“May I see your membership card, please?” asks Phyl Munro, in her cordial English accent.

Manning her station at the door of the Napa City-County Library’s Community Room, the sprightly Munro, carefully checks each Friend of the Library membership card, granting admission with a hearty “pass friend, spend, spend.”

Munro, who jokingly called herself the “Dragon Lady,” said she’s worked her post on member preview day for 20 years.

Four times a year, on a Saturday morning, a crowd of devoted book shoppers converge on the downtown library.

Lugging boxes, bags and carts, the group queues up early and waits for the clock to strike 10 a.m.

Like granting admission to a private club, on preview day, Munro’s there to welcome members of the Friends, while gently encouraging non-members to consider joining the library Friends.

The benefit?

For $5 a year, members can get into the book sale on preview day.

After that first day, anyone can enter the book sale, at no charge.

Each book sale begins with the gathering of thousands of books left in the library donation box near the library loading dock.

The library gets first pick at any donations, said Friends of the Library President Mike Joell. The rest are sorted and sold by more than 60 volunteers during each book sale.

Best buys

Folding tables are lined with dividers of topics such as fiction, non fiction, travel, biography, history, literature, cooking, wine, CDs, DVDs and more.

With rock bottom prices like 25 cents for children’s books or $2 for a hardcover, Library Friends President Mike Joell said book sale profits increase every year. More members mean more shoppers, and the quality of books keeps increasing, he said. “Some books are like brand new,” he said.

The book sale runs like a well-oiled machine that generates more than $50,000 a year for the Friends, which in turn make donations to the library.

Past gifts have included $60,000 for earthquake-proof shelving, $25,000 for re-carpeting, $10,000 for Wi-Fi and numerous other bequests. The group donates almost everything they make each year to the library.

 On opening day, the Friends typically make more than $5,000, he said.   

Dealers and locals

Book sale shoppers are divided into two main groups. One is the locals, who come to browse and buy. The others are the dealers searching for choice books to resell, mostly online.

Armed with PDAs, bar code scanners and headphones, dealers move efficiently, quickly scanning 12-digit UPC codes on the backs of books. Connected to an Amazon.com database. The PDA beeps “buy” or not.

Gathering their choices, dealers start a stash under a table or in a corner. Some cover their books with blankets or towels.  Others leave a sold sticker on their pile. Some huddle nearby, or under tables, scanning yet more books.

Dealers and locals co-exist at the book sale — sometimes warily.

“There is a conflict every year between (non-dealers) and dealers,” said Bruce Taylor, book sale manager.

“Dealers have a tendency to be aggressive,” he said.

A browsing local probably doesn’t like to be crowded by a busy dealer.

Dealers likely want locals to make way for their culling process.

“You don’t dare interrupt them,” said Joell.  

“(Dealers) are here to earn a living,” said Taylor. “It’s a compromise,” to shop side-by-side.

There has been some discussion of banning dealers or PDAs from the sale, but membership is open to all, said Joell. Besides, “some of these dealers (spend) $400 to $500,” during the sale.

Dealers approached by this reporter on the first day of a recent preview book sale were elusive. Murmuring “no, no” or just ignoring a question. Most declined to be interviewed.

Taking a smoking break, one dealer named Jim was tight-lipped about his PDA and what he was doing at the book sale. “It’s ultra-competitive in there,” he said, refusing to give his last name.

Another book dealer, also named Jim and without a last name, said he came from the East Bay. He didn’t want to talk about reselling books either.

“It might encourage more people to do the same thing,” he said.   

David Wexler of Napa is a longtime book dealer. Wearing a bright yellow windbreaker and carrying a PDA with scanner and headphones, he busily examined books at the sale.

Wexler explained the dealer’s reluctance to talk.

“This is a small space, with so many books available. To maximize their potential, (dealers) have to be focused, especially in the first half hour.”

Using his PDA to find the current Amazon.com price, sales ranking, and inventory, Wexler scans book by book, making his decisions.

A book about rock climbing in Colorado? Too obscure, according to his PDA. Author Jon Krakaur’s bestseller, “Into Thin Air”?  Too common, it reported. A book on Amish quilting looked more promising.  

Wexler has more than 1,000 books at home, most listed for sale on Amazon.com. Sometime he spends 40 hours a week reselling books, selling 10 books online a day, but he wouldn’t reveal his profits.  

“It’s very laborious,” said Wexler.

“People have to get off the idea that we’re big profiteers and that we’re making windfall profits. We’re just trying to make a living. It’s not easy.”

Wexler admitted dealers can be pushy. “I don’t deny that.” But locals can be aggressive too, he added.

While it doesn’t justify the behavior, the situation is a win-win for the library.

Wexler said he’ll spend about “a couple hundred” dollars during the eight-day sale.

Friends of books

Friends volunteer Ruth Parlan said the crush on preview day is expected. Even though books are continuously put out during the sale, “members feel this is when you get the best selection.”   

Sandra Hudson has been a book sale volunteer for three years. “It can get crazy on bag day,” referring to the final day of the sale when shoppers can fill two bags with books for $5.

Rob Keller, a local beekeeper, and lifetime Friend of the Library member, browsed books in the natural history section.

Keller said he had no luck finding bee books but was delighted to score Michael Pollan’s “Botany of Desire.”

He was also happy to pick up books about the DiRosa Collection and Hess Collection.

Looking over at the crowded aisles Keller said, “once this calms down I’ll go over to children’s books for my son.”  

Elaine Clarenbach, of Napa, said  she has been coming to the book sale for 30 years.

Buying 21 purple Harlequin Intrigue novels, she left with her new stack of books about an hour after arriving.

“It’s one of the best deals in Napa,” said Clarenbach.

Non-book sale

The Napa City County Friends will host a special non-book sale:

March 29 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

March 30, 2-5 p.m.

Library Community Room.

• Records

• VHS

• DVDs

• Audio tapes

• Books on Tape and CDs.

• More than 200 comic books.

Friends book sale

May 10 to May 18

Library Community Room

The first day of each library book sale is preview day for Friends of the Library members only. On the following sale days, the public is invited to shop.

Book prices:

Hardcover, $2

Trade/oversize, $1

Mass market paperback, three for $1

Children’s hardcover, 50 cents

Children’s softcover, 25 cents

Videos $2

DVDs $3

Napa County students will receive three free books at the book sale.