Some people spend years looking for one record, pushing through piles of vinyl at garage sales and in antique shops to find the proverbial diamond in the rough. This weekend at University Mall in Carbondale, those albums may be a little easier to find.

Southern Illinois Radio Information Service’s 4th Annual Classic Vinyl & Media Sale, which takes up a storefront at the mall for Saturday and Sunday, gives the public a chance to find rare and collectible albums and also a chance to shop for new, more relevant titles, all at bargain prices and for a good cause.

“We only have one fundraiser a year,” SIRIS event chairwoman Vickie Devenport said. “We rely on this money all year to fund the program, which features scheduled readings by volunteers that help blind and visually impaired people get their news.”

While the sale stretches throughout the entire weekend, Devenport says that the first few hours are crucial for collectors and those looking to find those hidden gems.

“The last few years we have had anywhere from 50 to 100 people lined up outside ready to go,” she said. “The deals are pretty extreme. We’ve had people leave with sacks of stuff.”

Organizers have separated collectible items and priced them according to appraisals, but other titles will be discounted.

Devenport says that the group collected donations from dropoff locations in DuQuoin, Carbondale and Marion and took about two weeks to organize and collect them. Along with records, the sale will include DVDs for $3, VHS tapes for 50 cents, and CDs for $2. Stereo equipment, cassettes, and eight-track tapes also have their own sections.

“The best part is that it’s not old, strange titles,” Devenport said. “These are relevant titles, new movies, anything that people were willing to donate. It’s not like a yard sale or something.”

During Sunday’s hours, everything except collectibles are half off.

Proceeds are used to provide qualifying people with personal radios, so they can listen to SIRIS broadcasts which include scheduled readings of news and magazines, and provides personal radios to those who qualify.