Every year, as the snow melts and the temperatures shift, hundreds of bookworms begin to stir, wondering when the South Central Regional Library Book Sale will once again be coming to Morden.
Books upon books are stocked up inside the Morden Access Event Centre for a sale that the library has taken to calling 'The Big One' — a bargain for readers, collectors and book aficionados that Gail Hildebrand, Administrator for the Morden branch, calls, “A heck of a deal.”
When to be ready
Hildebrand is telling people to be ready with their book bags in hand for when the sale hits on May 1st from 2 pm to 9 pm, 2nd from 9 am to 8 pm, and 3rd from 9 am to 3 pm.
“That’s the Thursday, Friday and Saturday.” She said, but she also urges people to bring in and donate books that they no longer need or use to be a part of the sale beforehand.
“We have a lot of books, we have got two semi-trailers full of books already that we got from Winnipeg, but they’re very picked over. They’re leftovers from their book sale at St. Vital Centre.”
Current books are still needed, and she says there is always room for local donation at any one of the five branches in Altona, Manitou, Miami, Morden, or Winkler. Hildebrand added that the library does ask that if anyone wishes to donate books, they make sure they are in good condition.
“We have some really amazing treasures that come our way, but they smell like a basement.” She laughed.
People with large donations are asked to call in ahead of time.
The Big One
When heading to the sale, Hildebrand says the only thing that’s needed is a bag to carry any literary loot found on the shelves.
“It does not cost you money to show up there, and once you get there, it is 10 dollars for a bag of books. That’s a regular-sized shopping bag, so that holds about 25 books.”
Once there, raffle tickets can also be purchased, with chances to win from a number of different prize packages up to $3000 in value.
For Hildebrand, her favourite books to find are from the King of Horror — Stephen King himself.
“He’s grown and changed with me as an adult. I liked the scary stuff when I was younger, now he isn’t so much scary as it just gets in your head.”
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Volunteers
In recent years, Hildebrand says the library has had to petition volunteers for the sale more often than in the past.
“We used to have a really strong group of volunteers pre-COVID, and we never had to ask for help... We need help on the floor, we need help at the cash register, we need help scanning books, we have a whole bunch of different things to do.”
She says that if people aren’t able to be on their feet for hours at a time, there are things to do sitting down as well.
Anyone looking to volunteer can do so through the South Central Regional Library website.