Friends of the Library Used Book Sale

April 15-17 Book Sale Information

  • A limited number of low contact appointments are available Wednesday and Thursday - call the library for information.
  • Thursday, Apr. 15, 4:00 - 7:30 (Early Bird sale - $3 cover charge or free for Friends members WAIVED for the spring sale - subject to change)
  • Friday, Apr. 16, 10:00 - 5:00
  • Saturday, Apr. 17, 10:00 - 3:00 BAG SALE! $3 / bag (Bag Sale applies to Last Chance Room only; Showroom will be open at regular prices.)

Individual low contact appointments are all reserved.

For the safety of volunteers and other shoppers, please note the following COVID-19 related policies:

  • Face masks, properly worn, are required for all shoppers and volunteers.
  • Ages 8+ only.
  • Social distancing required.
  • Do not attend the sale if you are sick.
  • Number of shoppers in the sale area will be limited - you may experience a wait to get in.
  • Low contact appointments may be made by calling the library before the sale.
  • Contact the library prior to the sale to check for any COVID-19 related changes

Prices:

  • Last Chance: $.50 for all hardback and large paperbacks / $.25 for small paperbacks / $.10 for kids' books. Magazine bundles have been restocked.
  • Show Room: $2 for adult hardback books / $1.50 for adult trade and large paperbacks / $.50 for adult small paperbacks / $.50 for kids' hardback / $.25 for kids' paperbacks or special sticker prices.  Music CDs $.50 / DVD's $1 or $2.
  • Nash Room: $.50 paperbacks

Newly expanded sections:

  • Civil War History
  • Western fiction including selection of Zane Grey paperbacks
  • Indigenous history 
  • Social Justice
  • Young Adult fiction
  • Agatha Christie mysteries (newly acquired collection of vintage paperbacks)
  • Vintage book sets never offered before

New Show Room displays:

  • BOATS - from canoes to ocean liners
  • ART - a large newly acquired collection of mostly "like new" books. Drawing, painting, design, art appreciation and coffee table books.. Most suitable for giving as gifts.
  • BODY-MIND-SPIRIT - Beautiful selection of books covering many topics such as gems & crystals, aroma therapy, tarot card reading, mysticisym and the spirit world, and indigenous peoples' spiritualism.
  • VINTAGE BOOKS - many that we have never before offered. Special items: late 1800's German Bible and civil war book, sterescopic viewers
  • MARILYN MONROE COLLECTIBLE CALENDARS reduced to $5 each.

Credit Cards will be accepted for purchases of $10 or more during the April sale.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! If you would like to help with clerking at the book sale, please contact the library.

General prices will be: $2.00 for hardcovers / $1.50 for trade paperbacks / $.50 for small paperbacks (specials priced as marked)

A majority of funds raised by the Friends of the Library comes from their used book sales. Many library programs and events are in turn funded by the Friends.

Library Access and Use during COVID-19

Please note the following temporary changes to our usual library policies and procedures.

Visiting the library:

  • Face coverings (nose and mouth) are required for all patrons ages 5 and up. ADA accomodations for patrons who cannot wear face masks
  • Patrons must maintain social distancing (six feet) between staff and other patrons (non-family) at all times.
  • Patrons exhibiting signs of illness or who do not feel well are not allowed in the library.
  • Please be considerate of others when visiting the library.
  • Photocopiers and faxing are available.

Click "Read more" below for full details.

Book Discussion Group

Join us on ZOOM for the Friends of the Library book discussion group on Monday the 26th! April's selection is "The Splendid and the Vile" by Erik Larson. Copies of the book discussion selections are available to check out at the library while supplies last. Instructions for joining the Zoom meeting will be provided when patrons check out a copy of the book or by contacting the library.

From Amazon.com:

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis
 
“One of [Erik Larson’s] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment.”—Time • “A bravura performance by one of America’s greatest storytellers.”—NPR 
 
NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE EAST HAMPTON STAR AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Vogue • NPR • The Washington Post • The Globe & Mail • Fortune • Bloomberg • New York Post • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • LibraryReads • PopMatters

On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end.

In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.
 
The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.

Check out our YouTube channel!

This summer, library events have gone virtual. Library staff have been busy creating content for our YouTube channel, where you can find virtual StoryTime, craft and cooking videos, book talks and more. Just click the image at left or this link and start watching. Be sure to subscribe and click the notification bell to be the first to know when we post new videos!

Due to publisher restrictions, our virtual StoryTime videos are unlisted - but you can view them all here. You'll need to log in with your library card number and PIN.

And, if you're enrolled in our Beanstack-powered Summer Reading Program, many of our videos include SECRET CODEWORDS that you can use to unlock additional badges and tickets for our prize drawings!

Our Take on Six Seuss Books

Hello Book lovers!

I’m sure you are aware of, and curious about, the recent news concerning Dr. Seuss and 6 of his books that Seuss Enterprises (the organization that holds the copyrights to his works) has decided to discontinue. Please know that Dr. Seuss has not been banned or canceled. It’s also helpful to remember that his books and his own racist and anti-Semitic attitudes have been a topic of discussion for a long time. This is not a brand new issue coming out of nowhere.

Because thoughtful, informed conversation serves us all, I offer these very interesting resources which explore the complexities of race as it relates to literature:

Regarding the six books no longer in publication I recommend the insights of Wisconsin's very own Cooperative Children’s Book Center’s Intellectual Freedom Services:  “Books with Racist Images,” and  “Cultural Inaccuracies in Books and Intellectual Freedom.”

The Cat in the Hat was not one of the titles designated by Seuss Enterprises at this time. However, the following article about books authored/illustrated by Dr. Seuss provided context, then and now, for examining racist imagery in books for children: The Cat is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr. Seuss’s Children’s Books by Katie Ishizuka and Ramón Stephens. Research on Diversity in Youth Literature. Vol 1, Iss 2. 2019. Another resource is the book, Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books, by Philip Nel. Oxford University Press. 2017. It provides those who teach, create, edit, or agent children's books tools to recognize and discuss the subtleties of racial imagery and attitudes in books.

The Problem With Picture Book Monkeys: Racist imagery associating simians with Black people has a long history by Edith Campbell. School Library Journal, December 4, 2019.

Also, consider the blog post from the Youth Services Section of the Wisconsin Library Association.

There's lots to take in and consider! If you have questions, please contact me directly.

Sincerely,

Linda DeCramer - Youth Services Librarian

decramer@riponlibrary.org, or 920-748-6160

What is Your Library Worth to You?

We know that you value the services and resources provided by your public library, but just how much are those services worth? How much would you pay out-of-pocket if the library didn't exist, or if these services and resources weren't available at no cost?

Take a moment and reflect on your library use over the past month, then visit the Library Use & Return on Investment Value Calculator. The page will calculate the total value you received related to the items you checked out and the services and resources you used.

FREE Books for your child with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Ripon Reads Logo

The Ripon Area United Way is pleased to present the Imagination Library to Ripon children under the age of 5.

visit Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to register

What Is It?
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is a 60 volume set of books beginning with the children's classic The Little Engine that Could. Each month a new, carefully selected book will be mailed in your child's name directly to your home. Best of all it is FREE! There is no cost or obligation to your family.

Check out our Makerspace Collection!

Maker Space logoBooks, movies and... robotics? Gelli plate printing? Programmable caterpillars?

With our MakerSpace collection, you can check out amazing kits to help you invent, learn, and create! Here's some of what we have to offer:

  • Sphero programmable robots
  • LittleBits electronics kits
  • Lego Mindstorms
  • Snap Circuits electronics puzzles
  • Coding games for kids
  • Coding toys for young children
  • Bloxels video game creation system
  • Sizzix embossing machine kit
  • Rubber stamp collections
  • Circuit Maze, Gravity Maze, and Laser Maze logic games
  • Gelli Plate monoprinting kits
  • Canning tools set & rack
  • Spirograph
  • Cordless screwdriver
  • Microscope
  • Studio microphone
  • Fog machine
  • Bubble machine

Makerspace checkout policy in brief:

  • Must be 13 years of age or older
  • 14-day loan
  • Limit 1 Maker Space item out at a time
  • $1/day if overdue, max $30
  • Makerspace items are not renewable