Friends’ library summer book sale is now on

Sales support the library and enhance literacy

Ilove a good sale! The thrill of ferreting through boxes of books, never knowing what you might find. I could spend hours looking through second-hand books. I have a dream that maybe one day I’ll come across an early edition of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management.

It was first published in 1861 and is a book I would love to have in my collection. Alas, the odds of finding something like that in a provincial New Zealand bookshop or book sale is about as likely as growing daisies on the moon.

The Friends of Horowhenua Libraries host a big book sale twice a year at the Levin Library, once in the summer and again in winter. The Friends of the Library are a group whose aim is to support the library to encourage and enhance literacy in our community.

Additionally, the Friends of Horowhenua Libraries support programmes such as Books for Babies, where every baby born in Horowhenua Maternity Hospital receives an early literacy gift pack, and Bonus Books for under-5s, where every child who becomes a library member gets a free book.

The books sold are a

combination of ex-library books and donations from the public.

The ex-library books are ones that we weed out of our collections. We look for books that have not been issued often in the past few years and also assess the current relevance of their topics.

For instance, health and computer books can quickly become outdated, so their information is no longer useful.

The money raised from the book sale goes into special collections within Levin, Foxton, and Shannon Libraries and to support programs that help promote the love of reading. So come on down from Monday, January 15 at 9am. There are 10,000 books, magazines, DVDs, puzzles, and CDs, all in need of a new home, and most items are $1 or less. See our website for more information at tetakere.org.nz.