"There's like 100 books I want right now — when I have the money," said a young woman to two friends on a Sunday evening in the recently expanded Borders across from Park City Center.

Even though bargain shelves and "3-for-2" specials are front and center in Borders' new floor layout, money is the object when paperbacks cost up to $10 and hardcovers more than $25.

The chain book store experience of Borders and Barnes & Noble is an expensive world away from another kind of bookstore, where the hours may not be as convenient and the selections not as up to date, but publishers don't pay competitive rates for the display space either. Every book is an equal on the shelves of used, rare and out-of-print booksellers — a quiet presence with thousands of books on hand to satisfy any booklover's cravings.

The Book Haven, at 2022 Marietta Ave., on the east side of Rohrerstown, is owned by Kinsey and Kelly Baker, who moved the store to its current location in 2000 after several decades in Lancaster. Commuters answering curiosity's call discover a former barn filled with 50,000 books and 20,000 other paper items.

"This business doesn't fit the image of a pipe-smoking, laid-back proprietor who spends most of his time reading a book. It takes a lot of work and dedication," Kinsey Baker said.

The Book Haven has a strong collection of Pennsylvania German material, and Baker's own interest is children's and illustrated books.

Three floors of wooden shelves labeled by subject, from Arthurian literature to pets, offer a staggering variety.

According to Baker, who also sells online, the Internet, not the chain stores, are the competition.

"There are too many used out-of-print books and no duplication of scarcer material. The majority of books priced over $20 even I've not seen before," he said.

You can't tell a store by its storefront in the case of Chestnut Street Books at 11 W. Chestnut St.

Beyond the narrow entrance, obscured from passing traffic by a tall red awning, the store offers a long maze of shelves, with books spilling onto every surface, including the floor.

"Everybody ends up gravitating to the kinds of things they enjoy themselves. My interests are architecture, art, history, the Civil War and religion," said owner Warren Anderson.

About 20,000 books, on topics ranging far beyond Anderson's interests, fill the store, which has been open since the fall of 1991.

The owners also sell and source books on the Internet, citing bookfinder.com as a good place to look for hard-to-find titles.

Five blocks west of Chestnut Street Books, Dogstar Bookstore's corner storefront is opposite the new Chestnut Hill Coffeeshop.

Owner Brian Frailey began selling books online before opening his store less than a year ago. Although most of his business is still through Amazon.com and Alibris.com, he wanted to be involved in the community.

The winning entry in a recent Harry Potter poster contest hangs from the store's ceiling and paintings on exhibit from a Lancaster First Friday are featured on one wall.

His specialties are scholarly, antiquarian and literary fiction, with space for children and their books. Local-author book signings bring in the community.

"My customers are repeats. Sometimes someone will come from out of town and spend a lot — but I probably met them online," Frailey said.

Moyer's Book Barn on Route 741, west of Strasburg, has been open for 23 years and, defying the used-book industry trend, owner David Moyer doesn't have any use for the Internet.

His two-story book barn is organized by Dewey library categories and news clippings. Biographies and related facts are posted alongside the books. Moyer comes from a family of doctors and engineers, and although he claims no specialty, his store features extensive engineering, technical and mechanical collections.

When asked about the comments handwritten inside a book, Moyer said, "I research my writers. I like to know who they were and where they were and whether they were good or not. And sometimes I write what I know in the books."

The Book Industry Study Group reports a rapid growth in the used-book market, with double-digit yearly growth over the Internet and slight growth in other venues. A 2004 BISG analysis shows that used books are becoming mainstream because the Internet provides easy access into the industry's book inventory.

That's good news for Lancaster's used book stores, where store owners can profit from online selling yet still provide local readers the luxury of browsing among thousands of real, not virtual, books.

As Kinsey Baker of the Book Haven explained, "There will always be people that know these kinds of books are out there and the only way they can find them is to come into a store like mine."