For two weeks each October, the third floor of the Great Falls Public Library stops being a quiet reading room and becomes something closer to a department store for the book-obsessed. On Wednesday, Oct. 14, the Great Falls branch of the American Association of University Women opened its Annual Used Book Sale, and by the time the doors swung open at 9 a.m., a line had already formed outside.
"It's been steady. Lots and lots of customers hauling out lots and lots of books, which is good," said Terry Reynolds, a co-chair of the sale, who arrived early enough to watch the crowd gather before opening.
Among the first-day shoppers was Bella Gustafson, who left with nearly 30 books. "Books! I love reading; it's probably my favorite pastime, to be honest," she said. A fantasy reader, Gustafson said buying used books is both an affordable way to keep her shelves full and a chance to give an old volume a second life. "I love the premise of a book that has been loved, and has the ability to be loved again," she said. It was her second year at the sale, and she already plans to return next year.
The event runs Wednesday through Saturday for two weeks and closes Saturday, Oct. 24. The first stretch is full-price shopping, followed by a half-price period the following week, and then the finale that longtime attendees circle on their calendars: the sack sale on the final Saturday. Shoppers can pay with cash, checks, or debit and credit cards.
The sale is not just a book lover's tradition; it is the branch's major annual fundraiser. Proceeds fund scholarships for Cascade County residents and support the Great Falls Public Library, Wedsworth Memorial Library in Cascade, Belt Public Library, and the library at Great Falls College. In addition to books, the sale offers puzzles, music, movies, audiobooks, games, and a "Collectibles room" for shoppers hunting for something more valuable than a paperback.
The Great Falls branch has been active since 1914, making it one of the oldest women's service organizations in Montana, and today it counts roughly 50 members in the area. Its scholarship tradition reaches back even further than the book sale: in 1920, three branch members established a student loan fund, which by 1965 had grown into the scholarship fund that still operates today. The branch now awards two kinds of scholarships to Cascade County residents — the Margery Morse Upper Class/Graduate Scholarships and the Rita Schmidt Associate Degree scholarships, the latter aimed at nontraditional students whose education was interrupted.
The book sale itself began in 1959. It expanded to a two-week run in October starting in 2010, and over the decades it has become the kind of event where the same faces return year after year. Lynn Allison, who has served as branch president, once described the opening as something like a family reunion. "We actually have some customers that started out coming as little kids who are now adults bringing their children, so it's just a great time," she said.
That continuity is part of what makes the sale feel less like a clearance event and more like a civic ritual. Reynolds said the turnout is a standing rebuke to the idea that people have stopped reading. "Sometimes people think people aren't buying books or aren't reading books. I beg to differ," she said. "I mean, the evidence is here."
Gustafson put the appeal more simply. Asked what she would tell other residents, she had a one-line pitch: "Just read more books, to be honest."
For anyone who wants to take her up on it, the remaining schedule is as follows. Full-price shopping continues Thursday, Oct. 15, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 16, and Saturday, Oct. 17, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Half-price shopping runs Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 22, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Friday, Oct. 23, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The sack sale closes things out Saturday, Oct. 24, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The library is at 301 Second Ave. N., and the sale is on the third floor.