I'm a Newbie Bookworm in Japan

If you're a bookworm like me, then probably you would have been looking out for bookstores. There is usually a bookstore in a huge shopping mall. But the collection of English books is either small (only 1-3 shelves) or totally non-existent.

Other than surviving on your own collection of books which you've brought from home, here are 2 other options:

Library
Yup, I'm now a proud member of a local library!


Books I've borrowed

Signing up is really simple. Just approach any counter staff, and fill up an application form and pass her your Alien Registration Card. It will be completed within minutes.

The borrowing allowance is generous, especially if you compared to Singapore's. I can borrow up to 12 books/magazines and a maximum of 3 AV materials, including CDs, videos and DVDs for 15 days!

Compared to Singapore, I can borrow up to 6 books/ magazines and 2 music scores/ AV materials for up to 21 days. Mmm.. this have been revised and increased. I remember that the maximum of items before this was only 4 books, and no AV materials for basic membership.

And there are English and Chinese books! :)

You can request for inter-library loan too, by requesting for the book you want to be picked up at your nearest branch.

Rental/ Buying Second-hand Books
I've visited a Book-Off store today. Book-Off offers buying and selling of second-hand books, CDs and DVDs. Books include manga, too! Some books are going as cheap as 105yen per book/manga. I found some manga sets which are going for 250yen per set! There were 4/5 books in a set. Mmm.. but I can't find any English books though. :(

If you like reading mangas, there are options to rent them as well. Alternatively, I read the mangas at the onsen- 風と月, during my sauna sessions. :)

Love reading? Join us at our book fair!

The few months of hard work to select, sort, price, pack, count, stack, etc, is going to be paid off. We are all packed for the upcoming second-hand book fair happening next Saturday (12 June 2010) at Bishan Community Club. This book fair is jointly organised by Salvation Army and Bishan North CC Youth Club. Proceeds will be going to Salvation Army's beneficiaries.



We have packed a wide range of books, from non-fiction to fiction, and children to adults. And they are all going 'cheap cheap'- mostly ranging at $1, $2 each. Here's a sneak at what we have packed:


Some examples of fiction titles we have prepared.


It's piling to the ceiling!

Thus, do stock up your books with us, and meanwhile contribute to charity and the green cause at the same time. Remember to drop by to visit us next Saturday, if you're in the vicinity of Bishan. I'll be volunteering in the afternoon shift :)

Here's how to get there:


If you are helping to tweet the event, pls use this hashtag #salebkfair :)

Sidetrack: our volunteer group is known as SALE (Salvation Army Library Enterprise :)

And if you're interested in contributing your old books, check out this post.

Pass it on! :)

After one-month break of activities, I am finally back to SALE last Saturday, and was pleasantly surprised to hear of a new collaboration:

A couple has donated money to a Community Centre to start their reading programme for their under priviledged children, and this money would be used to set up a library for the children to borrow and read, and for volunteers to to conduct story-telling sessions.

Where do they buy the books from? Instead of turning to the commerical book stores (first hand/ second hand), they'll be using the funds to buy books from the Salvation Army Family Thrift Shop.

That's killing two birds with one stone! Smart move! The same sum of donation is being used to help 2 charitable organisations :)

I heard from a fellow volunteer-friend, that this is now the trend, using a donation to help a few charitable organisations, passing on the deed. That's really neat!

Pass it on! :)

Troubled over the leftovers from the spring cleaning exercise you've just completed?

It's the time of the year again. CNY! And of course before we start to indulge in the 2 public holidays with great food, hongbao, visits and well-deserved rest, we have to do spring cleaning.

As the chinese saying goes, 旧的不去 新的不来, are you cracking your head over where you can donate/ give away/ dispose of your old stuff?

As many of you would know, I volunteer at Salvation Army, at the Upper Serangoon Family Thrift Shop, as part of the Salvation Army Library Enterprise aka SALE.

Thus, I often receive offline and online enquiries on donation of stuff to Salvation Army, and I decided, why not have a FAQ on this topic. Hope this mini FAQ will help you answer your initial queries. :)

Q: What can I donate to Salvation Army?
A: Anything! At the thrift shop, they sell clothes, books, electrical appliances, furniture, crockery, etc etc. Almost anything you can think of, are available for sale at Salvation Army.

However, do be considerate and only donate those working items, instead of items which are already spoilt and just need discarding.

Q: How do I go about donating my old stuff?
A: You can drop your stuff at Salvation Army collection points, or you can email to donor@SMM.salvationarmy.org for bulky items.

Personally, I have packed my old but workable items (clothes, books, electrical appliances) into boxes and arranged for a collection by the Salvation Army before. They would require a list of items you are donating, so do prepare your list.

Disclaimer: that's about 2-3 years back, so I'm not quite sure if there are now other SOPs in place. :P

Q: Where do my donation of old stuffs go to?
A: Generally speaking, they will be distributed for sale at the thrift shops. And as Upper Serangoon Family Thrift Shop is the biggest 2nd hand book store among the thrift shops that Salvation Army has, most of the donated books will arrive there.

We would then price, sort and display them for sale. Proceeds will go to the beneficiaries under Salvation Army.

Q: Will the books go to the less priviledged in children's homes/ poorer countries overseas, etc?
A: I'm not too sure about that, but we do hear of cases whereby student groups work with Salvation Army to select books which they intend to bring overseas to set up libraries/ help the poor. We also have regular buyers who select books for other volunteering activities, such as story telling for the less priviledged children in Singapore.

Q: I'm interested to buy books. How's the collection like?
A: The collection is really wide. We receive fiction, non-fiction, comics, Chinese. English, even foreign language books like French, Japanese, etc; even medical books, law books, Geographical Magazines, Archie's comics, recipe books, text books, assessment books, etc.

Q: I'm looking for a particular series. Do you have the complete series?
A: As it's on donation basis, we can't control the supply of books that we receive, so sometimes, the series don't come complete too. We will try to keep a lookout and place serial books/ comics together though, when we spot them in subsequent sessions.

Q: What do you do at SALE?
A: We have our regular SALE activities on Saturday mornings, from 9.30am - 12.30pm.

From the boxes of donated books which we receive, we will sieve out books which are torn and tattered (non-saleable conditions), sort books by categories (eg. Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children, Comics, etc), price them and shelve them.

Occasionally, we also have book fairs, depending on Salvation Army's tie-ups with other organisations. Visit us on facebook or read about us on Salvation Army's blog.

Q: That's interesting! Can I join SALE too?
A: Yes! If you're interested, you can email Salvation Army at volunteer@smm.salvationarmy.org The Salvation Army staff will liaise with you following that.

P.S: Nevertheless, if you're a friend of mine, I don't mind showing you the way around on one of those sessions I am going. :P

Disclaimer: The above is drafted purely based on my personal observations as a volunteer of SALE, thus if you have any further enquries, or need more detailed, confirmed SOPs of how things are done, pls contact the Salvation Army directly. :P

Hope the FAQ helps!