The Friends of the Library of West St. Tammany is a volunteer organization in Covington, La. that supports the St. Tammany Parish Library system by selling donated books to the public and surplus books to Thrift Books. The Friends also sell rare books in a monthly silent auction at the Covington Library.

I went to one of the Friends’ monthly sales and came home with a bag full of books. Hardbacks cost $2 and paperbacks $1. Volunteers earn one book per hour.

The Friends of the Library is located on the north side of Covington between US Hwy 190 and the parish fairgrounds.

The Friends of the Library occupies a former COVID clinic. The clinic closed in late 2023, and the Friends moved in after installing bookshelves in the lobby, hallways, and former exam rooms.

One volunteer takes responsibility for each room. When the volunteer needs shelf space, she or he pulls books that haven’t sold in six months and scans them to see if Thrift Books wants them. Any books Thrift rejects go to a local Vietnam veteran’s resale shop. If the veterans cannot sell them, the books go to compost.

This is Room 7, my favorite. It’s where I discovered Baylor professor Philip Jenkins’s concise, insightful History of the United States.

I have found worthwhile books among the free books on the porch. Here are three of the best ones:

How To Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds—Or Less amounts to a Toastmasters public speaking manual condensed into 120 pages. The author uses stories from his career as a Hollywood talent agent to illustrate his points.

Salvation History is a guided tour of the Bible showing how the Old Testament lays the foundation for the New. The author’s explanation of salvation is the best I have read.

Notice the stamp showing the provenance of this copy. St. Dominic’s church is located between the 17th Street and Orleans Ave. drainage canals that breached in Hurricane Katrina. The church sustained major damage in the flood that followed the hurricane.

The First 72 Hours is a prepper’s manual that recommends what supplies to have—and not have—on hand to survive a natural disaster like Katrina. Two bonus chapters offer advice on surviving an active shooter incident and an urban riot.

The book receives bad reviews on Amazon, but I disagree. Although the book is poorly designed, I like it and have even bought some of the recommended items. One thing I dislike, however, is the astounding statement in large bold type on the first page:

NOTICE

This is NOT a free book. You may NOT forward this book to anyone else. You do NOT have resale rights for this book. We will take aggressive legal action against anyone violating these terms. If you have purchased this book from anywhere other than concernedpatriot.com, including eBay, please report it to us immediately.

Apparently, the author is not familiar with the First-sale doctrine.