[CALIBK12] Book fair question and issues

[Jo Avery]

When I was at the elementary level I had a number of different types of fairs.  The only one besides Scholastic that was at all successful was one that I did with a local children's bookstore.  It worked because the owner was very committed and took care of many of the details.  However, we still didn't make nearly as much money as we did with scholastic.  Guess it all depends on whether you are looking only at a community service, or you actually need to make a profit.  Besides, Scholastic carries lots of award winners and their prices enable more students to own more books - not a bad thing!


Regards,

Jo Avery, Librarian
El Dorado High School
661 Canal Street
Placerville, CA 95630
http://cougar.eduhsd.k12.ca.us/Library/index.html


-----Original Message-----
From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu
[mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu]On Behalf Of Jill Detweiler
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 10:19 AM
To: calibk12 at listproc.sjsu.edu
Subject: [CALIBK12] Book fair question and issues


Hi Everyone,

Help. I would love to hear some ideas and advice about book fairs.

On Monday morning I have a meeting with my administration (I am a K-8
independent school librarian at a school with about 250 students) and they
want to discuss options, other vendors (besides Scholastic), other possible
book/literacy/fundraising events, goals of the book fair, etc.
So, I am a bit under the gun as far as planning time.

Some background:
Our school has had Scholastic fairs for many years and held a Cody's fair
one year. I am finding myself torn about this issue because as much as I
completely love the idea of an alternative book swap or supporting small
independent booksellers, the book fair profits provide a substantial amount
(about 25 percent) of my library budget. Some community members would like
to see us find an alternative to Scholastic. I appreciate the fact that
Scholastic provides more inexpensive books to the students than other
vendors, and we do not include any of their non-book items except some
pencils and erasers. Still, they do have more licensed movie and TV tie-in
books than I would like, but that can be balanced somehow I think. Other
vendors may provide a better selection in some areas but the books are more
expensive and our profit margin is smaller. OK, I am sure most of you know
all of the related issues with book fairs, so....

Questions:
What experience have people had with alternate book fair vendors as far as
selection, profit, ease of use, etc.?
Any suggestions?

Thank you!!!

Jill


--
Jill Detweiler Clemens
Windrush Library
1800 Elm Street
El Cerrito, CA 94530

510-970-7580 ext. 208

jdetweiler at windrush.org



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