Library announces 46th Annual book sale and Summer Reading Club

The last week of this month will see the annual Portage Regional Library Book Sale take place. Community Program Coordinator Leah O'Leary says they're excited about this time around, and they're open for donations before Monday, June 25.

"They can come in and give them here at the library to us at the front, and they can just say, 'We want to donate these books.'"

Program Assistant McKayla  Goddard says if the books are newer and there's something that isn't already on the library shelves, they'll assess them and see if there's something the can add.

"If not, then they'll go into the book sale to help raise money with," notes Goddard. "The book sale is our biggest fundraiser of the year. It generally brings in the highest amount of fundraising more than all the other events combined. And since it does run all summer, it really makes it like our big pull to get people into the library. Books are paid for by donation, which makes this our biggest fundraiser of the year. There are no set prices, but we tend to find that people are quite generous when they are buying books, and are pretty reasonable when they're giving donations. This is really appreciated because it really helps our budget."

The book sale has been running for 46 years now. Some books are priced for sale and most will be sold by donation.

"I think we might have the most stock we've ever had for book sale. We've had quite a few donations lately, so I think that we've got quite a selection to go out for the book sale," adds Goddard. "But other than that, it's going to be the same kind of setup. When you come into the library, we're going to have all the different kinds of books you can peruse at your leisure and then pick whatever you like. Then we just refill the shelves when you're done."

They're also holding the TD Summer Reading Club. It begins June 19th and runs to the 29th and ends with a party. 

"It's open to all ages for kids and we'll have lots of prizes on the day," adds O'Leary.

Goddard notes those dates aren't absolutely required for signing, seeing as it's the period they're pushing the signup. 

"For people who sign up during that time period, you're entered to win one of four family passes to Splash Island. That's our kickoff prize. We're going to have little prizes for the kids as they fill out the pages of their reading log. Then we'll also have a big prize at the end that all the participants have been entered into win in different age groups. It's going to be a chance to win some cool stuff, mostly to encourage reading over the summer and to just get out of the house."

TD Summer Reading goes all summer and the wrap-up party is August 31st.