Halifax Library Book Sale
 

Halifax Public Libraries are having a big book sale this weekend
Friday - Sunday, at Alderney Gate Library, Alderney Drive, Dartmouth.
Great for those who have probably just moved here, especially with children.
It's cash only and you can get more details on line at halifaxpubliclibraries.ca or phone 902 490 5753.
Also, not sure if people know but once you've joined the library, you can order books/DVD's/CD's online. They have quite a few BBC series on DVD, including children's series. You can take out 6 DVD at a time and 60 books.

Re: Halifax Library Book Sale
 

Libraries shouldn't be allowed to sell books, they should collect them.

Re: Halifax Library Book Sale
 

I agree, but I guess with funding cut backs they have to find a way to raise money to buy new books, and this is a great, cheap way for people to buy books, especially if they have children, and they've just arrived in the area and got rid of things when they moved.

Re: Halifax Library Book Sale
 

I agree with it in principle, but there are kinds of books which the libraries can't use/don't need:

- Out-of-date books (travel guides, textbooks, etc.)
- Duplicate copies (yes, you do need several copies of popular books, but does any library need several dozen copies of the same Mills & Boon novel?)
- Books which the library simply doesn't have house-room for, either on shelves or in storage. As a public body, they've got a duty to care for all their property. Caring for those books takes space, time and money, none of which public libraries have in abundance. Many libraries take the pragmatic approach that if they can't use the books they've got, they might as well sell them off to make their hard-pressed budget go a little further.

Say a well-known book collector in the area dies, leaving his entire very fine collection to the public library, which inducted him into the joy of reading as a child. The public library, after years of tiny budgets, knows that they need to fix the basics - mending a leaky roof, hiring someone part-time to help deal with the busy periods, etc. - more than they need his fine book collection, which would swiftly go downhill anyway in a substandard environment. So they choose to sell the collection to spin their budget out a little further and induct more people in the joy of reading. This is an extreme example, but the point is the same.