paperback and hardcover novels, poetry collections, history books, biographies, scholarly studies, cookbooks, children's books, art books, comics, audio books, CDs, DVDs and more. Due to a generous donation from a retiring art faculty member, this year's sale offers a particularly outstanding selection of art books. 

The sale is held in the Lecture Hall at Cabell Library, 901 Park Ave. The event is free to attend and open to all, though only current Friends of VCU Libraries donors may attend the preview sale from 9 a.m. to noon on the opening day. Anyone may join the Friends by making a donation online in advance of the sale or may join at the door by check on the day of the preview sale.

Parking is available for a fee in the West Broad Street, West Main Street and West Cary Street parking decks. For special accommodations, please contact the VCU Libraries Development Office at vassaram@vcu.edu or (804) 827-3616. The sale now includes weekend hours. On-street parking on Floyd, Cherry and Park is generally available on weekends. 

A partnership with student leaders 

Proceeds from the sale benefit libraries’ programs and also support service projects of the VCU Emerging Leaders Program. 

Each year, 44  students are chosen for this leadership program that helps Virginia first-year students develop their skills and knowledge of leadership through classes, advising and service projects. Participants, assigned to small workgroups, take on lead roles in service projects such as the book sale.  

The leadership program challenges students to identify a problem in the community and to develop a project to help solve the problem. Historically, the students had to raise funds to complete the project. Fundraising demanded a lot of time and effort. Beginning with the 2016 book sale, the student leaders group and the Friends agreed to a labor and profit-sharing partnership with the VCU Libraries book sale. The students' help in promoting and staffing the annual book sale yields funds (30 to 50 percent of total revenues) that they rollover to support their community service projects.

“In this way, a portion of the money generated from books donated to the libraries will immediately and directly benefit student activities and important student-centered projects on campus,” says Development Director Kelly Gotschalk. “Monies raised from the book sale during October, for instance, will help fund student service projects in the next academic year."

Book Sale Hours 2018