For the third year in a row, Ithaca will host the Enemies of the Library Book Sale. The Book Sale, which will occur this April, has developed and grown in protest of the Friends of the Library Book Sale, a long-time Ithaca institution. The Friends of the Library (FotL) Book Sale sells used, donated books at low prices in order to fundraise for the Tompkins County Public Library. In contrast, the Enemies of the Library (EotL) Book Sale rents both new and used books at or above market rates in order to provide larger raises for corporate higher-ups.
The major backers of the EotL Book Sale point to current market trends as a major factor in their success. One marketing representative for Barnes & Noble, Inc., the main group behind the EotL Book Sale, stated, “All the evidence right now is pointing in favor of our model. Why would anyone want to have to go to a library and read books for free when they can have the convenience of just going to a bookstore and paying several times the value of that same book? Sometimes you just have to use common sense.” The representative further attacked the FotL Book Sale by noting the hypocrisy involved. “At the Friends of the Library Book Sale, you can go in and pay ridiculously low amounts for a book and then keep it. If they are really “friends of the library,” as they say, then why do they allow people to keep the books? Over here at the Enemies of the Library Book Sale, we’re improving the concept of a library by allowing people to pay for the books that they check out.” This year, for the first time, the EotL Book Sale will be shortening the book return due dates to 24 hours after checkout, as it ensures “maximum productivity and efficiency” in reading books.
Although the EotL Book Sale was established quite recently, much of the Ithaca community already views it as emblematic of what makes Ithaca great. Isaiah Gutman ‘19, a noted Republican ideologue who frequents the EotL Book Sale, noted, “I’m really glad that the Ithaca community is so welcoming to large businesses. Although the fact that the City of Ithaca is overwhelmingly conservative is probably detrimental to ideological discourse here in the long run, it’s things like the Enemies of the Library Book Sale that remind me how reassuring it is to be in a place where large corporations are valued.” Gutman posited that something like the EotL Book Sale would never survive elsewhere, musing that “here in the Ten Square Miles of Reality, we understand that corporations have a God-given right to screw us over, unlike those [expletive] liberals downstate who think they can deny Bezos the welfare he deserves.”
In an interview with the Tattler, Friends of the Library Book Sale organizers confirmed that the number of books donated has declined considerably since the founding of the EotL Book Sale. “We kind of knew that it was going to happen eventually,” said one organizer. “The truth is that it just isn’t a sustainable model for us to keep selling books at reasonable prices. Nobody wants that, especially not here.” Nevertheless, the FotL Book Sale will once again be setting up shop starting on the first Saturday of this May, in what will most likely be another futile attempt to sell books to Ithaca customers at fair prices.