It's all over, until next year. Yes, this year's Friends of the Metropolitan Library System Booksale, whose the me was Take Me to Your Reader, was a great success with a total $241,900 collected.

Booksale 2006 was a three-day event held at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in the Oklahoma ExpoBuilding and got underway Feb. 24 with a pre-sale party, for members of The Friends. Nearly 4,000 folks came out with trashcans on wheels, suitcases, four-wheelers and dollies to scoop up the bargains. On Saturday and Sunday the event opened to the public, and the crowds continued to flock through the doors. Shoppers from Arizona , New Mexico , Arkansas , Kansas , Texas and California came in droves to shop at what is now the biggest two-day book sale in the country.

A thank you goes to Kenny Wilkerson and Larry Willrath who served for the second time as coordinators, aided by a committee that met throughout the year. Proceeds from BOOKSALE 2006 benefit the Metropolitan Library System for materials, programming and projects not covered in the library's annual budget.

For information about joining The Friends, contact www.mlsfriends.org.

The Metropolitan Library System of Oklahoma County includes 12 libraries and five extension libraries. Libraries include Belle Isle, Capitol Hill, Ralph Ellison, Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library and Southern Oaks in Oklahoma City, as well as Bethany, Choctaw, Del City, Edmond, Midwest City, Village and Warr Acres. Extensions are located in the communities of Harrah, Jones, Luther and Nicoma Park and include Wright Library in Oklahoma City . You can also reach us at www.metrolibrary.org.