Friends' Bookstore News

Friends’ Bookstore – End of the Year Summary (Managers' Report)

2010 was a year of growth and change for the Friends’ Bookstore. The Bookstore Committee focused on several areas this year, including alphabetizing fiction, increasing advertising, adding special Saturday sales, and recruiting new volunteers.
The re-organization alphabetized fiction, both paperbacks and hard cover books.  John Hunziker built shelves to fill the tops of our window bookcases which allowed us to both increase the number of books we display as well as to reduce the crowding on our shelves. Another huge help in this re-organization project was a large bookshelf donated  by Barnes & Noble, which allowed us to remove three carousels and consolidate and alphabetize all of the mystery and suspense novels as well as classics and science fiction. Later Barnes & Noble donated a smaller shelving unit that enabled us to remove the final carousel and re-organize general fiction and romances. The library also gave us a shelving unit that permitted the alphabetizing of all of the trade-size fiction on one side and all of the new hard cover fiction and non-fiction on the other. Finally, we re-organized the built-in shelves, so all of the hardcover one- and two-dollar fiction is on the East wall.  As a result, the Bookstore has a much more professional look – plus customers’ favorite authors are easy to find. Sue MacMillan has kept the store beautiful with her clever and timely displays. 

In 2010, the Friends’ Bookstore dramatically increased its online presence. Helen Whitney-McIver and Ginny Erbe kept the Friends’ events in the public eye via Twitter, Facebook, Blog and the library website. We have advertised all of our sales online as well as on local cable channels. Sorters, including Mary Leppala, Pat Stephenson, and Phyllis Hambright screened books for online sales. Pat Stephenson, Al Dollerschell, Sylvie Nickels, and Carol Smyrk handled the online sales for the Friends.
In 2010 we began our Second Saturday Sales, with each sale revolving around a theme such as cookbooks or beach reads. Held in the library foyer, the sales dramatically increased community awareness of the Bookstore. Although we occasionally get the question, "Oh, do you have a bookstore?" most of the library patrons have learned about the store and look forward to seeing Paige Turner in the foyer. The sales are a good source of revenue. The Friends’ Bookstore again participated in the Art Walk and had a booth at ArtiGras in August. Finally, the Bookstore has many new volunteers, both cashiers and sorters, who have joined us this year. One of them, Sandy Glocke, has painted our windows with books, and each season she has added decorations to match. Currently, we have snowflakes although we are looking forward to spring!
In October, the Bookstore celebrated its 15-year anniversary, so it seemed appropriate to present the store with a facelift, updating the appearance. Sue MacMillan created a chart that shows the growth of the Bookstore sales and donations to the library during this time.
 On January 19, the Friends’ Bookstore presented a check to the Library Board for $52,000, our donation for 2010. This is in addition to the over $250,000 in materials that the Library took for its collections during the year. All in all, 2010 was a great year due to all the hard work and dedication of our many volunteers. THANK YOU ALL!