Book sale hogs: Mark new rules.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

The used book business was once a genteel affair - collectors leafing through vintage hardcovers in search of rare treasures, thrifty readers prowling for used paperbacks by their favorite mystery or thriller authors.

But digital scanners and Amazon.com have turned the page on that scene. Some book buyers have become so aggressive and boorish that Eugene's annual Friends of the Library book sale is changing its rules. When this year's sale begins Saturday at the Lane Events Center Concert Hall there will be: No saving places in the line that typically begins forming the night before. No squirreling away more than one box of books at a time. No leaving your cast-offs for the sale's mostly retiree volunteers to haul back to display tables.

This because of the antics of a handful of Internet book dealers last year.

At least one out-of-town dealer hired more than a dozen local minions and gave them last-minute cuts at the front of the line, said Scott Landfield, owner of Eugene's Tsunami Books. They rushed in the doors and threw sheets over tables to claim their contents, he said.

Other dealers parked 50-gallon tubs at the end of tables, then used their arms to sweep hundreds of books into the containers, said Anita Danielson, a Eugene hair stylist who herself sells books online.

"It was over the top - it was savage," she said.

Within 15 minutes, Landfield estimated, such monopolizers had hauled "tens of thousands" of books to a stage at one end of the Lane County fairgrounds Performance Hall. There they used portable scanners, cell phones and laptops to identify high-value books, leaving their rejects in a jumble.

"I felt so bad for the volunteers who had to pick up those books and carry them back," said Danielson. "There were stacks four feet high - hundreds of them. It was just horrible. And of course, no other customers could browse through them until they were resorted."

Such conduct disgusted the 300 volunteers who spend months collecting and sorting the books for the sale's display tables.

"The people that did this aren't interested in books or reading," Friends president Dale Crawford said. "They're only interested in making money."

Longtime volunteer Helene England, who oversees the sale's individually priced collectible art books, agreed.

"They come in and just throw these books around that we've all been so careful about," she said. "They grab off tons of books, expensive ones, and hoard them. ...It just isn't very fair."

So the group sent representatives to Portland last fall to observe the Friends of the Multnomah County Library Sale. That event adopted rules several years ago to prevent such abuses. The Eugene sale will impose similar regulations this weekend, said event Chairwoman Carol Hildebrand.

Landfield, who used to spend the night in line to be among the first in the door, will forego the $500 to $1,000 worth of books he typically buys for Tsunami. Instead, he will be one of three volunteer marshals enforcing sale rules. The Friends are prepared to issue "no trespassing" notices to rule-breakers, Hildebrand said.

She stressed that book dealers are a valuable segment of the sale's 2,300 customers, and said most treat books and other shoppers with respect. Event organizers sent notice of the new rules to such major buyers, who come from as far away as Canada and Northern California, Hildebrand said, to avoid surprising people.

Some of the changes, she added, should make life easier for large-quantity buyers: Cashiers will accept credit cards for the first time, for example. And they will tally up each box of purchases as soon as it is turned in, rather than requiring such customers to complete all their shopping to begin the check-out process.

"It's going to be great," said Danielson, who typically spends five or six hours at the sale, searching tables for "unusual books," which she then prices with a hand-held scanner. "Everybody's going to have a chance. And the people who grabbed so many books last year are going to have to use their heads and just shop like the rest of us."

But the biggest beneficiaries of the new rules should be local, non-commercial buyers, Landfield said.

"There are thousands of people right here in Eugene who look forward to this sale to get their books for their reading, and they were being completely cut out of a chance at many books," he said. "I think this year is going to be the best in several years for the book lover."

FRIENDS OF LIBRARY SALE

The 29th annual event will offer 70,000 used books, plus DVDS, CDs and books on tape.

When: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday; Lobby opens at 7 a.m.

Where: Lane Events Center Performance Hall

Parking and admission: Free

2007 SALE RULES

No saving places or "line jumping."

All customers will work with one box at a time.

No carrying books away to evaluate later.

Scanners and cell phones may be used only at sales tables.

Boxes removed from display tables will be tallied as purchases.

No strollers, boxes or other containers large enough to block aisles.

Prices: $1 for small paperbacks; $1.50 for most hardbound and large paperbacks; individually priced rare and specialty books.

Why:Proceeds ($80,000 last year) support Eugene Public Library programs and services.