Committee Reports
2008 Book Sale Report
First, a big thank you to this year's committee members: Gary Charbonneau, Michelle Dalmau, David Frasier, Dina Kellams, Akram Khabibullaev, Bob Noel, and Saundra Taylor.
Our first meeting was held in October of 2007 at which time we set the dates of the sale for April 19 and 20, 2008. We decided to keep the sale in room E174 of the Wells Library. We also decided at that meeting to make a slight change from previous years in terms of sorting the books. We thought if we started earlier, the task would not be so overwhelming. The committee agreed to sort books for one hour on the first Friday of the month to break the task into smaller pieces. In order to sort effectively, we agreed on the categories for the sale in early November. We began sorting the first Friday in November and continued the first Friday of the month through March. Breaking the task up this way seemed to be quite effective as we only needed one large sorting party at the end to complete the sorting. Although donations were down significantly this year, so that may have also had an effect on the ease of sorting.
The sale itself was held on April 19 and 20. After setting up, we realized how little there was in relation to previous years. We consulted with Dave Frasier, Bob Noel, and Monique Threatt to discuss the quantity and quality of the books. The vast majority of the books were science and medicine related, which is quite different than in previous years as well as being fewer in number. We decided to lower the price of the preview sale to a $10 admission as opposed to the $20 that was advertised. I believe this was a good move. Almost 30 people were on hand to pay the entry fee for the preview sale, which went off without too many incidents. Attendance was fairly steady throughout the sale despite the wet weather. We never needed to enforce the 50 persons occupancy limit.
Forty three volunteers helped with setting-up, working, and cleaning-up the sale. This is the first year in recent memory when a volunteer did not show up to work the sale, and it happened twice. Overall though, things went very smoothly. Special mention should go to David Frasier who directs things from the 11th floor and loads all of the carts to ensure a smooth set-up. Randy Lent also should be recognized for all of the heavy lifting and loading and moving of carts he did during the clean-up of the sale.
We deposited $5922.05 in the IU Credit Union after the sale. Subtracting $120 for renting tables from Moving and Set-Ups , $48.36 for pizza at the sorting party, and $202 in seed money our net proceeds for the sale were $5551.69. Quite well considering the selection this year.
Overall, we recommend a few things for next year's book sale committee. First, we recommend keeping the monthly sorting by the committee members. It's a small time commitment, but was effective in reducing the need to find volunteers for multiple sorting parties at the end. Secondly, calls for donations should be made early in the year. We believe the library gifts and exchange policy has changed so that it is affecting the number and types of donations to the book sale. If InULA would like to continue the sale, more of an effort should be placed on soliciting academic materials for the sale in the future.
Submitted by Sherri Michaels and Kathy Marlett, 2008 Book Sale Co-Chairs.