After 26 years Yamba library volunteer, Margaret Fitzsimmons, has shelved her last book.

Yamba librarian, Jacqui Hinshaw, said the library would lose Margaret as an official volunteer but she had joined the library book club where she still helped out by packing up and washing all the tea cups.

“She just can’t help herself,” she said.

“She brings a smile to everyone in the library with her wicked sense of humour and quick wit.

“Our libraries can’t function without volunteers, we are so thankful for them.”

To honour Margaret’s incredible service, the library is having a special farewell afternoon tea for her on Wednesday, August 28.

Margaret Fitzsimmons joined the Yamba when she first moved to the town 26 years ago.

“I can’t live without books, so everywhere I go I join a library,” she said.

“I joined up at Yamba when I first moved to town and expressed an interest in volunteering and the librarian who was there put me on.

“I couldn’t live without our library, the books and the people. When my children were young I would say to them ‘I’d throw out a kid before I throw out a book’ and that would make them behave long enough for me to read a bit more’.”