Royal Oak Library’s Friends book shop gives back in big ways

ROYAL OAK — Located in the Royal Oak Public Library is a small but mighty bookstore dedicated to raising money for library programs. 

The Friends Shop includes a large variety of books including children’s books, DVDs, and games that are priced at 50 cents or a dollar. All of the proceeds from sales go directly to the library. 

Books are available for purchase on the first floor inside the Friends Shop or on the shelves located outside the shop. There is also a children’s section of buyable books located in the children’s area of the library.

Yvonne Busby-Dean, member of the Friends volunteer board and book shop manager, said that their goal is to spread awareness about the bookshop, and hopefully bring in more customers. 

Busby-Dean said that the bookstore is open all the time, which is new this year. Even if there is not a volunteer at the desk in the Friends Shop, people can still purchase books at the library front desk. 

“We have an automatic light system, so it goes dark in here, so the idea to have this sign outside of the store is to let people know that if they just step in, the light goes back up,” she said. “It was kind of confusing people and putting them off that the light was off in here.”

The bookstore has seen a significant increase in sales over the past few years, according to Friends board President Larry Baker. 

“During the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which ended Aug. 31, the Friends spent $22,666.30 supporting the library materials (including Libby Overdrive materials), multiple programs for all ages, outdoor musical instruments, and ice cream for the summer reading program,” Baker said via email. “Thanks to a solid year for us, we are increasing our funding to the library to $33,000 for the new fiscal year.”

Connie Ewalt, a member of the Friends board and a volunteer at the Friends Shop, said that the majority of the growth can be attributed to the increase of social media advertising. 

“We have some younger librarians that are really enthusiastic and they are very adept at social media advertising,” Ewalt said. “Last year, one of the staff put out tons of information about a book sale that we had, and two different organizations drove out to participate.”

In August, the Friends Shop hosts a book drive for teachers, which always has a good turnout, according to Ewalt. 

“The teachers come from all over, even downriver and out in South Lyon,” she said. “There were almost 100 teachers, and we gave away around 2,000 books. A lot of the teachers come from Detroit, where they don’t have their own libraries, so this is a way they can fill their own classrooms up.”

The store also sells T-shirts, making $1,620 in sales, according to Baker. One of the shirts has a graphic saying “I’m with the Banned” and the other shirt is a Pride shirt. Each shirt costs $20.

“We have become really community focused, very community oriented in the last several years,” Baker said. “You know, we have the teacher giveaways that we have every year, we donate books to prisons, to Little Free Libraries around the area. We have several special groups that we support in the summers; we support senior centers.”

Library Director Sandy Irwin said that the Friends Shop is a major help to the library’s programs, and the volunteers do a lot of work to keep it all running smoothly. 

“The Friends are so supportive of everything that the library does and what we need. Everything they do is for the library; it’s such a strong volunteer group,” Irwin said. “They help us in a variety of ways, and they have generally helped us with programs, but they help us a lot with the purchasing of e-books that are growing in demand for our library.”

Between donations and sales in the shop, the Friends have generated a total revenue of $41,153.32, in the fiscal year 2024-2025, an increase of nearly $4,800, according to Baker. 

“We are looking forward to another year of contributing to this Royal Oak community of ours and to lending our support to and making more money for our library,” he said. 

For more information and to apply to volunteer for the Friends, visit ropl.org.