Calling all heavy lifters: the Bookfair needs you

Year after year, Lifeline ACT general manager operations Adam Miller stares down a veritable mountain of 200 pallets, each containing 56 boxes of books for the Lifeline Canberra Bookfair, and wonders how on Earth in just four days they’ll be transferred from the loading dock at EPIC into ordered rows for some 20,000 people to browse.

But year after year, it happens – a kind of real-life magic, he says, and the wielders are hundreds of volunteers.

“Truthfully, I probably have that moment every day in the lead-up to it. But it is amazing how it all comes together,” he says.

“On the Monday we’ll have B-double trucks lined up down the road at EPIC and two forklifts that don’t stop. The volumes are astounding. You look at it and go, ‘How are we going to pull this off?’. But those volunteers get in there and get it done.”

On the Monday, as this carefully choreographed drop-off dance takes place outside, EPIC volunteers set up table upon table inside.

On the Tuesday, two days of heavy lifting begin – the manual transfer of each box weighing an average of 10 kg each to the tables.

At this stage the books are fully sorted and priced – work that goes on all year in the lead-up at Lifeline’s Mitchell warehouse. The Wednesday is for getting them out of the boxes and into neat stacks on the tables.

It’s easily equivalent to a day at the gym, but where the good it does for the body is amplified to reach the greater community.

That’s because the Bookfair, a highly anticipated annual event, can bring upwards of $500,000 to the organisation to continue its life-saving work.

Volunteers are needed across the board, with particular demand for heavy lifters over those two days.

“We do need lots of strong people who are able to help us carry those hundreds of boxes to their places … Many of the volunteers are just stepping in for a day or two as a once-off to help out with the fair. Sometimes whole organisations organise volunteer days for staff, and we’re so grateful for them all,” Adam says.

“That said, we’re more than happy for people to support the cause however they can, and there’s a range of jobs to suit a wide range of capabilities.

“On the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we need plenty of people to man the register, tally up the numbers for patrons and make sure people aren’t standing in queues too long. We’re expecting some 20,000 patrons through the doors over three days, and it takes a big effort to process those sales and get people through in a timely manner.”

Though the fair doesn’t open until 9 am on the Friday, book collectors and lovers line up as early as 4 am on day one.

“We get a lot of rare and special books. We’ve had first-edition Harry Potters and we once had a First Edition Lewis Carroll with a type error – only a few were ever in production,” Adam says.

“Not all of them end up at the Bookfair, but those that do go to our collectors’ room and some of the stuff in there is amazing, so patrons interested in those books tend to arrive very early.”

All book donations that end up at Lifeline Canberra’s warehouse go through a lengthy sorting process – first in “primary sorting” when books are aligned by genre. Teams that look after each specific genre (and sometimes subgenres) then assess the books for quality and price them. Anything of potential Australian literary significance is offered to the National Library of Australia and the rest are sold through the Book Lovers Lane store at the Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets or allocated for the Bookfair.

Those unsold at the fair or stores get to try their luck at other Lifeline stores, or are donated to a children’s charity in Papua New Guinea.

“We make sure every book finds a good home,” Adam says.

Lifeline Canberra is looking for volunteers now for the 2025 Lifeline Canberra Bookfair, taking place at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 February. To volunteer, email bookfair-rosters@act.lifeline.org.au or call 02 6171 6300.