About the Friends of the Lexington Public Library

The Friends of the Lexington Public Library, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has existed for decades, and while our physical presence may have changed over the years, our goals have remained largely the same.

In 1966, Rabbi William J. Leffler proposed forming a Friends of the Library organization to the library’s board of trustees. The Friends organization was established in 1968 under the auspices of a community-wide steering committee, chaired by noted Lexington historian Richard S. DeCamp. Its purpose was to provide financial and tangible support to the library and to help the library become a lively center of community activity. Articles of incorporation were filed January 17, 1969, in Fayette County Court.

Currently, we choose to give back to the Lexington Public Library in many ways, from funding library branch remodeling efforts to developing community outreach events and funding gatherings for library staff. Between 1972 and 2024, a large number of the constructed library branches were partially funded by our aggressive fundraising efforts.

Our immense fundraising efforts have totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars. Our varied support assists the Lexington community, and our board members, staff, and team of volunteers work tirelessly to support in any way that we can. Not only are we passionate about the library, we’re passionate about our community, something that our work visibly demonstrates.

Our main source of revenue is our bookstore, the Friends Book Cellar. Opened in 1998 in the lower level of the Central Library, the Friends Book Cellar maintains an ever-growing inventory of tens of thousands of items and is the main reason for our monetary success. With competitive pricing, wide variety, and friendly staff, the Friends Book Cellar is a popular downtown Lexington institution and a community favorite among local bookstores!

In May 2023, the Friends Book Cellar gained a new manager, Simon Boes. Under his leadership, the Friends Book Cellar has undergone numerous transformations, including the expansion of the store space (January 2024), the implementation of a new Square point-of-sale system for efficiency, and the development of new customer promotions.

Since early 2023, Simon has worked with local breweries and other community spaces to host off-site book sales, allowing us to take inventory to other local businesses and expand our reach in the community. Simon has also been influential in ensuring our collaboration with local schools, libraries, and other similar non-profit organizations.

Some organizations that we’ve worked with include:

We’ve been holding book sales since 1971. Our biannual book sales are famous, and you may remember when we filled large warehouses up with hundreds of thousands of items. Recently, the book sales have been held at the Friends Book Cellar location. Thanks to a steady stream of community donations, we’ve had no trouble maintaining a large volume of book sale inventory.

These book sales are another community favorite, and their large customer turnout allows us to provide major financial contributions to the Lexington Public Library twice a year. To tackle the issue of leftover inventory, we pursue bulk buyers, recyclers, or resellers, making deals to offload the remains by the truckload, ensuring that nothing is thrown away while continuing to increase our monetary contributions.

Finally, we maintain two online storefronts: one on eBay (established 2002) and one on Amazon (established 2008). On these online stores, we sell books, media, and other items that we have determined to be of a higher value; items that we believe would fetch more when not sold through our physical store. 100% of the proceeds from both online stores go back to the Lexington Public Library!

After learning about our mission to provide items for fair prices, people occasionally question why we opt to sell books online. There are two reasons that we decided long ago to adopt this practice. First, doing this allows us to better support the Lexington Public Library. When we sell a valuable item online for a higher price, we can provide higher monetary support to the library with each book sold. Second, many of these items are rather obscure or often sought-after, so by being listed on the internet, these items are afforded greater exposure, meaning they can be found by collectors and enthusiasts all around the world rather than a smaller local audience in the bookstore.

Thanks to detailed attention by our staff and a number of dedicated volunteers, our sales turnover on eBay and Amazon is robust. With the recent purchase of several new computers and the training of more volunteers for listing items, our eBay and Amazon stores are very productive. We invite you to check them out at the links above.

Under the leadership of Friends Book Cellar manager Simon Boes and board president Rod Brotherton, we have enjoyed unprecedented growth in recent years. In the past several years alone, we have provided tens of thousands of dollars to the Lexington Public Library, helped fund the development of a groundbreaking new library branch, and participated in numerous community events.

We are always looking for new ways to expand our organization, and we would love your support! There are a plethora of ways to support us, and we invite you to visit the Friends Book Cellar to learn more about our organization and what we do. You can become a member of the Friends of the Library, providing a yearly monetary donation to us and enjoying a host of benefits at the Friends Book Cellar and book sales. We also always appreciate donations of money or gently used items, and we’d love for you to check out our online stores or visit us at one of our off-site sales events.

If you would like to ensure that we can continue providing support to the Lexington Public Library, you can click the button below to directly donate to us. Any amount is appreciated, and your donation is tax-deductible.