Everyone wins at library’s book sale

The library sells books.

If this is news, it is because you know the library primarily as a lending institution.

But the world of information — of history, of literature, of science and math and the arts — is a world of constant growth, in which everything new and desirable is not always digital; not yet.

Does shelving have limits? Did Dewey have decimals? By which you may deduce that growth and renewal presents a problem. Overflow must go. It is sold. The money raised is used to support literacy programs; a kind of self-sustaining, bibliomaniacal circularity, in that people who learn how to read will generally continue to do so.

Of course, there is a second, and a personal dimension to the shelf space conundrum: Some people who read are also people who buy too many books. (Hi. My name is Joe. I buy too many books. All: Hello, Joe!)

Many of us donate our personal overflow to the library so that it may be sold, that others may benefit.

A perplexing corollary: Those of us who have too many books are always looking for new ones.

So there I was at the used bookstore in the main branch of the library the other day, hanging around the donated-books drop box, and admiring the dime novels and buck-a-book hardcovers.

Winnie Williams sidled up to me and said, “The drop box is empty in the morning and by the end of the day it’s full.” She is the vice-chair of the Friends of the Toronto Public library. She said, “We also sell CDs and audio books, the ones that don’t do well at the branch libraries.” It was then that I spotted a young fellow on his way out the door with a heavy haul. Meshari is studying English. He has an MA is sociology from a university in Saudi Arabia. He said that, when his English improves, he will take his doctorate here in Toronto. His books were texts, thick and sociological; a few bucks for the lot, a bargain pleasing to him and me. When we finished talking, Claire Coutu, a volunteer, stepped forward and made sure I saw all 29 categories of sale books, including the work of Thomas Hardy, Annie Dillard, Lorna Crozier and William Shakespeare. At the back of the sales room, I saw a serious young woman, her eye high on the art books. She said her name was Julie-Anne. “I’m a PhD student in fine arts. I go to the University of Quebec at Montreal. I’m here doing doctoral research.” Her field of study? “Censorship of the nude in Montreal and Toronto from 1945 to 1965.” I made a guess: worse here than there. She said, “No, it’s equal; it’s shocking.” Me, too, shocked. Why was she buying used art books in the main branch of the public library in Toronto? “I’ve found stuff cheap, really good books.” All the nudes, fit to print. At the end of the day, Frank Velikonja — he is the chair of the Friends of the TPL — took me downstairs, where there is a massive room for sorting the donations. Frank used to be a bookseller; go figure. I learned down there that it is not only book lovers who buy from the library. Film production houses buy volumes of volumes to dress sets, as do real estate fluffers. Sigh.

I will tell you about the library’s treasure sale at a later date, but now I simply want to point out that the library is having a clearance sale, Friday and Saturday, at the Toronto Reference Library at 789 Yonge St. Available are some 8,000 books for half a buck or less.

I know you have shelf space.

AS YOU KNOW,

the Canadian women’s marathon record-holder, Silvia Ruegger, recently lost her Olympic singlet, her team jacket and her competitor’s medal, after a speaking engagement in Parkdale. She also lost the laminated letter that she wrote to herself when she was a teen, in which she vowed to compete one day for Canada.

The reward for the return of these things has now been increased to $700, thanks to a couple of generous Star readers.

To claim the reward, email me: jfiorito@thestar.ca. Joe Fiorito’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.