Friends of the Public Library- Shelby Township and Rochester Hills

For many years, public libraries have developed a program called “Friends of the Library”. This is a non-profit program that takes donations given to the library and sells them in the library’s “Friends Bookstore”.  Used books, movies, and music can all be donated. Those of which cannot be used for the library’s collection then ends up in the store. Withdrawn books from the library's collection are sold as well. The money made from the sales from the bookstore goes to improving the library and buying new items.

Many libraries in the area have these bookstores. Recently, I visited the Rochester Hills Library store as well as the Shelby Township library.

I like to visit the Friends bookstores because, no matter the price, the money I spend goes to helping the library. As someone who visits libraries a lot, I like to know that I can be a part of something that helps make the libraries a better place.

The fact that the stores are community based and stocked by donations, the prices of the books and other medias remain low- mostly under two dollars for hardcovers and under one dollar for paperbacks. The variety of books is always good, even if there are not a large quantity of books.

Rochester Hills Friends Bookstore:

The Rochester Hills Public Library is huge, but the Friends Bookstore is not. In fact, it is two small carts parked in the library’s lobby. When I visited, I found out that a few weeks before the library had held their annual Fall book sale. Because of that, the stock at the Friends store was little to nothing. In all, my visit to Rochester was not exciting, but I will keep my eyes open for their next seasonal sale and hope for better luck then.

Shelby Township Friends Bookstore:

The Shelby Township Public Library’s Friends Bookstore is bigger than Rochester’s. At this library, the Friends store has its own room within the library. It is only a few shelves, but the stock is fairly decent.

The store has a few tables outside the actual store that holds sale items. These items are usually CDs and books bundled together by series or author. The store also has a Free Item table, where books are placed if they don’t sell after being on the shelves for a while.

Mystery and Romance genres are popular at the store, but there is also a large section of classic books as well. The children’s section was also large, mainly supplied with picture books.

Among the children’s section was the Nancy Drew series. There were 5 books total, more than I expected to find at the Friends store. Three of them were Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Mysteries. I have been pleased to find the dual mysteries again at a used store. These along with the other two- Nancy Drew Case Files- are series that I usually only see among selections available to check out at libraries. I hardly ever see them for purchase, until now.

So, while the Rochester Hills store had little to offer, the Shelby Township made up for that disappointment. I was able to walk away with a few new books without spending much money, which is always a plus.