If you haven't found a book that you want, you haven't looked hard enough."

That's the opinion of Friends of the Mountville Library president Karen Denlinger, who vows the group's spring book sale will include items that appeal to children, teens, and adults.

The annual event will be held Friday, March 20, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, March 21, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Mountville Church of the Brethren, 50 Clay St., Mountville, which is across the street from the library.

In addition to books, the sale will include puzzles, DVDs, CDs, games, and "maybe some surprises," Denlinger said, adding that there will be sports books, cookbooks, biographies, history books, books on politics, and antiquated books. "We have a lot of very old books," she said. "We have fabulous art books. We have new books that we specially price."

She noted that the occurrence promotes a sense of collectiveness. "You should come to the book sale to meet new friends - meet new friends that are at the book sale and buy a book and meet new friends in the book," Denlinger said. "You'll find characters that you love. You'll find characters that you'll hate. But you will enjoy the book; if you don't want fiction, you might want history. You might want something else."

The popularity of the book sale is evident early. "At 9 o'clock (a.m. on Friday), we have a really big queue," said Denlinger. "By 10:15 (a.m.), it is shoulder to shoulder with people buying books. They come and they have smiles on their faces. They are happy, and then we also get very good feedback of how we have organized our books."

That is thanks to dedication and teamwork. As of Feb. 25, there were 100 boxes of books and counting. "Our sorting group has spent many hours going through all the books we have collected that our great patrons have donated to us," said Denlinger. "We have gone through them. We have sorted them, and then we organize them and box them. Then we have people taking them over to the storage. We have a whole process."

She is grateful for the support from the community. "The books that people are donating show their love of the library," said Denlinger. "Everybody works together so we can have a successful book sale." People's admiration for the branch is also being shown in other ways. "We had a lot of people this summer sign up (for a library card)," said Denlinger. "The use of the library is getting larger."

Deb Lytle is one of the cadre of volunteers who help make it all come together. "I love sorting books because I love to read," she said. "I've loved to read my whole life, and I really like taking books home to my neighbors. They have two small kids, and they just want to promote reading for the next generations to come."

The Friends of the Mountville Library group meets four times a year. "Our main purpose is to raise funds for the Mountville Library so they can use these funds to help with what the library needs," Denlinger said. "It could be helping with books. It could be helping with programs that they want. It could be doing things like buying equipment; whatever the Mountville Library needs that they can't get funded for, we try and help them. This money all stays in Mountville."