More than 600,000 books are being sold at bargain prices at the Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa¡s Annual Book Sale.

The sale is located at the Agricultural Building in the Iowa State Fairgrounds, E. 30th St. and Grand Ave., in Des Moines.

The 42nd sale started on Friday and lasts until Sunday. Each day, doors are open from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m.

The sale gets bigger every year,Πsays Kendall Dillon, Planned Parenthood communications director in Des Moines.

He says the support the book sale receives is enthusiastic.

We have thousands of volunteers throughout the year ¢ people receiving and sorting books, people that set up the sale at the fairgrounds,Œ Dillon says. We get over 600,000 a year donated to use by people in the community.Œ

It took six semi trailer loads to bring in all of the donations this year, says Mary Dunbar, chairwoman of the Planned Parenthood book sale committee.

I think the whole process is so interesting,Œ she says. The books get dropped off in a building that used to be a cleaner¡s shop, so there is a lot of room here. There are probably 60 or 80 volunteers that work every day all year sorting books.Œ

The money raised by the event goes to community outreach programs and other education programs. Dillon says the sale grows every year, and this year Planned Parenthood hopes to raise more than the $250,000 it raised last year.

Dillon says other nonprofit organizations can benefit from this book sale as well.

The week after the sale, any nonprofit organization can come in and take any of the books we have left for use in their own libraries,Πhe says.

Before those organizations can get to them, however, there are some treasures for those willing to dig them up, Dunbar says.

The thing that is most amazing is actually seeing all these books,Œ she says. We have leather-bound editions of classics, rare comic books ¢ some from Asia.Œ