History of the Rockcliffe Book Fair

The Rockcliffe Book Fair enjoys a reputation as one of Ontario’s best Used Books book fairs. It was started some 47 years ago to raise money for the Rockcliffe Park Public School library. At that time, the school was not part of the OBE and could not access OBE funds to maintain its library. A portion of the money raised by the Rockcliffe Book Fair was also to be dedicated to other schools/organizations in Ottawa or elsewhere in Canada for their library or literacy projects (for example, apparently funds were at one time sent to Newfoundland to help with its "floating library" program). Another purpose of the Rockcliffe Book Fair was to promote children’s literacy and to inspire in children the love of reading. In the early years, the sale of New Books played a large role in the Rockcliffe Book Fair as good quality children’s books were difficult to obtain in Ottawa (in the 1965 Book Fair, Joan Askwith and Jane Dobell brought in Scholastic Books from New York — and as legend has it, introducing them to Canada!). However, as children’s books became more readily available in Ottawa, Used Books played an increasingly important role in Book Fair, since it brought in the majority of the funds raised. The Rockcliffe Book Fair is now known for its Used Books and particularly its used children’s books section.

Community Support

In addition to the support from the school membership, the Rockcliffe Book Fair has been very lucky to count on the larger community in the area that the school serves. At the Book Fair’s inception, community support came primarily from the Village of Rockcliffe Park, but over the years it has broadened to the neighbourhoods surrounding the school (Manor Park, Lindenlea, and New Edinburgh and now Sandy Hill). Every year, there is a core group of community members who volunteer at the Rockcliffe Book Fair, bringing with them a great deal of extremely valuable corporate knowledge. At the same time, the parents of the school children come in force to aid in this annual event and many continue to help even after their children have graduated from RPPS. Of course, the Rockcliffe Book Fair would not succeed without used books. Here again, in addition to the support of the school membership, it is lucky to be able to depend on the community at large for donations of books. As the community support in donating used books has contributed significantly to the Rockcliffe Book Fair’s success, one of the main year-round efforts put in by Rockcliffe Book Fair volunteers is advertising throughout Rockcliffe, Lindenlea, New Edinburgh, Manor Park and Sandy Hill for book donations.