They would give Santa’s elves a run for their money when it comes to sheer hard work but the Alexandra Rotary Club members keep coming back for more.

The annual Rotary book sale, which begins on January 1, is as much a summer staple as cherries and lake swimming for many Alexandra residents and visitors.

Rotary member Kevin MacKenzie said books were donated throughout the year and a crew of Rotary members went around their collection points three times a week and the books were stored until Labour weekend, when the sorting began.

Members gathered in a spacious workshop this week to go through more books and put them into one of 86 wooden crates according to the subject, Mr MacKenzie said.

The number of books donated this year was on par with previous years. There were also magazines, games and jigsaws destined for the sale.

‘‘Whatever people are kind enough to donate, we’ll find a place for it.’’

He had thought the book sale, which had been going for many years, might have died off with the rise of electronic book reading devices but clearly people still liked to hold a physical book in their hands, he said.

This year there would be a collectables section, with those books starting at $10, and an expanded hunting and biography section.

The Alexandra Rotary book sale runs from January 1 to 4, at the Alexandra Memorial Hall, in Skird St.