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No matter how you read it, there is more to the monthly book sale at the Potomac Library than just setting out books and inviting the community to come and pick up a bargain.

There are volunteers – Friends of the Library – who collect and organize the books and set up for the sale, there are children who, know it or not, benefit from the proceeds of the sale, and there are the buyers who come for a variety of reasons to inspect the goods, hoping to find the perfect books at just the right price.

Most of the libraries in the county, 16 of the 21 branches, have a Friends of the Library group according to Ari Brooks, executive director of Friends of the Library, Montgomery County. The groups are made up of volunteers committed "to make a good library system great" Brooks said.

The purpose of the groups is to raise money for programs within their specific library branches. In addition to book sales, groups earn money through membership dues, donations and matching gift programs.

"Our mission is to enhance the Montgomery County Public Libraries by raising funds for library services and programs not otherwise covered," Brooks said.

The Friends of the Library Potomac chapter funds most of the special events during the summer reading program and other children's programs throughout the year, Potomac Library Manager Lindsey Hunt said. It also means a chance to add to the library's own collection.

"Before the sale we go through the books for what we need for our collection," Hunt said.

At fifty cents for most paperbacks and $1 for most hardback books, bargain is definitely the word of the day.

"This is a treasure hunt. Ever since I learned [of the sale] I drop everything and come," said Kheminder Chadda of Gaithersburg, who has shopped the Potomac Library book sale for the last six months.

Chadda was looking for books on foreign languages, wine, cooking and best sellers at the sale held last Saturday. He was not disappointed.

"In one half hour to an hour I can pick up a number of books that I'm interested in," Chadda said.

Nathalie Okhowat of Potomac was at the sale with her sons Justin, 6, and Robert, 9. They were searching for piano books but chose some others too.

"I look for animal books," said Justin, holding an animal pop-up book his mother was paying for.

Okhowat visits the book sale several times each year mostly looking for books for the boys she said. Her bargain purchase from Saturday's sale, however, was "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway.

"I got this for my dad, he hasn't read it for a long time," she said.

In addition to the community book browsers, some serious book buyers attend the monthly sales.

Jeff Benya, of Silver Spring, has a small book store in Howard County and searches the local library sales for books to replenish his shelves.

"I buy more than the average, I spent about $95," Benya said, explaining that the sale is a win for him and a win for the library.

Judy Davis of Potomac, book sale chairperson at the library for about eight years, would not say how much money the book sales typically raise.

Denice Shaw, of Potomac, is the current president of the Friends of the Library Potomac. She was one of several volunteers working Saturday's sale and wanted to point out the community support for the book sale with their book donations and purchases.

"It's a nice way the community can support kids and the library," Shaw said.