Library Shelves the Book Fair

The Montauk Library’s annual book fair, traditionally held on the downtown green on the Saturday of the Fourth of July weekend, will no longer be held. Instead, smaller, more community-minded events will be held at the library four times a year. Also, starting in the spring, the library will host two to four yard-sale fund-raisers per year.

The organizers of the fair, the Friends of the Montauk Library, issued a statement saying that it had simply become too much all around: The heavy lifting and moving of the books, aging volunteers, and decreased income over the years all played a part in the decision, said Sally Krusch, the group’s spokeswoman.

The fair had also lost much of its community spirit, with too many tourists and overcrowding in the downtown area, which led many locals to avoid the area on the day of the fair, the statement said.

E-readers and other electronic devices have reduced the demand for books, and the revenue from the fair, which has been used to offset other costs at the library, has dropped steadily since 2008. The proceeds no longer justified the amount of work put into staging the fair, the organizers said. In the past few years, the proceeds have ranged from a high of $21,000 to $17,000.

Books sold at the fair were donated throughout the previous year and left at the library, leaving organizers with the task of sorting and cleaning them. Volunteers would then have to move hundreds of volumes from the library to the fair site early on a Saturday morning. Afterward, the unsold books had to be disposed of or transported back to the library.

Since the fair will no longer happen, donation requirements have been tightened. The library will no longer accept books that are not in good condition or that are dusty and mildewed. No textbooks, encyclopedias, or outdated nonfiction science, health, or computer books will be accepted. No more than three bags or boxes of books will be accepted at a time.

In an effort to rekindle community spirit, the statement said, library organizers will hold more events, albeit less labor-intensive ones, at the library, with the first scheduled for Nov. 29, Thanksgiving weekend.