The Times Colonist book drive, which returned with a bang Saturday, after a two-year, COVID-driven hiatus, started earlier, ran longer and collected far more books and much more interest than anyone was expecting.
Cars were lined up outside the Victoria Curling Club by 7:30 a.m. Saturday — the volunteer army that collects the books wasn’t scheduled to start hauling boxes of books until 9 a.m. — and at points during the day there were reports the line of cars destined for the drop-off zone reached from Pembroke Street north to Hillside Avenue.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s far more than we expected, and we expected a lot,” said Times Colonist publisher Dave Obee, who was among the newspaper staff and 150 volunteers meeting and greeting cars, taking donations and stacking the overwhelming number of books on pallets inside the curling rink.
Obee said it’s clear there is pent-up demand for the annual book sale, which raises money for Island literacy programs.
“It’s been three years since the last one and we’re seeing the people coming in with a three-year collection of stuff set aside for this event,” he said.
By late afternoon, as the last cars pulled out of the parking lot the volunteers had stacked and shrink-wrapped 150 pallets of used books. On the first day of drop-offs in 2019, there were 109 pallets.
Obee said the sheer number of books being collected this year bodes well for the sale, though it will make life a little more complicated for the volunteers who will be charged with going through the pallets over the next two weeks, sorting and arranging the titles for the sale.
But the volunteers, run a little more ragged this year than in previous ones, were taking it in stride, buzzing around the rink, stopping on occasion for a slice of pizza and a breather.
“There hasn’t been a lull at all,” said Jane Mertz, who has volunteered every year at the book drive since 2004. “The response this year has been amazing, exclamation mark!”
Mertz, who has taken on the role of assistant volunteer coordinator, said the army in high-visibility jackets and vests has said they’re so happy to be back and doing the work.
“They’re happy just being here, and some of them have been here (volunteering) since 1998,” she said.
Head volunteer coordinator Mark Taylor, who has been in that role for the last seven years, said the response to the return of the sale has been spectacular.
“From the volunteers, they’re over the moon to have some sense of normalcy yeah and to be able to contribute to a passion of theirs,” he said. “And from the public, they’ve had two years to go through their books as well as just two years to build up their books.”
Taylor, who is carrying on a family tradition — his father Bob volunteered with the book drive from its inception 24 years ago and was the head volunteer coordinator for years — said he expects this year to be a record haul, which should translate into a record amount raised for literacy programs. Since 1998, the book sale has raised more than $6 million.
Taylor said they expect to have about 275 pallets of books by the end of the weekend.
Over the next two weeks, volunteers will sort the books and display them on tables at the curling club for the sale on the weekend of May 14 and 15.
“Usually we’re sorting right up until sale day,” he said.
There was no time to start cracking into the bags and boxes of books being dropped off on Saturday to see what treasures were within as the line of cars kept the volunteers hopping.
Taylor said he expects there will be as many as 500,000 books sorted before the sale.
He also said they are still happy to get new volunteers, and he suggests if anyone is interested to just drop by the curling rink this week. “We’ll get them checked in and we’ll put you to work,” he said.
The book drive continues Sunday at the Victoria Curling Club, 1952 Quadra St., from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
People are reminded to bring only good-quality used books.
• Not accepted: encyclopedias, textbooks, magazines, atlases, directories, Reader’s Digest condensed books or National Geographic magazines. These types of items don’t sell and organizers then have to pay to dispose of them.
• To speed up the unloading process, pack books in boxes and bags you don’t want back.
• If you are arriving by automobile, go to the Victoria Curling Club parking lot. The entrance is off Pembroke Street between Quadra and Blanshard. (Don’t come in off Caledonia; the Victoria police need to use that lane.) Please stay in your vehicle while volunteers unload your books.
• There is a separate drop-off box for pedestrians and cyclists at the entrance to the Victoria Curling Club on Quadra Street.
• Want to buy books? The sale will be held in two weeks, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., on May 14 and 15, at the curling club.
• The event is organized by the Times Colonist Literacy Society. The non-profit distributes the money raised in the form of grants for school libraries and literacy organizations on Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands.
