Where to buy used books in Harrisburg

Updated 9/3/2026

Harrisburg keeps very little secondhand stock inside its own city limits, and the exception is the size of a small library. Midtown holds the Scholar on North Third Street, across the road from the Broad Street Market and a short walk north of the Capitol complex; after that, every stop on this page needs a bridge or a highway. West across the Susquehanna lie Lemoyne, Camp Hill, Enola and Mechanicsburg, and east and north lie Swatara Township, Paxtang, Colonial Park, Linglestown and Hummelstown, with New Cumberland downriver and Dillsburg well beyond it. Any stop away from the city gets its home borough or township said out loud in its opening line, because Dauphin, Cumberland and York counties all hand out Harrisburg postal addresses far past the line.

Settle who buys, and on what terms, before the car gets loaded, because the two largest names here pull in opposite directions. The Scholar buys outright on Thursday afternoons, settling in check or credit and offering twenty-five cents to a dollar where its own resale price would be seven dollars or less. Cupboard Maker Books, over in Enola, is blunt about refusing to purchase anything: it trades, two books or two bags a day, and the slip it issues covers no more than fifty percent of whatever you then spend on secondhand stock. 2nd & Charles staffs a buyback desk inside the old Toys R Us on Paxton Street and stops taking trades sixty minutes early, while Paperback Exchange in Lemoyne issues credit against whatever you bring in and marks its own secondhand shelves at fifty percent of cover.

Two things shape a sourcing run here more than any shop list. The first is the absence of Half Price Books: its Pennsylvania listing names exactly three branches, Ross Township, Monroeville and Bethel Park, every one of them a Pittsburgh suburb, and the company finder comes back empty when you set a hundred-mile radius on downtown Harrisburg. The second is that volunteer sales fill that gap and they cluster in the fall — Camp Hill in September, then Paxtang, Enola, Mechanicsburg, Colonial Park and Hummelstown through October — with the Friends of Simpson Library going as far as to publish a rule that permits scanners on their floor.

Spot map

The best spots

Used bookstores

The Midtown Scholar Bookstore-Cafe

1302 N 3rd St, Harrisburg, PA 17102

A renovated 1920s movie theater on North Third Street that served as Harrisburg's first split-level department store in the 1950s, its two buildings holding more than 200,000 used, new and discounted volumes, plus rare books, lithographic and woodcut prints and a children's and young adult wing the store calls The Little Scholar. Publishers Weekly named it national Bookstore of the Year in 2023, and its own front page carried a free Spotlight PA public discussion for Tuesday, September 8, 2026 at 6pm. Selling is walk-in on Thursday between 1pm and 5pm with five boxes or fewer and nothing booked ahead; past five boxes you email the book buy team a count, a location and photographs, and house calls happen by arrangement for large or unusual collections. The pay scale is published in plain language — a quarter to a dollar on anything the store can move for seven dollars or less, a share of perceived retail above ten, settled in check or store credit — and free two-hour parking sits around the Broad Street Market across the road.

Hours : Tue–Fri 10am–6pm, Sat 9am–7pm, Sun 10am–6pm; closed MonWebsite

Used bookstores

Cupboard Maker Books

157 N Enola Rd, Enola, PA 17025

Out in Enola, in East Pennsboro Township, west of the river and a shade over three miles northwest of the Capitol: a 6,500-square-foot cinder-block building on Routes 11/15 with book spines painted down its flanks. Its history page puts the start at February 1998, when this was a painted-furniture and gift shop carrying a single shelf of books, then logs the renaming and a move three blocks south in April 2002 and the arrival at this address in November 2003; the floor carries over 125,000 previously loved titles beside more than 5,000 new ones, with four resident cats and a rotating adoptable in the cage by the recommendation shelves. The FAQ is the part to read first, since this store will not purchase secondhand copies at all: it trades for store credit, takes no more than two books or bags of books per day, sends back whatever it declines, and limits the resulting slip to half of a secondhand purchase. Its event calendar listed a Fall Local Author Weekend across September 5 and 6, 2026, and the same FAQ has the place trading 361 days a year, dark only for Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter and Thanksgiving.

Hours : Mon–Sat 10am–8pm, Sun 10am–5pmWebsite

Trade-in chain store

2nd & Charles Harrisburg

3405 Paxton St, Harrisburg, PA 17111

Out in Swatara Township, three miles east-southeast of the Capitol on the old Harrisburg Mall property, with the entrance off Mall Road rather than Paxton Street itself. PennLive's Daniel Urie walked it on its first day at this address, Wednesday, March 19, 2025, after the move out of the mall proper into a former Toys R Us that had stood empty for a decade, and described rows of shelving, a large kids section, a wall of guitars and stacks of records, discs, video games, comic books and toys around a buyback area. Two chain rules decide how you work it: the buyback counter stops an hour before the shopping does, and the sell-to-us terms put the store-credit option at 150 percent above whatever cash it quotes. This is the only chain address the page carries, and the brand lists two further Pennsylvania stores, at Whitehall and York; PennLive reported in April 2025 that the mall owner, St. John Properties, expects the shop to move again as the site is redeveloped.

Hours : Mon–Sat 10am–8pm, Sun 11am–7pmWebsite

Library book sales

Friends of Simpson Library Learning and Book Sale Center

45 W Allen St, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

The Friends of Simpson Library work out of a building of their own on West Allen Street in Mechanicsburg borough, just under eight miles west of the Capitol, with borough public lots to fall back on when its own fills. The Cumberland County Library System page for the site lists four rounds through 2026 — February 20 to 22, April 24 to 26, August 7 to 9 and October 16 to 18 — each assembled to one shape: a preview restricted to members on the Friday evening, the main floor through Saturday morning, then a Sunday session where a level paper bag costs $10. The posted shopping rules cover what a sourcing trip actually runs into: scanners are permitted so long as you scan as you go instead of hoarding, boxes and bags may not hold a place for you in the line, and tables are set aside for your bins because bins are not allowed on the sales floor. Donations go through a black steel door on the front of the building marked for book drop-off, which the group says is never locked.

Hours : Fri October 16, 2026 members 6–8pm; Sat October 17, 2026 9am–2pm; Sun October 18, 2026 bag sale 1–3pmWebsite

Library book sales

Friends of Fredricksen Library Fall Book Sale

Cleve J. Fredricksen Library, 100 N 19th St, Camp Hill, PA 17011

The Cleve J. Fredricksen Library stands on North 19th Street in Camp Hill borough, under three miles southwest of the Capitol, and its Friends group runs what it labels a semi-annual sale. The 2026 fall round starts with a preview limited to members on Wednesday, September 16 from 2pm to 6pm, then holds the floor Thursday, September 17 and Friday, September 18 from 9am to 9pm, Saturday, September 19 from 1pm to 5pm, and a Sunday, September 20 close where two bags cost $10. Between rounds the same group puts themed mini-sales upstairs near the circulation desk at $2 a book unless something carries its own mark, which makes the building worth a look in a quiet month. Its donation page, stamped August 13, 2026, sets a first-Saturday drop-off at the lower-level employee entrance off Walnut Street and holds the reference desk to one box per person the rest of the time.

Hours : Wed September 16, 2026 members 2–6pm; Thu–Fri September 17–18, 2026 9am–9pm; Sat September 19, 2026 1–5pm; Sun September 20, 2026 bag sale 1–4pmWebsite

All spots by type

Used bookstores

The Bookworm Bookstore

900 Market St, Lemoyne, PA 17043

Upstairs among the Shoppes at the West Shore Farmers Market, in Lemoyne borough two miles southwest of the Capitol across the Susquehanna. The about page tells the origin story straight: founder Sam Marcus sold books on Sundays from a stand at the Silver Spring Flea Market while working a state job, moved into the market building full-time when the flea market closed, and his children and grandchildren keep the shop running. A visit written up on the blog Holds Upon Happiness on July 13, 2026 describes shelves packed with vintage stock and a section labeled Gothic Novels, which is a fair reading of the flavor. Its site gives the three market days, the address and the family story, with no page anywhere on it about selling to them, so plan on spending here.

Hours : Tue 9am–2pm, Fri 9am–4pm, Sat 9am–2pmWebsite

Used bookstores

Paperback Exchange

829 State St #1000, Lemoyne, PA 17043

A State Street storefront in Lemoyne borough, two blocks along from the farmers market and about the same two miles from the Capitol. The business description the shop keeps on Yelp lays out the arithmetic that governs the shelves: secondhand titles at half of the printed cover price, new ones at twenty percent off, and trade-ins paid as credit worth twenty percent of the publisher's price against the used stock. That same description gives two founding dates, saying the shop has traded since 1982 while its Established field reads 2015, so take neither as settled. A restocked romance wall of Ellora's Cave titles went up on its Facebook page on June 11, 2026; with no schedule posted by the shop itself, the times on this card are what the Cumberland Valley visitors bureau lists, matched by a second directory.

Hours : Mon–Fri 10am–5pm, Sat 10am–4pm; closed SunWebsite

Used bookstores

Between the Covers Bookshop

5933 Linglestown Rd, Harrisburg, PA 17112

Up in the village of Linglestown, part of Lower Paxton Township about seven miles northeast of the Capitol, tucked into the Shops at Mud Queen — a farmhouse building shared with several other small independents. This one is young: owner Julia Leslie told VoyagePennsylvania on June 11, 2026 that the business was created on November 14, 2025 and opened its doors in January 2026, in a room handed over by the previous Linglestown bookseller, and that it sells new and used titles with the used side then in the majority. In the same interview she trailed a summer remodel followed by a grand re-opening, and the shop's Facebook event duly set one for Saturday, August 1, 2026 from 10am to 5pm, with local vendors and treats through the day. Build the visit around a Wednesday-to-Sunday week, because the door stays locked on Monday and Tuesday.

Hours : Wed–Thu 10am–6pm, Fri 11am–5pm, Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 11am–3pm; closed Mon–TueWebsite

Used bookstores

The Book House

11 N US Route 15 #5, Dillsburg, PA 17019

Down in Dillsburg, in York County some thirteen miles southwest of the Capitol, a unit in the Village Shops off Route 15 dealing in used and collectible hardbacks and paperbacks. The Cumberland Valley visitors bureau dates the shop to 1976, credits Larry and Joanne Klase with starting it, counts the stock at more than 25,000 volumes and notes the die-cast toy cars — Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Johnny Lightning — filling the gaps between shelves. Peschel Press posted about the place on June 7, 2026, singling out the deepest run of movie and television tie-in paperbacks its authors had come across. The two published grids disagree on closing time, the visitors bureau printing Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 3:30pm, and Loc8NearMe carrying those same days running to 4pm, so phone the shop first.

Website

Library book sales

Permanent library sale shelves

Mini Book Sale at Joseph T. Simpson Public Library

16 N Walnut St, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

Under half a mile east of the sale center, still in Mechanicsburg borough, the library building itself keeps stock for sale on its own shelves every hour it is unlocked, adult and teen titles on the upper level and children's books on the lower. The Friends' page on the county system site says those shelves get restocked once a week and that the main desk sells $5 gift cards good for books, music, puzzles, games and comic books. Treat it as the fallback when your trip misses a sale weekend, and note the notice on the branch page moving the weekday close to 8pm from Tuesday, September 8, 2026.

Hours : Mon–Thu 9am–8pm, Fri–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 1pm–5pmWebsite

Library book sales

Friends of East Pennsboro Library Book & Media Sale

98 S Enola Dr, Enola, PA 17025

In Enola, inside the East Pennsboro Township Municipal Building on South Enola Drive, barely half a mile from Cupboard Maker Books and reached through the elevator entrance with G pressed for the ground floor. The Friends of East Pennsboro Library keep a standing sale along the hallway there against a flat list: a dollar for hardbacks, fifty cents for paperbacks, a quarter for children's books, a dollar apiece for DVDs, Blu-rays, audiobooks and music CDs, and one to three dollars for jigsaw puzzles by piece count. The branch site was also promoting the group's Big Book Sale beside the library booth at Pumpkin Fest on Saturday, October 10, 2026 from 9:30am until 5pm, and again on Sunday, October 11 from 11am until 5pm. Donations arrive during opening hours in small loads, and anything beyond four bags or boxes gets arranged with the Friends directly.

Hours : Mon 11am–4pm, Tue–Thu 10am–8pm, Fri 11am–4pm, Sat 10am–2pm; closed SunWebsite

Library book sales

Friends of New Cumberland Public Library Book & Media Sale

Foundation House, 498 9th St, New Cumberland, PA 17070

New Cumberland borough holds this one, on the west bank two and a half miles downriver of the Capitol, where the Friends run a sale room inside the Foundation House at 9th and Sharon Streets next door to the branch library. The county system page for the group, stamped July 30, 2026, opens that room on the month's first Saturday and again on its third, between 9am and 2pm, and lists hardcovers, paperbacks, audiobooks on CD, DVDs, music CDs, vinyl records, computer games and puzzles among what the volunteers will take in. Donations reach the same building on Wednesday mornings from 9am to noon and during the sale itself, with anything past five medium boxes arranged by email beforehand.

Hours : Sale days: 1st and 3rd Saturday 9am–2pmWebsite

Library book sales

Love Friends Book Sale

Paxtang Municipal Gymnasium, 3423 Derry St, Harrisburg, PA 17111

Three miles east of the Capitol in Paxtang borough, where the Friends of the George and Hettie Love Memorial Library take over the Paxtang Municipal Gymnasium on Derry Street rather than using their own branch. The Dauphin County Library System calendar sets the fall round for Friday, October 9, 2026 from 9am to 7pm and Saturday, October 10 from 9am to 4pm, promising media, books, puzzles and more across the tables. It adds that the closing hour on the Saturday becomes an $8 bag sale, which is the moment to plan a second pass around.

Hours : Fri October 9, 2026 9am–7pm; Sat October 10, 2026 9am–4pmWebsite

Library book sales

ESA Friends Fall Book & Media Sale

East Shore Area Library, 4501 Ethel St, Harrisburg, PA 17109

The East Shore Area Library sits on Ethel Street in Colonial Park, part of Lower Paxton Township, some four miles out to the northeast of the Capitol. Its Friends group books the community rooms and the Greenawald Room for a four-day run in 2026: a members-only session on Wednesday, October 21 from 1pm to 6pm, then open doors on Thursday, October 22 from 9am to 7pm and Friday, October 23 from 9am to 4:30pm. The Saturday, October 24 session, 10am until 2pm, is billed on that calendar as books by the bag, and the group publishes a volunteer contact for anyone who would rather help build the sale than only shop it.

Hours : Wed October 21, 2026 members 1–6pm; Thu October 22, 2026 9am–7pm; Fri October 23, 2026 9am–4:30pm; Sat October 24, 2026 bag sale 10am–2pmWebsite

Library book sales

AFL Friends Book Sale

William H. and Marion C. Alexander Family Library, 200 W 2nd St, Hummelstown, PA 17036

Nine miles due east of the Capitol in Hummelstown borough, where the Alexander Family Library hands its conference room and the Anna B. Rintz community rooms to the Friends for the last of the Dauphin County dates. The library calendar opens Thursday, October 29, 2026 with a Friends-only window from 10am to noon and then admits everyone from noon to 6:30pm, marks Friday, October 30 from 10am to 4:30pm as half-price day, and closes with books by the bag between 10am and 12:30pm on Saturday, October 31. With a discounted Friday and a Saturday bag rate stacked at the end, this is the date where patience trades selection for money.

Hours : Thu October 29, 2026 Friends 10am–noon then noon–6:30pm; Fri October 30, 2026 10am–4:30pm; Sat October 31, 2026 bag sale 10am–12:30pmWebsite

Scan before you buy

At every one of these spots, snap the shelf with BiblioScan: the AI identifies each book and shows its real resale price. Walk out with profitable books, not random boxes.

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Local sourcing tips

Four addresses here accept stock over the counter, each on rules of its own making. The Scholar takes walk-ins on Thursday afternoon only, five boxes at a time, on a published scale that starts at a quarter for cheap stock and rises with what the title can be resold for; bigger collections go to the book buy team by email with a count and photographs, and house calls are reserved for large or unusual libraries. Cupboard Maker Books hands over no money whatsoever, takes at most a pair of books or a pair of bags in a day, and issues a slip that pays for part of your next secondhand buy, capped at fifty percent. 2nd & Charles staffs a genuine trade desk but stops an hour before closing time, and gives you a choice between notes and a much larger credit line; Paperback Exchange swaps what you bring for credit set at a fifth of the publisher's price. The Bookworm says nothing anywhere about taking books in, so plan to spend there rather than unload.
The volunteer calendar out here is packed into six weeks of fall. Camp Hill goes first, with the Fredricksen preview on Wednesday, September 16, 2026 and the floor open through that Sunday. Then Paxtang on October 9 and 10, the East Pennsboro Friends running a Big Book Sale out at Pumpkin Fest on October 10 and 11, Mechanicsburg on October 16 to 18, Colonial Park from October 21 to 24, Hummelstown from October 29 to 31. Five of those six close on a bag rate — $10 for a level bag at the Simpson center, two bags for $10 at Fredricksen, $8 a bag in the last hour at Paxtang, and by-the-bag sessions at both East Shore Area and Alexander Family — so the final morning is always the cheapest and always the thinnest. New Cumberland is the exception to the season: its Foundation House room trades twice a month all year.
Read the house rules before you arrive at a sale table with a scanner in your hand. The Friends of Simpson Library are the one group on this page to publish a position, and it is a permissive one: scanning is allowed provided you work as you go instead of piling copies up, your boxes and bins belong on the tables provided rather than the floor, and nothing you own may stand in the line on your behalf. None of the other organizers here states a policy either way, which in practice leaves it to whichever volunteer is running the room that day.
Just two pairings here work on foot, and the west shore owns them both. Lemoyne puts The Bookworm and Paperback Exchange under two tenths of a mile apart, so the market building and State Street are one stop, with Camp Hill two thirds of a mile further along for the Fredricksen shelves. Enola repeats the trick: Cupboard Maker Books and the East Pennsboro hallway sale stand about half a mile from each other on the same run of Routes 11/15. Everything else means driving — Swatara Township, Paxtang and New Cumberland about three miles out, Colonial Park four, Linglestown seven, Mechanicsburg seven and a half, Hummelstown nine, Dillsburg thirteen and a half.
One shop worth knowing sits just beyond the edge of this page. Pomfret Street Books, at 21 East Pomfret Street in Carlisle, has run a physical shop since 1995 and puts roughly 40,000 titles in the store against about 20,000 listed online, with military history, theology and literature as its stated specialties; its site sets the week at Wednesday through Saturday, 10am until 5pm, and keeps Monday and Tuesday for visits booked over the phone. It is about seventeen miles west of downtown, far enough that it belongs to a Carlisle trip rather than a Harrisburg one, and far enough outside the area covered here that it gets no map pin.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find cheap used books in Harrisburg?

Start with the volunteer shelves, because the flat pricing beats what any storefront can do. The East Pennsboro Library Friends, over in Enola, line a corridor with permanent stock: hardbacks at a dollar, paperbacks at fifty cents and children's titles at a quarter, on sale whenever the branch is unlocked. In Mechanicsburg the Joseph T. Simpson Public Library sells from refilled shelves every hour it is open, adults and teens upstairs, children below, and the desk sells $5 gift cards against them. Fredricksen in Camp Hill prices its themed between-sale tables at $2 a volume. When a sale weekend does land, the closing sessions are where the real money is: a level bag for $10 at Mechanicsburg on Sunday, October 18, 2026, a pair of bags for that same $10 at Camp Hill on Sunday, September 20, and a Paxtang bag at $8 during the final hour on Saturday, October 10.

Where do I sell used books in Harrisburg?

Four places take stock across a counter, on four different sets of terms. The Midtown Scholar buys outright each Thursday from 1pm until 5pm, five boxes maximum with nothing booked ahead, paying by check or store credit against a scale it publishes in full. Cupboard Maker Books in Enola trades only — a limit of two books or two bagfuls in any one day, credit that covers up to half your next purchase, and no cash under any circumstances. 2nd & Charles in Swatara Township staffs a buyback area that closes an hour before the store does, and Paperback Exchange in Lemoyne gives credit for what you carry in. Do the sorting before you drive anywhere. Feed BiblioScan a single shelf photo and every spine it can name comes back carrying a resale number; whatever clears your threshold stays home for your own listings, and the remainder goes in the trade box.

When is the Friends of the Library sale in Harrisburg?

No one event covers the whole county. Dauphin County Library System keeps a separate Friends group at every branch, each choosing its own weekend, and the Cumberland County system on the far bank does likewise. No branch inside the Harrisburg city limits appears on the system calendar with one this fall — the Love Memorial Library's Friends move theirs out to the Paxtang Municipal Gymnasium at 3423 Derry Street, three miles east, listed on the system calendar for October 9 and 10, 2026, opening at 9am on both days and running until 7pm on the Friday and 4pm on the Saturday, with an $8 bag hour to close. The other two Dauphin dates are the East Shore Area Library in Colonial Park, members only on Wednesday, October 21 and open from October 22 to 24, and the Alexander Family Library in Hummelstown across October 29, 30 and 31, with a half-price Friday. On the Cumberland side, Fredricksen in Camp Hill covers September 16 to 20, and the Friends of Simpson Library hold the last of their four 2026 rounds at 45 West Allen Street in Mechanicsburg from October 16 to 18. If none of those weekends fit, the New Cumberland Friends open their Foundation House room twice a month, on Saturday the first and Saturday the third, 9am to 2pm.

Which day is best for book hunting in Harrisburg?

Saturday wins easily. Every shop listed here with published hours is open then, the two Lemoyne addresses included, and each of the fall sales puts either its main floor or its bag rate on a Saturday. The catch is that Lemoyne finishes early, since the market building and its upstairs shops close at 2pm, so run the west shore first and leave Midtown, Swatara Township and Linglestown for the afternoon. Sunday still works if you would rather sleep in, with the Scholar, Cupboard Maker Books, 2nd & Charles, Between the Covers and the sale shelves inside both Fredricksen and the Simpson library all open. Monday is the write-off, with the Scholar, Between the Covers, The Bookworm and the Dillsburg shop all closed.

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