Library moves into book business

Volunteer group will create store to sell donated tomes, with proceeds benefiting Costa Mesa libraries.In recent years, Mona Burns has operated a bookstore without walls.

Burns, the secretary of Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries, accepts donated books and magazines from community residents. She then prices and sells them to raise money for library materials and programming.

Many of the books -- worth up to $100 -- have sat in storage or on carts placed inside one of the library braches.

“People donated so many nice books,” said Burns, who is in charge of book sales. “It’s been hard stuffing things in public storage. We kept getting new items but didn’t have space to put them.”

Burns and other volunteers have never had a permanent office, until now.

A $7,500 gift from the Costa Mesa City Council has allowed the Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries to relocate a portable building that will house its headquarters and a new library bookstore.

The 24-by-40-foot building, located in the parking lot behind the Mesa Verde branch library, is scheduled to open early next year.

Burns said the presence of a bookstore will allow the organization to more effectively raise money for the Mesa Verde, Costa Mesa/Dungan and Technology branch libraries.

Dan Worthington, a Friends of the Libraries board member, said having a volunteer-run bookstore is a financial windfall for libraries. The Newport Beach library bookstore raises more than $200,000 annually for its libraries, according to Worthington.

He said extra capital will also go toward funding the Costa Mesa Central Library, which is scheduled to be built within the next 10 years. Worthington also serves on the board of directors for the Costa Mesa Library Foundation, a group that is charged with fundraising for the future facility. (The two support groups recently merged.)

On recent trips to the Mesa Verde branch, where the bookstore items had been kept, Worthington said he recognized the need for a separate facility for selling books.

“This library was an inadequate space,” he said. “There were carts around and they got in people’s way.”

Added Barbara Davia, vice president for membership for the Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries: “It’s very, very cramped. We use every inch of available space. Getting this new building was important.”

Worthington helped secure the double-wide trailer by calling upon his contacts in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, which had used the building as a principal’s office at Ensign Intermediate School.

The Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries is leasing the city-owned property for $1 a year for the first two years. Worthington said the organization will make monthly payments for the three subsequent years until it pays off the $15,000 cost.

After five years, the city has an option to take possession of building, Worthington said.

Davia said the Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries are in the process of taking books out of storage and figuring out how to best use its new space.

One certainty, she said, is that the organization can begin charging more for books.

“We’ve been practically giving books away because we didn’t have the space and needed to get rid of books,” Davia said.

Volunteers will help staff the new building. Davia said the plan is to set up a partition to separate the office from the bookstore.

Worthington said another source of money for the Costa Mesa library system is a passport service that should be in place by mid January.

Residents looking to register for a passport and have their picture taken will be able to do it at the Costa Mesa/Dungan branch library.

* ELIA POWERS is the enterprise and general assignment reporter. He may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or by e-mail at [email protected].