11/20/09

Notes from the world of the library book sale

Our sale is still ongoing....my sale, really, even though I have some helpers. I have moved 6,000 books at least 3 times each.

Library book sales are frustrating things. The preview night is horribly stressful, for small sales like ours--we need the dealers to come, since they are the biggest spenders, but they can be very hard to deal with, making nasty remarks about the quality of the books offered, leaving messy piles for us to put away, and generally being demanding. They weren't bad this time around, but, on the other hand, they weren't buying many books. Sigh.

And the local newspaper put in wrong information about the days the sale was open, just saying Monday, instead of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so business is way down. A couple of people have said to me that they think the newspaper did it on purpose, because (they say) the paper supports the other, bigger, library, which is located in the more affluent part of town, and, they say, that library wants our library to close so they can have the totality of the town library budget (which might well be true). I really, really, don't want to think that the newspaper would be so mean, but I am pretty sad.

On a lighter note, a copy of Twilight showed up in the donations for the First Time! Harry Potters showed up within months of their releases, so I guess the people of my town love Bella more, in that they are so unwilling to part with her...

And I did already get to spend $350 of the dollars buying legos for the library's new lego club, which was fun.

But still. I am thinking of making my oldest dress in a book costume and dance at the intersection tomorrow, to bring in more traffic. If only I had a book costume on hand...Ninja, yes, but that is not Useful...

8 comments:

  1. Awww. If we had you at our library we would love you and love you! Our Friends group....well, let's just say that we finally replaced the secretary b/c she was over 90 and completely deaf. Our current president actively discourages new members - we're trying to convince the Friends that a preview night is a good deal. No success yet.

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  2. I am rooting for you, Charlotte. (And worrying about your back, carrying all those books!)

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  3. my mom and my aunt flipped out over what they call "The scanner people" yes it sounds like a sci-fi movie. It's the dealers because they would take tables and hog the books and shove people around and they had annoying children tripping people.

    Hopefully you don't have scanner people :)

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  4. Hmmm... a book ninja? Could that work? I hope that the wrong information by the newspaper was a mistake, but I can understand being concerned that it wasn't. That would cross my suspicious mind, too.

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  5. Thanks for your comments! Yesterday went a bit better, and perhaps, on Monday, mobs of people will buy there two dollard bags of books...

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  6. Bookninja: Like Yoda be you shall.
    Phrases inverting. Buyers attracting.

    Candles lighting for your cause.

    I snicker at the Twilight give.
    Mine I read and passed on immediately. The joy of the after-Cybils share!

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  7. Could you be a book Ninja?

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  8. I thought of this, but I'm just not sure that the Townsfolk would get the Right Message from a book ninja...

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