The Nearest Used Bookstore is as Close as the Nearest Library

Indeed. There's a new wave of used bookstores being placed inside libraries so those libraries can get a little income.

From an article in the Boston Globe...

Storage closets, refurbished basements, and forgotten areas of library buildings are now home to little shops with hundreds of used books, many of them in tiptop condition, available for sale. For less than the price of a shipping charge from Amazon, readers are helping their libraries buy museum passes, screen films, put on lectures, and offer other programs.

“So many bookstores are closed, but books don’t lose their appeal,’’ said Betty Molloy, president of Friends of the Thomas Crane Public Library, who launched the bookstore in Quincy’s library.

In the rear of the library, built in the 1880s, the Crane Library Bookstore is an inviting space with its own entrance and a children’s area. The books — which run the gamut from “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln’’ to the latest Danielle Steel romance — are priced between 50 cents and $2. Tote bags, sheet music, and mugs are also sold.

Staffed by volunteers and stocked with donations from patrons and townspeople, the store has so far been a successful venture, generating more than $6,500 in its first 14 weeks By contrast, the library’s twice-annual book sale nets about $6,500 a year, Molloy said. The money pays for library programs such as film screenings, cooking demonstrations, and puppet shows.