No one was injured in the blaze, which was confined to the shed next to the library's bookmobile garage on Holloway Street. It was fully in flames when firefighters arrived about noon. The fire started in two bins adjacent to the 12-by-16-foot shed, said Bruce Pagan Jr., Durham fire chief.

Inside the shed were hundreds of books to be sold at a Friends of the Durham County Library book sale in April.

"A fairly significant part of our book sale went up in flames," said Goodridge, the event's co-chairwoman and organization treasurer. She estimated that up to $8,000 in sales were lost.

Goodridge and other volunteers sorted through the books, which were stored in the shed, every Tuesday.

The book sales are one of the main fundraisers for the nonprofit organization, which has given more than $500,000 to the library since the group started in 1968. The group recently gave a $25,000 grant to the library.

"That's the kind of thing these books represent," said Skip Auld, library director. At least 100 people were evacuated from the library, which was closed for the rest of the day. A black mark behind the shed was the only damage the main building suffered.

Firefighters tossed charred and waterlogged books out of the shed as they extinguished the remnants of the fire. Although hundreds of books were destroyed, Clay Edison, who uses the library about four times a week and was in the building Tuesday, said he hoped the fire would prove a blessing in disguise. "When something like this happens, the community will step up," said Edison, 45.