Thursday, July 29, 2010

Christmas in July!

Oh, book lover's bliss! The end of the fiscal year in June always means a gap in ordering, as accounts are closed out and reopened, new purchase orders requested, etc. At the end of July we finally start seeing boxes of new books roll in and go through processing, which is like water in a desert. At the same time, we have our annual Scholastic Book fair - imagine, boxes and cabinets just full of books! Books we don't have! Books we just ordered (oops - dangit)! Books we get for FREE when our lovely patrons stock up for Christmas and birthdays! And then...the Lerner Review checklist comes out. It's almost too much excitement for a small turtle to handle!

Over the next week or so, we will be featuring mostly books from the Book Fair. If you are a local, you will be seeing them on our library shelves soon. If not, you can purchase your own copies by clicking on the cover art for each post. Rumor has it we would receive a small portion of the proceeds from Amazon, but we have never actually earned enough to meet their minimum for sending out a check. That's okay, because we are feeling absolutely rich in books right now! Off to relax under our sunlamp with a nice big stack! Stay tuned for our first review tomorrow!

5 comments:

  1. I miss Book Fair time... And ordering time. Those cards were my friends!

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  2. I'm thinking about trying a book fair at our public library next August...how does it work for you? This year, I convinced our director to give me all my money for the year in a lump sum in January...and I spent as much of it as possible as fast as possible. So, in August when budget time comes around and the cuts begin..."oh, I'm sorry, I've spent almost everything. Somebody else will have to cut." Snicker.

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  3. Hi Jennifer! We've been doing it for 6 or 7 years now, and it adds a ton of books to our collection and to out prize box. We time it for the end of summer reading for two reasons: we have more traffic then, and it doesn't take shoppers from the schools' fairs. We also have a lot of moms available to help out at that time, so I can concentrate on srp wrap-up while they man the sale. Times when I have to man it, I have certificates to sign, etc., during slow periods.

    At the start of the fair, I pull all the books I want to get, and put them on a cart by the register. Sometimes people will buy those outright for the library. When people check out, I can then say, "Hey, you just helped us earn these two books for the library!" and move them to the other side of the cart.

    If I have reward money left over (and I usually do), I order more books from their catalogue, and sometimes small furnishings, puppets, etc. This year they had some $1 books and some packs that came out pretty cheap, so I also got a PO from our gift fund and bought $200 worth for prizes. That earned us another $100 in free materials, so a pretty good deal all around!

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  4. Amanda, you still do the ordering via your blog, I just have to fill out the cards myself:)

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  5. Hi Turtles! I have such fond memories of the Scholastic Book Fair from when I was a kid, walking past table after table of books. It was so exciting! I couldn't believe it when my editor told me my book would actually be a part of it one day!

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