Friends of Caledon Public Library hosting book sale in Caledon East

By Zachary Roman

After what felt like forever, the Friends of the Caledon Public Library hosted their first in person book sale in March of this year. Now, they're excited to host their second.

Taking place at the Caledon East branch of the Caledon Public Library (CPL), the sale runs on Thursday, May 12, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Marty Harrison, president of the Friends of the Caledon Public Library, which is a non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to supporting library programs and services in Caledon, said book sales are one of the ways the Friends raise money for the CPL's needs.

“The books come from public donations of used books that people can donate to the library, and also from the library itself, from books that they are exchanging for others or replacing, and then we sort them,” said Harrison.

She said the Caledon East branch of the CPL is a great place to hold a book sale.

“It's so nice and open… that little lower space down there, a few steps down, we can kind of do our own thing and then people can still come to the library (while) we can have our sale,” said Harrison.

Funds raised from the Friends' March sale helped the CPL purchase its 3D printer that's available for library patrons to use. Later this year, the CPL is hosting a “Teen Fan Art Contest” and “Comic Expo”, said Harrison, which the Friends will also be contributing to.

“During COVID, the library… has had their adult poetry writing, short story writing, all of their contests that they normally had, and we also provided the prize money for those. That was really good during COVID because people could be at home writing and then they could still take part,” said Harrison.

During the pandemic, the Friends had to get creative as to how they could continue their book sales. Through emails and meetings on Zoom, they came up with the idea of selling “mystery boxes” which could be sold without putting anyone at risk of catching the coronavirus.

The Friends would put together a themed box of books, such as a box of children's books or a box of science fiction books, then Caledon residents could pay for them online and arrange to pick them up.

The Friends of the Caledon Public Library are always looking for more volunteers. There will be fillable forms available at this week's book sale for anyone interested in getting involved, said Harrison. 

“Over the years… so much was done by volunteers in all kinds of community things and that's still continuing, you know? That ‘community' part of (Caledon) is really good,” she said.