After 50 Years The AAUW Book Sale Comes To An End

After 54 years, the final AAUW Book Sale was hosted inside Penn Central Mall this past weekend.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Every October bookworms near and far looked forward to finding some reading treasures at the AAUW [American Association of University Women] book sale.

After 54 years, the final chapter of the AAUW book sale has been finished.

It wasn’t uncommon to find hard to find older books, local history books, biographies, fiction, children’s books, and much more on the tables. It only took a bit of searching to find a treasure.

Gary Capps, one of the volunteers who helped sort books for the sale, spoke about the end.

The final sale began on Thursday, October 3, 2019. There looked to be a lot of books available, but it was far less than available historically.

It was decided months ago that this would be the final sale, as the group lost the location they had used to store and sort the books.

The Friends of the Oskaloosa Library have also been a part of making the sale possible. “It’s been a successful enterprise for both organizations. We feel a little bit sad about not being able to continue it, but happy that we are able to go ahead and do it this year for the community,” added Capps.

The sale on average netted the AAUW approximately $5,000 annually, which was passed along for scholarships for women who were enrolled in higher education.

The possibility of the book sale making a return appears dim. Organizers said that the lack of space for individuals to drop off books, along with fewer volunteers, who are getting older, make receiving, sorting, and setting up more of a challenge every year. “So we thought, perhaps, this year is a good opportunity to say good-bye,” added Capps.

When Sunday rolled around, all the remaining books were free for the taking. A great way to help clean up the tables, making less work for volunteers to wrap up the final sale.