DOWAGIAC — Currently, the garage at the Dowagiac District Library is stacked high with boxes of books. However, those books will soon be on display and ready to be sold during a library sale later this month.

The Dowagiac District Library will host its annual book sale Friday, July 19 and Saturday, July 20. The book sale, which will be organized under an outdoor tent behind the library, will be open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. July 19 and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 20. On July 19, hardcover books, CDs and DVDs will be $1, paperback books will be $.50, and children’s books will be $.25, VHS tapes and cassettes will be $.10. On July 20, everything will be $2 per bag.

“We have thousands of books and are selling as much as we can at really, really low prices,” said Library Director Matt Weston. “We have something for everyone.”

The books to be sold have been sorted out of donations to the library. All money raised from the book sale will be used to support library programming, Weston said.

Any books not sold during the event will be donated to Better World Books, an online retailer that sells donated books to fund high-impact literacy projects in the U.S. and around the world, according to the organization’s website.

In past years, the book sale has been a week-long affair hosted by the Ladies Library Association inside the library itself. However, due to spacing issues, the library took over the sale this year to be hosted outside during the city of Dowagiac’s Summer in the City festival, Weston said.

“We wanted to be a part of the larger festivities,” Weston said. “We hope that people will stop by the library [during the festival], and we felt we could get the most people out to see [the sale] during that time.”

Currently, the library is in the process of expanding and renovating its building, which was made possible due to a millage passed by Dowagiac voters in November 2018. Once completed, the expansion will give the library space to once again host the sale inside, with Weston hoping to host a sale twice a year.

Weston said he would encourage any book lover to check out the library’s sale during the Summer in the City event. Additionally, new books and items will be added to the sale throughout the weekend, so truly dedicated bibliophiles should visit the book tent more than once, he added.

“This benefits the library and book lovers, collectors and people that are curious,” Weston said.