The four major used-book sales that happen every autumn on the U of T downtown campus aren’t just opportunities to snag a dog-eared copy of Crime and Punishment; as the number of books and customers increases every year, the sales have become a major source of income for campus libraries.
“This is our best year yet in terms of profit,” said Nancy Ruhnke, the chair of the Victoria College Friends of the Library, which runs Vic’s annual book sale. “All the money goes to the library.” The Victoria book sale, which ran from September 30 to October 4, sold almost 60,000 books and raised about $100,000 for the Pratt Library. All the profits will go towards purchasing new books, repairing old ones, and funding scholarships for students.
“Every penny that we raise is because of our volunteers,” Ruhnke said. The sale employs 200 student and alumni volunteers during the sale, and 40 volunteers work year-round collecting, sorting, and pricing books. “We get books from all over town,” Ruhnke continued. “They’re all donated, mostly from Vic people, but we advertise all over town. The alumni are very generous, but there are also total strangers who donate.”
The other books sales that happen annually-at University College, Trinity, and Woodsworth-work essentially the same way, with the proceeds going to support each college’s library.
“In 2002 we raised $140,000,” said Alice Lundon, co-chair of the Trinity College Friends of the Library. “We were down a little last year, we raised roughly $130,000.” The Trinity sale is the oldest of the four-it is now in its 29th year-and employs 250 volunteers during its five-day run.
The sales have turned into a serious destination for book collectors, who come looking for first editions, out-of-print titles, and rare finds.
“We have very good donors of books, said Lundon. “We’re lucky that way.”
Because the sales have become such an attraction for hawk-eyed book lovers, the first night always attracts a pretty mercenary crowd.
“Friday night is quite horrendous, actually,” said Lundon, laughing. “We don’t advise our friends to come on Friday night. The first night there are a lot of dealers, and they start lining up at 5 a.m. [The sale] doesn’t even start until 6 p.m.” Lundon added that the dealers come from points as far away as Boston and upstate New York to attend; the Friends of the Library advertise in American publications to attract them. “We have one dealer coming back for the third time from Boston.”
Ruhnke agrees.
“Opening night is a crazy scene,” she said. “We open on a Thursday and we get people lining up at 7 am.”
Each college’s book sale is an independently-run operation, so organizers jealously guard the identities of their donors. The competition is friendly-the four colleges have set up a joint committee so that organizers can meet and coordinate-but protecting their sources trumps co-operation.
For instance, at the end of each sale, the organizers are always faced with thousands of unwanted books left over and need some way to get rid of them. Ruhnke said that Vic donates the leftovers to local charities, such as Frontier College; last year they found a benefactor who paid to send a load of books to Nigeria.
Lundon, however, wouldn’t disclose where Trinity’s books go when the sale is over.
“We have an arrangement with somebody,” was all she would say. “The other sales have arrangements for getting rid of books, so I’m afraid I can’t disclose our contacts.”
Trinity’s sale opens on Friday night, but the Friends of the Library have already started collecting books for next year’s sale. The volunteers, mostly retired alumni, will spend the next 12 months preparing. It’s the same for all the others.
“Every year the books go to good hands,” said Ruhnke, “and then we start all over again.”
