Every Wednesday, retired librarian Irmgard Hormann prices stacks of religion books at the Friends of the Library of Hawai'i warehouse on Pohukaina Street, just as she's done for the past 25 years.

At 89 (she turns 90 next month), Hormann says it's her love of books — all kinds — that keeps her coming back every year.

"Wednesday's is a good group," said Hormann. "I just know all of the people. Many of them are librarians. Librarians are so fun to be around."

Hormann loves to tell the story of how she was a young librarian and attended the very first Friends of the Library of Hawai'i book sale 60 years ago, when it was held on the lawn of Gov. Walter Frear's home on Punahou Street.

"We earned $400 at that sale ... That was just a little sale," she said. Last year, the book sale took in $150,000.

Born in Honolulu, Hormann, whose father was a Lutheran pastor and mother was a German immigrant, worked for the state library system for 34 years, starting her career on Kaua'i at the Lihu'e Public Library.

She hadn't planned on becoming a librarian.

"I graduated from the University of Hawai'i back in the '30s, and there weren't very many options for women back then. You became a teacher, but I was very shy and scared to death of that thought. All my family, they were all teachers," said Hormann.

Unsure of what she wanted to do, Hormann traveled to Germany in 1938 to live with her grandmother, because her parents wanted her to "learn the European languages and become a more cultured person."

"As you know, 1938 was not a very happy time to be in Germany. I was unaware of this, but all of my uncles told my parents, 'Get her out of here. There's going to be a war,' " she said.

Hormann's parents enrolled her at Columbia University in New York after she returned to the U.S., and she studied library science for a year.

In September 1939, just as Hitler's army was invading Poland, Hormann left New York for her first library job on Kaua'i.

Even after retiring more than 30 years ago, Hormann still feels a need to be involved. She began working on the board of the Friends of the Library of Hawai'i, charged with overseeing the organization's scholarship program.

And then, 25 years ago, she began pricing books for the annual book sale.

Volunteering week after week with the Friends of the Library has kept Hormann connected to her profession and to books.

"They gave me religion because I was a preacher's kid, but I really don't know that much about it," Hormann said, chuckling. "It's just exciting to be around books. Once you've worked with books, and you love reading, books are important."

Every Wednesday morning, her 53-year-old nephew, David Hormann, drives her from 'Aiea to the book warehouse in Kaka'ako, where she sorts through religion books, writing prices on their inside covers.

"We've been getting tons of religion books, I can't believe it. I don't know whether that is a good or a bad sign," she said.

Sorting through the thousands of books that pass through the warehouse has kept Hormann active and gives her something to look forward to, she said. She even admits to taking a few books home overnight to read.

"There are so many treasures in those boxes," she said.

Walking through aisles lined with books, Hormann stops every once in a while just to pick up a title and admire it.

"If you're old and retired or retired and old, you should have some sort of a volunteer job that interests you," she said. "This keeps me happy and laughing and interested in life."

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.