The Friends of the Mountville Library will host its semiannual book sale on Friday, March 24, and Saturday, March 25, at Mountville Church of the Brethren, 60 Clay St., Mountville. The sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Free parking will be available at the church.

A variety of items will be available to purchase at the sale, including used books, family-friendly DVDs, vinyl records, board games and children's books. Several new books will also be sold, many of which are in the category of Christian romance. Every item at the sale is donated by members of the community and local businesses.

All profits from the sale will directly benefit the Mountville Branch of the Lancaster Public Library and help to support its general maintenance and upkeep costs. The book sale is one of the library's largest fundraisers, and it holds the sale once in September and once in March every year. The event incorporates different parts of the community; Mountville Church of the Brethren hosts it each year, and members of a local Boy Scout troop assist with setting up the sale.

"We have the best patrons, who always fully support the book sale," said Karen Denlinger, president of the Friends of the Mountville Library. "Some people buy books during the fall sale and return them so that we can sell them at the spring sale."

In addition to general upkeep costs, the money raised from the sale is used for special projects at the library. Currently, library staff members are working to rearrange parts of the branch to allocate more room for its patrons and programs. The library will celebrate its 60th anniversary in October, and the Friends of the Mountville Library are planning to organize an event for the occasion. The organization coordinates a variety of events and fundraisers for the library, including an annual plant sale in May. "Patrons always support these events so well because the library is so important to them," Denlinger said.

Denlinger joined the Friends of the Mountville Library in 2010, after she retired from teaching. At first, Denlinger was participating in the library's story time readings, but she decided to become more active with its fundraising efforts. "I just thought, 'You know what? The library is important,'" Denlinger said. "So I decided to join the Friends of the Library. I like doing this kind of stuff because it means a lot to the community."