Book lovers, DVD enthusiasts and CD listeners can find their new favorites for low prices at the Friends of the Oak Park Public Library Book Fair July 12 to 14 at 834 Lake St.
The local book fair is the largest and longest-ongoing sale of its kind in the Midwest, according to Russ Glidden, president of the Friends of the OPPL board. In 2023, 41,300 books were donated, with 23,000 sold and the remainder donated.
“Books bring people together,” Glidden said. “This is about bringing together the community and the library and the Friends, to get books out into the hands of the people. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
The 52nd annual book fair will take place from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. July 12, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. July 13 and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. July 14. From noon to 2 p.m. July 14, volunteers only will be able to snag free items. In 2023, more than 125 volunteers helped sort and sell books. Individuals from nonprofit organizations, teachers and Little Free Library owners can get free items, too, after the volunteers finish, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. July 14.
Hardback books will sell for $2, trade paperbacks for $1 and mass-market paperbacks for 50 cents. Near the end of the event, everyone will be allowed to fill up a bag with any items for $10 a bag. Games and puzzles are also available at the fair.
Volunteers sort donations for the 52nd annual Oak Park Book Fair on June 26, 2024. Credit: Javier Govea 
Russ Glidden, president of the Friends of the Oak Park Public Library, is pictured in the donations area for the annual book fair June 26, 2024. Credit: Javier Govea 
A collection of sorted donations for the 52nd annual Oak Park Book Fair is shown June 26, 2024. Credit: Luzane Draughon 
Books for avid readers and first-time book buyers alike are pictured June 26, 2024. Credit: Javier Govea
The popular fundraising event’s proceeds support library programs like the Barbara Ballinger lecture series, a folk music series, and in 2023, the new pop-up libraries. 2023 revenue totaled $29,354 up by 52% from the $19,295 raised in 2022.
Those additional funds allowed for the purchase of a 3D printer and the Litebrite Wall, an interactive and colorful wall for kids at the library. The top sale in 2023 was for $502, from a group of men who Glidden said were heading to the Amazon to supply books to schools.
“Our prices are so much better, [so] their money went much further,” Glidden said.
More than 1,500 transactions occurred in 2023.
The book fair is largely popular among Oak Parkers, Glidden said, but visitors from other towns and even states often visit, too, given the cheap prices and wide variety. In 2020 and 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the book fair was canceled.
Donations will be accepted until June 29 in the library’s community space. Heavy or large donations are accepted from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays at the library’s loading dock in the alley between the library and First United Methodist Church. Donations are sorted into four categories: children’s, fiction, nonfiction and for Better World Books.
Donations deemed in poorer shape or books not accepted for the sale, like textbooks, are donated to BWB, a for-profit social enterprise that sells books online to fund literacy initiatives around the world, according to its website. Any leftover books from the fair are donated to BWB, too, Glidden said. In 2023, about 18,000 books were donated to BWB.
This year, August “Augie” Aleksy, owner of Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore in Forest Park, donated all the books he had left, as the store recently shut its doors. Glidden said it was about 22 boxes, which translates to about 1,000 to 1,200 books, including a large quantity of mystery and history books, two enticing categories for Oak Park book fair attendees.
“People are just fascinated by history,” Glidden said. “If you’re interested in history, you’ll just read anything.”
An anonymous donation of about 20 boxes, or more than 500 books, of Golden Age science fiction will appear at this year’s fair, too. Science fiction is another popular category, Glidden said.
“People who read science fiction are rabid about it,” Glidden said. “These people just rush to that table, and it’s decimated within the first hour or two.”
The best-selling category in 2023, however, was children’s and teen books. Certain titles are copiously donated and demanded each year, Glidden said, including the Harry Potter series as well as the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series.
A first-time occurrence at the 2024 book fair will be a room devoted to special books, priced at $5 each. These art and architecture books, along with new hardbacks from popular authors and other collectables, could retail for $30 and up to $80, Glidden said.
The annual book fair will be sorted into multiple locations within the library. The community room, where volunteers sorted books, will host CDs, DVDs, games and $5 collectable books. Children’s books will be in the children’s section of the library on the first floor. Nonfiction books can be found on the second floor in the Veterans Room, and fiction books will be on the third floor.
Physical books are still popular among residents and visitors who attend the book fair, Glidden said, despite inventions like Kindles and other e-readers. It’s partly generational, Glidden said, but all demographics enjoy purchasing books at the fair. The reasonable prices are a huge factor, too. Glidden said he personally owns about 10,000 books.
“People in Oak Park are very, very passionate about the book fair because it’s a part of Oak Park history,” he said. “Oak Park tends to be an old-fashioned community that holds on to old-fashioned family values. And I think books embrace that concept.”