Q&A: At library book sales, how can I find the gems?

QUESTION: I recently went to my first library book sale. I ended up buying nothing, even though I was one of the first people through the door. I couldn't find anything that looked valuable. I checked about 30 prices with my cellphone and couldn't find anything worth more than about $2. There were some obvious pro buyers there with shopping bags full of buys.

When I saw about 20 "microwave cookbooks" with yellowed covers on a shelf together, I left the sale in disgust. What am I doing wrong? Did I just go to the wrong sale?

ANSWER: I'm betting that either the sale you went to had very few bargains due to poor donations, or that the sellers you saw with bags of finds may have grabbed all the goodies before you had a chance.

Library sales are the most consistent source of good used books for me. The larger, regional libraries in particular seem to get tons of donations, and they don't have room for all those books on the shelves.

However, one trend I've noticed is that some libraries are starting to "cherry pick" their donations. They'll check the prices on all their books before offering them at a sale, and the ones that are really valuable, they'll sell themselves. Or they'll set aside a "special collection" and price them ridiculously high. At one sale I attended, the books had a range of prices from ABE. Very few of the books sold.

Another possibility is that the Friends volunteers who staffed the sale were able to get first crack at the merchandise before the doors opened. When the merchandise has been cherry-picked before the doors open, it's hard to find much good material.

Having said all that, this was your first sale, and it takes a while to get the knack for finding books. Finding really good books at a library sale is sort of like finding a needle in a haystack. Even at the really good library sales I've been to, 90 percent of the stuff available is junk -- as far as reselling is concerned. But through experience you're able to quickly spot the good stuff that you can resell.

So I would suggest two things for you:

• See if there's another library sale (at a different library) where you can go through the same process. If the first sale you went to had such bad donations (or the donations had been cherry picked) the odds are you'll have much better luck at your next sale, particularly if it's at a different library.
• Get some general practice picking books. Like if you could get to a library that has a shelf-full of books that are always for sale, any day of the week. That way you could get some practice picking books outside of the pressure of having to get them during a library sale, when you're limited by time.

One of the weird things that I've always found from going to library sales -- the more experienced I've gotten at picking books, the higher my expectations are. So these days, I'm always disappointed on the way home -- my first impression is usually, "Well I spent three hours, and what a waste." But after I start listing the books, my mood improves. There's usually several nice surprises.

So all is not lost. It seems like you have high expectations too. Just get in there are start buying, and you'll find the gems.