What once used to be a book wonderland filled to the brim with every genre you can think of, is now a book wasteland — but that’s not a bad thing. The Lincoln County Library book sale, held by the Lincoln County Library Foundation, sold around 80%-90% of the stock available.

“The sale was a huge success,” Lincoln County Library Director Richard Landreth said. “The books went back to the community.”

Because the library is a public entity, it cannot raise money on its own. The foundation, a private entity, hosts the book sale and gives the proceeds of the sale back to the library.

The yearly sale usually hosted in April normally boast a majority of donated books, according to Landreth. However, this year the library had to stop taking donations in March.

“COVID-19 came and we had to start storing the books,” Landreth said. Donations could no longer be accepted because much about the virus was unknown at the time. Landreth said they may look at taking book donations in the future now that they can quarantine the books.

The books for this year’s sale mostly came from weeding, Landreth said. “Because everything was closed to patrons, we had time to weed the material here in Kemmerer,” Landreth said. “It was needed here.

At the sale there was a large collection of CD audio books. Landreth said patrons used to come and take a handful to listen to while driving around in Wyoming, but they don’t do that as much anymore. Landreth said he thinks he knows why.

“New cars don’t come with CD players anymore. My new truck doesn’t have one,” Landreth said.

Now that the sale is over, the remaining books are hanging in limbo. According to Landreth, the books are usually donated to places that need them after the sale, but COVID-19 has stopped that for now. Landreth said for now they are going to store them until they can figure something out.