College students, you’ve probably heard of this life saver: book sales. A community used-book sale is part of the book-recycling system. Essentially, books discarded by a public library, and donated by college students and the greater community are collected, resorted, and resold for others to buy, and a book sale is hosted to sell these books. Your public library hosts these events - maybe once a year, twice a year, or every month. In my town, my public library hosts Used-Book Sales at the end of each college semester, and thousands of college students, professors, and townspeople flock in to buy used books.

If you’ve been to a community book sale, at least one of these has probably happened to you (because it happens to me):

1. You plan your days and come strategically.

If you’re a book sale enthusiast, you would probably have scheduled the dates for the next book sale. You would also have the days with the assigned prices for that current day. You plan your visiting schedule so that you come at the most optimal times: 1) when the book collection is still vast but the prices are agreeable (In other words, when the good stuff is still available at a super cheap price). 2) At the last day – or the penultimate day – when everything is dirt cheap.

2. You can’t even with finding a parking spot.

You’ve arrived. You are eager to go in and just get your hands on them books, but first you have to park your car. Unsurprisingly, there’s only a small parking lot in front of the building and cars are already squeezed in at maximum capacity. So, you figured you’ll have to wait until a person leaves, or park somewhere further. *sigh*

3. You love the smell.

You know what I’m talking about. It’s the distinct smell of books – a mixture of aging dust, bookshelf wood, and yellowing paper creating the characteristic smell that you inexplicably love. You can’t help but associate the strong scent with all the knowledge contained in all the books they are selling, combined. You sometimes think that this natural fragrance is life’s way of getting you high on books. You think to yourself, this is the reason why someone can spend hours in a room full of books.

4. You feel the urge to read.

Whether reading is something you love to do or whether it’s not, you can’t help but feel the urge and the motivation to read when you step into a community book sale. In a way, you suddenly find a hidden passion for reading books when you enter. You want to just buy as much books as possible and engorge yourself in them. I don’t care if it’s the combination of the people buying the books, the book suggestions posted all over, or that addicting scent of books, the book sale managers got their marketing – or its lack thereof – right. I get the feels for books.

5. You sense that you're a part of a special group of people.

In a time when technology is taking people away from books, only a fraction of a city’s townspeople would even remotely enter into the book sale location, let alone explore the breadth of books that is available. This means that you will see a particularly different group of people in the venue, especially those who are actually there for the books and not just waiting on someone to finish buying something. You can see it in their eyes – sharply searching for a good book to expand their minds. You become enlightened by their mumbles and their conversations with others – these help you gain insight on so many matters. Oftentimes, you become inspired and motivated too; you see a flock of studious human beings yearning to advance their knowledge – and sometimes super smart children – and you come out of the building feeling determined to become more knowledgeable. It’s a great bunch of people.

I love book sales, don't you?