The Friends of the Public Library Society is preparing for one of its biggest fundraisers of the year – the Fall Book Sale. The sale starts Wednesday, Oct. 2 and runs until Oct. 6. It will be held at the Ktunaxa Gymnasium. For the sale the Friends partner with the Sunrise Rotary Club and split the proceeds equally.
Last year, the Friends portion was $7,000, which went back into the library; this year it could be even more.
"We expected over 10,000 books and I would say we have more donations this year than ever before," said Marilyn Forbes, past-president of the Friends of the Library and director of the book sale.
Donations are taken year-round, and added to that are discards from the library itself.
“People can just take their books to the circulation desk in the library,” Forbes said.
They take almost every type of book except encyclopedias, since they don’t sell and are heavy for the volunteers to lug around.
Pocket books in mystery and fiction categories are best-sellers, but only comprise a part of the overall books on sale.
“We have 40 different categories in that book sale,” she said. “It goes from cooking history to gardening to travel, poetry, new releases.”
There’s also a children’s section with assorted categories as well as other media such as CDs and books on tape.
“The Friends always use their money to buy new reading material for the library and Sunrise Rotary always uses theirs for their projects in the community,” she explained.
The event has been going on for 14 years now. The Friends of the Cranbrook Public Library themselves have been around since 1998. Their mandate is to raise funds for the library as well as promote the services of the library. They apply for grants, fundraise and help with library events as much as they can.
The sale starts next Wednesday, but a membership to the Friends is required to be among the first perusers. A membership can be purchased at the door for $10 and the sale runs from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Membership also includes a 10 per cent discount.
On Thursday the sale runs from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and no membership is necessary.
On Friday and Saturday the sale runs from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
On Sunday the sale runs from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and includes the bag sale. Bring your Friends of the Public Library bag and fill it for $4, or one can be purchased and filled for $5.
The Ktunaxa Gym is located in the former Tembec building at 220 – Cranbrook Street North, right across from the Cranbrook Public Library.