LEWISBURG — The Public Library for Union County’s annual four-day used book sale opened Wednesday with the biggest turnout in its 11-year history.

Cars started streaming into the Faith Lutheran Church parking area before the 9 a.m. opening, and motorists quickly overflowed the lot.

“We never had cars parked on the grass before,” said volunteer Roger Allison, who was handing out bags at the door.

As book-sale regulars know, you take a bag and fill it with all the books you can jam in for $15. That covers any book in the sale of about 40,000 items, excluding a small selection of separately priced special volumes.

Dealers come early, of course, said sale committee chairwoman Sally Kobus, but they don’t necessarily get to scoop up all the best books. New stock is added later in the day and each day of the sale, she said. The biggest problem Wednesday afternoon was that there were so many people still there that stockers had difficulty maneuvering in more boxes of books.

“It’s amazing,” she said at 3 p.m. “Usually, we have a lull in the afternoon. There’s been no lull. We have as many people here now as in the morning. There are still about 150 people here.”

They appeared to be having a good time. New Jersey visitor Arlene Hricko was looking for her favorite authors in the mystery section. “My problem is sometimes I don’t remember if I read the book or not,” she said. “But for $15 a bag, I can take a chance.”

Would she need more than one bag? “I’ll have to see how full I can get it,” she said.

Book-browsing was a family affair for Pam Martin, of Muncy, and her five children. Thirteen-year-old Dustin Martin was looking for adventures, and his sister, Megan, wanted horse or dog stories. Siblings Regina, 8, Collin, 6, and Grant, 3, hadn’t anything particular in mind.

“My children love to read,” their mother said. “It’s a good way to get a lot of books at a cheap price. You just can’t go to the store and buy books every day.”

In the parking lot, Linda Martin, who is no relation to Pam, was loading boxes of books into a trunk for friends, who went back for more. They will use them to build up their library at Grubbs Church in Mount Pleasant Mills, she said. “I might go back in for a bagful myself,” she said.

The books come from donations, and proceeds from the sale go to the general fund of the library. But there’s another financial advantage. Among the donations, librarians find books they want to replace or add to the library’s collection. Between January and June, 1,400 donated books were added to the collection, Kobus said. “That saves us a tremendous amount of money,” she said.

It took volunteers two days to get seven large truckloads of books to the church, just west of Lewisburg and near the library, for the sale. They are collected and sorted year-round by a committee of 12 volunteers. It takes another 40 or so volunteers to run the sale.

Church volunteers operate a concession stand. “We do this every year,” said Carole Eustis. “We have fun, and we fool around, and the proceeds are donated to world hunger relief.”

In 1998, the first year the Public Library for Union County held a similar sale, $2,400 was earned, Kobus said. Last year, nearly 10 times as much, $23,345, was raised. “We’re hoping to exceed that this year,” she said. “It’s looking good.”