Pointing toward a book-filled storage room, Toni Earnshaw said, "When I first started volunteering, there were stacks of puzzles," and she recalls thinking skeptically, "Oh yeah, all the pieces are there." But she was encouraged to find that the puzzles had all their pieces after volunteers put them together. "That's how I knew we had good volunteers," Ms Earnshaw said.

Friends of the C.H. Booth Library PR and advertising chair, Ms Earnshaw praised the many helping and devoted hands that throughout the year and during the upcoming book sale at Reed Intermediate School, 3 Trades Lane, make the yearlong donation collection and sale itself a success. As many as 100 volunteers contribute their time in varying capacities each year, with about 40-plus year-round volunteers.

More than 120,000 books, games, puzzles, music, and other items will go on sale from Saturday, July 8, through Wednesday, July 12, during the 42nd annual book sale. A $5 admission applies to Saturday only. Admission tickets go on sale at 7 am. Ages 18 and under are free. The sale runs from 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday, Monday (1/2 price day) from 9 am to 7 pm, Tuesday ($5 a bag day) from 9 am to 7 pm, and Wednesday (free) from 9 am to noon. A room will be set aside for special and collectible items, and resident and book expert John Renjilian will be available to assist with purchases.

This year's book sale chair Denise Kaiser said the number of sale items "tends to be the same" from year to year, "but the split" of topics and categories is different, "depending on donations." Joining Ms Earnshaw in the collection room in the C.H. Booth Library in mid-June, Ms Kaiser looked at the bins filled with books and at a table stacked with items that will soon be set out for sale.

"I can't emphasize enough how generous people are," she said. Everything on sale in July is something someone donated during the year.

"Every year we start from scratch," Ms Earnshaw said, and by sale time the Friends are able to "fill two gymnasiums" at Reed.

Putting a hand on a nearby stack of hardcovers, she said, "People say the book is dead - you can't tell by us. The book is not dead."

The sale has become a "large, signature event," said Ms Earnshaw, which draws people "from all over New England," said Ms Kaiser.

"The organization, scale, and quality are extraordinary," Ms Earnshaw said. Roughly 90 categories are separated and alphabetized by author. Volunteers are familiar with the selections and can help people "find books they didn't even know they were looking for," she said.

Ms Kaiser said this year's sale includes vintage puzzles from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. She held up one puzzle shaped in an octagon. "People collect them," she said.

"People have different reasons for coming" to the annual sale, Ms Kaiser said. "A number of teachers are augmenting classroom libraries, often out of their own pocket," she said. Professional dealers often come to the sale, she said, or students are searching for summer reading titles "for reading at almost every grade level."

Anticipating the sale's first day, Ms Earnshaw said that the line at Reed begins to form earlier than 7 am when tickets go on sale. And, people like to be first in line. "The year before last, we had a dad and daughters who just wanted to be first," she said. Doors will not open until 9 am, when people enter in order of their tickets. "Then, they run," Ms Earnshaw said.

Ms Kaiser recalls a year when shoppers from Brooklyn camped out overnight.

The sale is "always exciting," Ms Earnshaw said. Noting the enthusiasm among patrons and volunteers, she said, "It's a positive activity and rewarding to see people are still reading." Seeing children "pick out their own books" is also rewarding, she said. Most volunteers in the children's book section are retired teachers, she said.

"You see a lot of hugs," Ms Kaiser said, as graduates return and see their former teachers. "It's a special atmosphere," she said.

Last year the sale included more than 200 folding tables filled with sale items, and on the last day, only eight tables had anything remaining.

During the last fiscal year, Friends donated $117,000 to the library, a bulk of which was from the book sale. The funds promote the town, reading, and the library. "Everybody wins," Ms Earnshaw said.