Library launches month-long book sale

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

hosting a large book sale for the benefit of both the facility and the community. 

According to Carmen Erison, assistant director of library services, the sale is put on several times per year to run for a month at a time. 

“One thing we like to tell people about this book sale is that even though you have come in once, keep coming, because we are always adding to the book sale,” she said. “We are only running the book sale down the centre of the lobby area of the library, so we can’t fit all of our books on those tables. We are constantly refilling the tables.”

According to Erison, the sale is always a popular and well-anticipated event with the community, as it is an excellent opportunity to pick up extremely affordable books. 

Though the event does not tend to run on an exact timeline, the library will host a sale whenever their shelves approach capacity and the team needs to create space for new items. 

“We used to run a really large book table in the library, but as the library and our services have grown, we just have run out of space to host a larger table of book sale items,” said Erison. “We do have a small bookcase of sale items that we do sell on a regular basis, but this is our large book sale where you will see quite a large amount of books.”

Items set out for the sale are often listed for $1 per book, or three for $2. Due to many of the books acquired by the library having been originally donated by the community, a large quantity of what is for sale is in excellent condition. 

The money raised through the book sale will be going to help further library services and programs throughout the year. 

“Every little bit helps. It always helps when we are looking to increase any programs or services at the library,” said Erison. “One thing that we wanted to do this year was to provide free memberships and zero fines, so that was our goal to provide for the community. 

She added it is often exciting to see some folks walking away with crates or boxes full of books, especially this time of year when many people begin to think about the Christmas season.

Many of the available books amidst the sale are young adult and adult fiction, though children’s fiction and the occasional non-fiction volume will find their way onto the table. 

Board games that are being filtered out of the library’s collection to make room for new additions are also being made available for purchase. 

The sale began Nov. 1 and will be operating until Nov. 30 this month.