I did something bad. But half the books are for the #makerswap s.
They are having a sale of anyone is interested.
Jess7 Yes, I have no self control. There were two books I really, really wanted, but of course I had to add enough for free shipping, and then I was super close to being between the save $10 vs save $20, so I added some more books. I‘m not even sure where I‘m going to put them all. #bookaholicproblems 🤷🏻♀️ 7y
Maria514626 Of all the thing you can binge and get out of control on, I vote for book shopping! 😄 7y
LibrarianRyan @Jess7 I have that some problem!!! 7y
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LibrarianRyan @Maria514626 yep. And my receipt says I bought 15 books but 2 of them were box sets so it's more like 25. Time to rearrange the library again. 7y
TheLibrarian I‘m trying to be strong and not order anything. 7y
SledgeReader Remember your local Friends of the Library bookstore. Every book deserves a good home! #libraries 7y
LibrarianRyan @SledgeReader being a librarian I do. But around here those are few and far between. Only one I know of as few town over. Around here most libraries have yearly or semi annual sales. My local library normally has it in May or June. 7y
SledgeReader @LibrarianRyan I too am a librarian. Luckily our system has a wide variety of FOL stores in our branches. Couldn‘t make it without them. We‘ve actually found annual sales hard to pull off due to lack of storage at some locations. Good luck with your sale. 7y
LibrarianRyan @SledgeReader I no longer work for the public library. The two big public have gigantic sales. I work for a government library and we can't sell anything. What we discard (ANYTHING) goes to inventory reduction and either gets pitched, recycled or sold through a government auction. It's asinine. I miss public, but I know I'm in a place that helps public succeed. 😶 7y
SledgeReader @LibrarianRyan Our FOL store is open 64 hours a week - our hours of operation. Those .25, $1 and $2 books fund oodles of programs and new library books. We are super fortunate. Amusingly, we see some straaaange things donated to the bookstore. Hmmmm. Maybe that should be my first novel under a super secret nom de plume! 😉 7y
LibrarianRyan @SledgeReader 😋. What has been successful here is pay what you can take what you want. A few places are trying it. Most of the libraries here are smalllllll. With tiny budgets. And getting robust friends groups are hard. Many friends groups fizzeled out in the 90-2000s. Some have come back, but not many. High poverty rate more focused on sports than education. I used to be a director and could talk about it all day. But I'll spare you. 7y
SledgeReader @LibrarianRyan I am a branch manager! Sorry to hear FOL struggles in your area. We converted to a self serve model in our bookstore about 13ish years ago. Payment goes in locked box with no “intervention”. Sales have gone up over 400%. Revenue completely funds our YS programs with a healthy donation to our general budget. We ❤️ our Friends. Thanks for the dose of appreciation. Can‘t imagine doing it without them! 7y
LibrarianRyan @SledgeReader that's awesome. Here it's a lack of willing people. When I lived in Denver the Foundation killed the friends group. A foundation was started and all the Friends at all the branches were told they would be enveloped under the foundation. All raised funds going into one pot. The foundation and only the Foundation could decide how to spend the raised money. And it could not be for anything the library should pay for itself. 👇🏻 7y
LibrarianRyan So instead of paying for programs or event at branches they paid for a veterans memorial. They did host Jame Patterson but it was a $100+ a seat fundraiser. Then after the friends were told they were being disbanded they were informed that their volunteer jobs would change and that they could not do any work that a staff member was paid to do. Which since we were a very large library meant there was nothing for them to do. Sad but true. 7y
SledgeReader I‘m speechless. Totally speechless. We have branches in our system that rely on volunteers to keep the doors open. Each of our 13 locations has our own friends group and store/book sale plus we have a systemwide foundation for the heavy fundraising. Even with that said our revenue from them is probably less than a quarter of Denver‘s foundation. If you are looking for a volunteer job or know someone else interested I can hook you up! 😉 7y
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