|
Posted by Sandy Ellison on August 21, 2008, 3:54 pm
Howdy!
Lots of good info, Bert.
In the past few years our guild has acquired a couple of those
fold-up, roll-around bookcases. We've had the list of all the
books in a database for at least 15 yrs
http://qgoa.org/ ; made it easy to take inventory to discover
what was there or not. The old-fashioned library cards signed
by borrowers showed what had been missing for years
(also discovered that a couple of non-members were checking out
books, a no-no for our guild). Once a year I advertised
"Free Returns Month!" for all over-due books, and many did return. <g>
We got several free books from Martingale & Co. (That Patchwork Place)
thru' their frequent-buyers plan(s) & sometimes just by asking publishers
for a donation in return for a mention in the newsletter; also asked our
guest speakers/authors for free or discounted copies of their books;
begged for a book discount from our LQS, they were so accommodating. I
asked guild members for "those books you received as gifts but don't want
(I won't tell the titles!)". All contributors were sincerely thanked
in the newsletter (& guild members received a thank-you fq <g>).
Having first chance at new books is a great incentive to be librarian.
Also encouraged me to get my own bookcase on wheels. ;-P
Cheers!
R/Sandy- love to quilt, love to read
On 8/21/08 9:49 AM, in article
674e0d31-af14-4426-a885-4589808968fe@r66g2000hsg.googlegroups.com,
> Cindy,
>
> I am the librarian for my guild. How ours works may not be feasible
> for you but maybe it will help someone else.
>
> We meet in a church basement. When I became librarian the library was
> on a bookshelf in a closet with room for one person at a time.
>
> The previous librarian mentioned that she looked at book carts,
> thinking that being able to wheel a few out at each meeting would be
> helpful. Who knew book carts were so expensive, though?
>
> I designed a big two sided bookshelf on wheels and a friend in the
> woodworkers' guild took it to his meeting to see if they wanted to
> take it on as a project. One member offered to do it, and he ended up
> even donating the materials. I found some very good casters online so
> my out of pocket costs were about $50. My husband came to the meeting
> where I wheeled it out of the closet; I had kept the whole project a
> secret so it was a thrill for me to push it out and pivot it in front
> of the guild. I'm normally somewhat shy and not into dramatic
> entrances but I got great joy in presenting it.
>
> The bookcart holds our current library of 232 books, plus notebooks
> with our bylaws, archives, photo albums, etc. I wheel it out of the
> closet (and the casters are good enough to jump the hump between
> linoleum and low pile carpet) and park it in good lighting. It gets
> wheeled back at the close of the meeting.
>
> Other library info: I have all the books/authors in an Excel
> spreadsheet that can be emailed to anyone in the guild who would like
> a copy. A hard copy is available on request, but I don't print them
> out ahead of time. I write a column (Library Corner) in the newsletter
> each month with the titles/authors of books added to the library. Book
> donations are always welcome and the donor is thanked in the column,
> too.
>
> I have a decent budget that I try to spread out over the year.
> Donations are willingly accepted and I encourage recommendations and
> suggestions.
>
> http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=ColvillePiecemakers is a
> way cool resource where I have our library listed. It is free for up
> to 200 books, or $25 for a lifetime unlimited personal (or non-profit)
> account. Anyone with net access (even on a web-enabled phone when you
> are at a garage sale or thrift store!) can see what books we currently
> have.
>
> I hope this helps. I am interested to see what other librarians have
> to say, too.
>
> Bert in Rice, WA
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap