The Friends of the Library is hosting another book sale at the Nellie McClung branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library next weekend.
From non-fiction to children’s books, the sale will include titles from all genres and readers of all ages can find something they’ll enjoy. There will also be CD’s and DVD’s for sale. The money raised at the sale will go back into the library for funding, extra books and new technology.
Book-lovers can enter the sale for the early bird fee of three dollars on Saturday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission will be free on Sunday morning from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will go up to $10 that afternoon until 3:15 p.m. but all the books will be free on Sunday afternoon.
READ ALSO: Pearkes book sale will have 15,000 titles
Friends of the Library President, Irwin Henderson, explains that this book sale is one of many that the group hosts each year.
“There are about three to five sales a year,” he says. Some are at the Nellie McClung branch, there is one at the Pearkes Arena and another in West Shore.
The sales usually attract hundreds of people, Henderson says. “[They] will line up down the block to get in.”
The book selection comes from public donations as well as library discards. There are a lot of kids books, he says, but there are titles from every genre. Henderson and about 70 volunteers will begin their set up on the Thursday before the weekend sales as it takes time to get the books out of storage and onto the tables.
READ ALSO: Digital enhancements big focus of $45,000 Victoria library donation
The books are so plentiful that they’ve never completely sold out, says Henderson. However, that’s not the goal. The Nellie McClung sales usually raise about $4,000 while the Pearkes sale can bring in about $10,000, Henderson explains. The money from these sales goes towards funding the library wish list.
“[It] pays for things that their base budget won’t,” says Henderson. This has included audio readers for the libraries, furniture for meeting rooms, books for the Indigenous Reads collection and funding for the Summer Reading Club.
READ ALSO: Central Saanich calls on province to cover library costs
The Friends of the Library’s recent Annual General Meeting approved the Greater Victoria Public Library’s current wish list which includes a $17,000 allocation to the Summer Reading Club for kids under 12 and $13,000 for a digital lab at the new Esquimalt branch, says Henderson. The lab will have scanners so that people can make digital copies of old photos, home videos and cassette tapes. People will be able to “digitize their memories and send them to anybody,” he says.
Since 1999, the Friends of the Library have donated more than $878,000 to the Greater Victoria Public Library.
Henderson and his team and looking forward to seeing avid readers and amateurs alike at the book sale on Sat., June 22, and Sun., June 23.
devon.bidal@saanichnews.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
