The Giant Book Sale grossed over $134,000 on the weekend, an increase of $16,000 over last year.
The annual tradition by Friends of the Guelph Public Library that took place at 69 Huron St. saw over 6,000 people, 250 volunteers and over 100,000 pieces for sale.
“It was fabulous,” said chair of Friends of the Guelph Public Library, Virginia Gillham
“We are all feeling very enthusiastic this morning. That 134,000 figure made everyone happy.”
Gillham says the organization is currently in the process of counting the leftover books.
“We always count beforehand by category and then count again afterwards to know how much we sold.”
With several categories from cookbooks, to fiction, to mythology to autobiographies, Gillham says the most popular categories are fiction and children’s books.
“We almost never have any children’s books left,” said Gillham, also mentioning there is a generous benefactor who donates a large sum of money in order for the library to give every child a free book.
The variety of categories at the book sale have books that are either $1, $2, or $3 and on the last day, everything falls to the price of $1.
“On Sunday, in addition to everything being cheaper, late in the afternoon we announced fill a box for $10 so it had to be a reasonable size box,” said Gillham.
“A lot of the boxes went then.”
She says one question that she is repeatedly asked is whether the increase in technology affects the number of people buying books.
“I absolutely don’t,” says Gillham.
“It’s very obvious this is a very literate community. We get all kinds of books donated and people come and buy all kinds of books. Electronic information is something the general public doesn’t understand. Everybody is very excited about electronic information, as am I, but they’re still reading hardback books.”
Gillham said Friends of the Guelph Public Library spends $10,000 a year on ongoing initiatives such as giving the approximate 1,600 babies in Guelph born every year a library package with a library card along with a board book they can play with.
“Occasionally the library will also apply for grants that require matching funds and we put up matching funds and that’s another kind of thing we do on an ongoing basis,” said Gillham.
Despite the ongoing expenses, they’ve managed to collect over $745,000.
“Most of what we earn is invested. When they finally turn the sod on the new mainland library, it’s going to be a major gift to the library,” says Gillham.
“I’m thinking three more years and well make it to $1 million.”
