Pat Ditzler and JoAnn Dumas, Chicago, American Library Association, 2012, , 97 pp, US$40.00 (US$36.00 ALA members) (soft cover), ISBN 978-0-83891-074-0, (available from Inbooks)
In a time where libraries worldwide are suffering funding cuts, Ditzler and Dumas' book is a timely reminder that libraries must learn how to self-fund. This book provides a detailed account on how to do so by holding an annual book sale. Sisters Ditzler and Dumas are both volunteer book-sale co-coordinators, and the book is written from their own experience, with Ditzler as current Chair of the Lancaster Public library book sale and Dumas having introduced her sister's successful book-sale strategies into the Potsdam Public Library and Oro Valley Public Library.
The book illustrates how critical the planning and organising of a book sale are to its ultimate success in raising funds for a library. The book consists of 10 chapters, the first of which is titled ‘The Main Attraction’ and details a variety of ways to seek donations and keep records of items received. Chapter 2, ‘Setting the Scene’, demonstrates practical considerations when planning the book sale, such as the importance of a sorting-room site and size, and storage issues. Chapter 3, ‘Directing the Show’, indicates the type and make-up of committees needed, while Chapter 4, ‘Casting Call’, focuses on seeking volunteers, providing examples of how the three previously mentioned libraries did so. Chapter 5, ‘Production’, relates to categorising and organising book donations, for example into genre/categories and sub-categories. ‘Ticket Price’ (Chapter 6) is self-explanatory and focuses on the pricing of items, while Chapter 7 (‘Venue and Promotion’) provides a variety of useful and proven ways to promote the book sale to a wide variety of audiences, as well as highlighting the need to choose a relevant site to hold the book sale (not necessarily in the library). Chapter 8 (‘Showtime’) comes to the nitty-gritty and works through the book-sale day itself, from set-up to clean-up, including diagrams of how a book sale might be laid out, with examples of which categories of items should be alongside each other and examples of thank-you notes to donors and buyers. ‘Box Office Receipts’ (Chapter 9) provides information and examples on how to tally money at the time of a sale and at the completion of the whole book sale, as well as examples of receipts to give to buyers. Chapter 10, ‘Encore, Encore’, provides advice and examples on other book-sale opportunities, such as selling online.
This summary only touches on the amount and variety of information provided in each chapter. The book contains an immense amount of practical advice on organising and running a library book sale, and it is evident that the authors are not only passionate about their role but also very knowledgeable. While not every library holding a book sale will follow all the strategies noted in the book, it still provides a very useful resource for any library looking for ways to raise funds.
© 2013, Cindy Bissett