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Dear LM-NETTERS: I was overwhelmed with the responses that I received from all of you and am attaching the responses about donating gift books to the media center. I am sorry that posting the hit took so long. From: Joan C. Schneider niantic@aol.com At our K-5 we have just started a PTA Birthday Book Program, and it has been very successful. Each week we process 2-3 books. We made arrangements with a local book wholesaler to take $300 of newly published titles on consignment to our PTA. I designated a book cupboard in my workroom where these birthday books are stored along with all their paperwork and supplies. We encourage people to choose from those books. I went with the PTA coordinator to pick up the first shipment. In early September, we had surveyed the school and asked people who were interested to indicate their interest. We picked books with those people in mind. A couple of weeks to a month before the birthday, another PTA volunteer phones and asks if they are still interested in participating. I set up a template on the Mac and the PTA coordinator makes up bookplates and we put a special label on the spine of the book. She maintains a special bulletin board outside the library with book, author, child's name, donor, and birthdate for each book. Everytime I have a favorite book that is falling apart, I put it in the cupboard to show its condition. The PTA coordinator keeps a list of such titles. She also keeps a copy of the consignment book list as well as my "replacement" books list at her home, so she can answer inquiries by phone. The donor writes the check directly to the book wholesaler. The PTA coordinator bundles the checks and brings them over to the wholesaler once per month. This local wholesaler also offers the donors a 25% discount if they come into the store and pick something up directly. We make a big deal about presenting the book and reading the bookplate...like at the end of storyhour, or I've been known to drop by the classroom to present . Then the birthday child gets to be the first one to check it out. I'll never forget the tears when Jessica in grade 3 received her book. It was a surprise from her parents. One note, the program is a success, but the bulk of the work is done by this volunteer coordinator. I set up the parameters and templates, and I reorganize our book processing work flow to prioritize those books. I also approve "outside" purchases before they are made, so collection development is still in my hands. We encourage hard cover books, because of all the time to process, and we tell the parents we want the book to last as long as the child is still in the school. I have 2 books processed to be given out next week, 4 books already processed for the following week. If the rate of purchases continues, I will have added 80-100 books before the end of the school year. By the way, 2 of those books are the newest Magic School Bus...Dinosaurs. With a second grade dinosaur unit and the series of TV, these books are in great demand. From: Priscilla Seeley <pseeeley@magellan.iquest.com> We ordered some really nice quality book plates with several different headings: In Memory of..... In Honor of... etc. from Demco or someone like that. When someone comes in to donate a book to our library, they immediately get a sense that this is something we are ready for! I keep our *want list* on computer, so the person wanting to donate a book can look through the list by subject, grade level, title, author, etc, and locate books that we would like to have in our library. Sometimes they want a portion of the *Want list* printed out so they can take it home and decide. (The list has the prices ) One section of our *Want Lst* is entitled:Award Books, and they can always look at that if they don't have a particular subject in mind. From: Kathryn K. Lafferty klaffert@pen.k12.va.us" We have a birthday book program. I have an extensive list of books. Most parents prefer to buy the book themselves and bring it to me. They don't think about ordering it months in advance. I just laminate the covers and process them myself. We make an announcement over the PA that so and so's family has donated book x in honor of so and so's birthday. We put a book plate in the front with the information on it, and the birthday child gets to be the first to check out the book. From: Tamah Graber tgraber@umd5.umd.edu I do have a birthday club program whereby parents (or others) donate books to the library in honor of a student's birthday. What I did was use some seed money from the PTA (they give a set amount to the media center each year, and I used some of that money) and I bought several books on different levels and on different subjects. I bought two picture books, one or two older fiction books, and several nonfiction books on subjects I know are of interest to the students and on different reading levels). I display them in a case in the front of the school with a sign that says BIRTHDAY CLUB BOOKS. When a parent wants to buy one, they pay me directly (the secretary does not want to handle the transactions - it involves too much bookwork). I have a bookplate that goes into the book. I make an announcement over the PA about the book and who donated it and for what reason. I write a letter to the people who donate the book. I like it this way, although I also take other kinds of donations, because the books in the case have already been approved by the county and we already have the cards for the books. From: Dave Nelson dnelson@esu3.esu3.k12.ne.us I charge $5 to defer the cost of the book. I prefer that they choose a book from our collection. I don't like it if they bring a book in because we need a PO for all our books so they go to out distribution to be processed and barcoded. We have stickers that we put in the book which read "donated by ______?" From: Deborah Chaney chaney@tenet.edu The Irving (TX) ISD elementary schools have a Birthday Book Club. It is for exactly what you described-purchasing a book for the library in honor of someone's birthday. The books are preselcted and sold at a cost of $10 per title (regardless of actual price). In some libraries a huge cake on display in the library lists the people and the titles of the books they have purchased. It's good PR, and a good way to get a few extra books in the library in tight budget times. From: Margaret Whittaker mswhitta@mailbox.edu I am the LMS at an independent school in Upstate New York. Birthday books are a main component to my library book budget. This is the way ours works: Each August, the parents are sent a form soliciting a Birthday Book contribution. They are given the option of specifying subject - a few specify a particular book, but that can be inconvenient in ordering - and this year we gave them the option of CD-ROMs as well. When the child's birthday occurs, notice of the book or CD-ROM is published in the weekly school bulletin and a bookplate with child's name, b-day, and who gave it is put in the book and it is then circulated. Usually, the birthday boy/girl gets to be the first to take it out. Before the use of database sorting, mailmerge, etc., this procedure was very time-consuming, but if a database is set up first (I would be glad to send you a copy of mine) and sorted by month and date of birthday, the process is simplified. Our school is K-12 and some of the kids can find books that were given to them several years ago. They get a kick out of that. The K-6 kids are more enthusiastic than the older kids, but I think they all enjoy the personal touch it gives the books in the library. From: dianed@tenet.edu We do at Stafford Municipal School District. It works much better at the elementary level than at the secondary level. A parent, teacher, friend, etc. may donate a book, either a specific title or money for a book to be chosen by the librarian, teacher, or some other person. We make a personal book plate on the computer, such as "This book donated in honor of Suzy Smith on her 12th birthday by Mother and Dad." The donor can sometimes choose graphics, contribute the message, etc. If there honoree is a student, he or she gets to check the book out first. Or the student can take it home to show the parent if it is in honor of someone else, perhaps someone who has died. That part you play by ear. People do this from time to time, but where it really takes off is during Parent's Night of Book Fair Week. Last year we had only one book purchased at the secondary level, and the kid whose mother bought it in honor of his birthday was so mortified he could hardly stand it. However, many were purchased at the elementary level. A couple of teachers bought books in honor of their classes. Many parents bought books. In fact, a number of copies of Bluebonnet books (the Texas reading incentive program) for the next year were purchased and donated. I'm hoping to push it more among secondary parents this year. From: Elizabeth Bluemle (on Josie L's computer account) josie@blackbox.cc.columbia.edu We just started a Birthday Giving Program this year in our library. We send parents a letter inviting them to participate two weeks before their child's birthday month. We enclose a wish list and ask them to choose a book from the list (which has prices on it) and send a check, or, as an alternative, to have the library select the book in the amount of the check they enclose. (We give them $5.00, $15.00, $20.00 and Other options. This way all families can contribute if they wish, without spending a fortune.) In our school, the eleven-year-olds run a printing press. They design special book plates for the gift books, and the tens, who are the school's signmakers and calligraphers, inscribe them with the child's name and school group. We coordinate with a local bookstore to order the books parents choose (and pay for them via school check), and when the books, bookplates and inscriptions are all in the library, we invite the child to come share the book with the librarian and shelve it for the first time. (We don't do a public ceremony so that children who don't participate won't feel bad.) From: Judy Miller jumiller@freenet.columbus.oh.us This is the second year of our Birthday Book Club. I am in a K-5 building. OUr PTO was gracious in giving me $500 to start up the program. I shop mostly at a local bookstore (Borders) where they give me a 20-25% discount on hardcover books. I also have a house account there, so I am billed monthly for my purchases. Since PTO gives me the money, I do not need a purchase order. I try to purchase a variety of books - pic, fic, nonfic. We process them, place a small (1/4" round) cupcake sticker on the lower edge of the spine to indicate it is a birthday book, and keep them on a special shelf. For $10 (check made out to our PTO) they may join the Birthday Book club, selecting a book from that shelf. A bookplate honoring that child and his/her birthday is placed inside the front cover, and that child has the honor of checking the book out for the first time. I present the book in front of the class and make a big deal out of it. There is a form I send home twice a year in our school newsletter. Since this is my first time answering anyone - I don't know an easy way to send you that except by good old fashion mail. Let me know if you would like it. Anyway, when the form comes back to me, I immediately make the bookplate, and put the form in my monthly tickler file to remind me to ask that child to select a book near his/her birthday. Last year we collected $480, and PTO gave that right back to me to continue the project. We're close to $300 this year already. One idea that has really created excitement is a huge birthday cake bulletin board on one wall of our library. On the display shelf underneath I have pulled last year's birthday books, (easy to find with those cupcake stickers) and put package bows on the front of each book with removable tape. Kids flock to those books to see why they have bows on them, and they have circulated so well! It's been a great way to add to our collection! From: SMITHMMM@aol.com I have this program running very successfully. I Select the books(150 ish) at a time and the parents handle the Paperwork and the bookplates. We also give a bookmark that is laminated with the student's name and occasion. We have not limited it to birthdays however. It could be a gift to a teacher, welcome to the "2nd" grade etc., in memory of, the sky is the limit. Since school began in Sept, parents have purchased over 100 books. We charge a flat rate of 20.00 for the books. A pamphlet explaining all the options and purposes of the program has been very helpful. Also I have some parents running the program, who are marketing experts in my mind. Next they want to approach the grandparents!! Last year they provided over 400 books. The only thing I am responsible for is the selection beforehand. We stress that this is a donation and we try to accomodate but we are rounding out our collection. From: Mary Holst mholst@eis.calstate.edu I work in a district in california where we have 2 hours of library assistant time a day, no certificated librarians in the K-5 schools. In the middle schools we have librarians supported by SIP budgets, the hours vary from 3 hours in one school to full time in another. The libraries receive $2.00/per child for books! We love and hate gift books. Two of our schools have strong PTA support and have 2000-5000 dollar budgets. In these schools we encourage book "dedications" any book in the library is available for adoption or dedication. for the list price of the book a certificate and book plate are made up, the certificate is sent to the honoree. We encourage adoption/dedications at holiday times, teacher appreciation week, back to schoolnight, open house and PTA meetings. We note any new dedications in our weekly news letter. Checks are made out to the PTA and funds deposited into a library account. The PTA takes care of the paper work. Other schools in our district will have a special list to choose from for books to be given to the library. Acouple of schools have prepurchase 10-15 books and have them on a special shelf available. Adopt-a-book has been popular as a program name at some of the schools and at others there are reservations about using the term adoption and the program is call dedicate-a-book. One district wide request is that all books be purchased through the district. We have justautomated and buy all materials preprocessed and barcoded as we d not have the staff time to prepare the books for circulation. From: Louise Edwards ledwards@eagle.esd189.wednet.edu Our parents donate books to our library for birthdays. The parent buys the book of their own choosing and gives it to me. The only thing I dois place a book plate in the book and get the birthday student's signature. I then make the announcement in the student's classroom about the new book, where it came from and what it is about. From: Debbie Whitbeck whitbeck@tenet.edu I have a Birthday Book Club, where parents can donate a book to the library on the child's birthday. I use pre-purchased books (with library bindings and cataloging, no duplication, etc.) that have kid-appeal. Students select their book from the B.B. Shelf, I put in a nameplate with the student's name and birthday, post a sign in the library, and make a special presentation in the student's classroom. Of course, the student gets to check it out first. I charge the parents a flat rate and supplement the purchases with activity fund. From: Meg Bradford megbrad@freenet.columbus.oh.us I have done a "birthday book" "special recognition book program" the last several years at 2 different schools. In each place, I bought the books and had them displayed in a certain place so that the students and parents would know where they were. In my former school, the PTA helped start the program so the checks were made out to them and they would give me money whenever the books got low (under 10 titles). I picked mainly stuff that would be good for my collection and that would entice the students (Eyewitness books, good fiction, etc.). My new school does not have a strong parent group yet (we're new) so my checks will go to CO and be paid back to me via PO to the local bookstore. Hope this helps! From: Wade Houston Weiler wadew@tenet.edu I have in the past tried to get a Birthday Book Club going. I tried to keep it as simple as possible. I did a lot of advertising, but kept my guidelines simple and short. The first year, it was kind of popular, but it has kind of fallen by the wayside lately. I didn't really have a prescribed, or suggested list from which to choose. Most people who wanted to dedicate a book to the library in someone's name usually wanted me to select something. I think I need to have my plan more organized than it is, and above all ADVERTISE. From: Eileen Thompson EileenT504@aol.com I have not instituted the practice yet but have talked to some media specialists who have. They purchase a selection of books and put them on a "gift" table for parents or children to select from. The parent pays the media center. This way you can buy the books with cataloging and bar coding, and choose books you would like to have and need in your collection. If you have an "internal account" the purchase price can come from there and then as the parents pay for gift books the money they pay you can go back into the account. From: Joy Lambert jlambert@tenet.edu We have a program which seems to work quite well. Our P.T.A. was gracious enough to provide $2000. to start our project. This money was used to order books I selected as appropriate for our elementary school library collection. The books are processed by our school district processing center, then delivered on to our school. These are kept together on a book cart in a library storage area. When a parent wishes to donate a book to our collection, they make their selection and write out a check to our P.T.A. This reimburses the original funding set aside for our gift book program. Since the book has already been processed, all I have to do at the time of the donation is place a bookplate in the front of the book and it is ready to check out immediately. After several donations have been made, I send off another book order to replenish our supply, using the funds that have been reimbursed to the P.T.A. From: Karen Whetzel kwhetzel@pen.k12.va.us Yes, I do this. I got the idea from a middle school librarian who uses this method to replace worn out books. She provided a list at PTA meeting, the parents/students/etc. selected a book, paid the replacement price, and got a name plate in the book "Donated by ___" Also, they got to check it out first. I like using a list of replacement books since some parents might choose titles or bindings, etc. which I wouldn't want. We publicized in newspaper and some businesses participated. We put the business name on the plate. Also, a student donated one at end of year in honor of her teacher; I took pictures and am publicizing this one too. Another teacher suggested as an end of year project, letting parents "honor" graduating students with a book . . .We go through school account, have to write receipts for auditors, etc. Parents write check to school. I try to have some replacement books on hand for those that want the book right then., From: Vicki Anne Lunsman lunsman@tenet.edu We borrowed money from the PTO to buy the books the library needed up front. This way the parent or donater can view the books and then write a check to the PTO for his/her choice. From: Dale Haggstrom FTSLH@aurora.alaska.edu We are doing something new thi year. The PTA asked if they could run an extra bookfair along with mine. I agreed to it. They are ordering Alaskana books and putting ribbon around the ones the library wants. I went through a list first and selected what I wanted. The PTA is relying on the book store to determine what will sell for the kids own purchases. I do not know how it will work but I have had alot of parents come in and say they are willing to buy books for the library like this. From: June Muldner ny000997@mail.nyser.net We have had an Adopt-a-Book program here for about 3 years. I make up a list of books for parents to choose from, but if they have other ideas it is usually ok. They pay for the books up front, making checks out to our PTA. The orders go through the school purchasing department, thus avoiding sales tax and getting any library discounts that apply. When the books arrive, they go through central processing and are sent to me. We put on a bookplate announcing the gift's donor and honoree. The bill gets sent to the PTA, who already has the money waiting to be paid. It seems to work fairly well, except when books are no longer available at the jobber's, or when the price has increased. I usually round up the price in the catalog to the next whole dollar to cover any increases. From: Sandra Ann Williams sandywil@tenet.edu Last year Baker and Taylor let me set up a special account just for ordering gift books. Books could then be purchased and get our school district bid discount. I even ordered over the telephone, I recall. It made it much quicker. From: Dorothy Pope <dpope@sacam.OREN.ORTN.EDU> Our library has been accepting books for memorials, or whatever, for seeral years. Mostly, we receive memorials (In memory of) or (In honor of). People contact us when they want to give books. Sometimes they have a specific book in mind or a specific subject area from which we choose the book ourselves. They give the money and we order the book. We write the family involved to notify them that a book has been given in memory of or in honor of _________. We always send a thank-you to the donor. We put a book plate in front of the book with the name of the donor and for whom it is given. We keep a list of these with MicrosoftWorks Spreadsheet with the person remembered or honored listed first, then the donor, and the name of the book. This way, we can easily locate the specific book or books given in honor or in memory of an individual. We prefer only hardback copies of books. We prefer to select the book ourselves. From: Sarah Janis Thorn sthorn@tenet.edu We have a book donation program at my elementary school. Our PTA gave me some money to order some books to start out with. I bought books (with library binding) on various reading/interest levels and various subjects. I keep them on a shelf in my office, and parents come in and purchase them from me. We averaged the cost of the books and charge the same price for each. Because we ordered the books from Baker & Taylor at our 29.4% discount, the parents feel that they're getting a better deal than they would at a bookstore. Also it's convenient for them, and we get books that we need/want. Money goes back to the PTA, and I restock the shelf as needed. When a book is purchased we use one of our special stamps (one says "this book honors" and one says "this book donated by") to acknowledge the people involved. If the book is bought by a child to honor a teacher or someone else in our building, the child is given a bookmark to give to the teacher telling him/her the title, etc. If the book honors a child on his/her birthday, the child receives a bookmark. This has worked for us, and once you set everything up it's not a lot of trouble. From: Nancy Martin nmartin@esu6.esu6.k12.ne.us The elementary school where my children attended had a birthday book program. A local bookstore worked with the school. The student would go to the bookstore and choose a book (the school had a list of needed books, but any choice was ok). The student would pay for the book. Then, the bookstore would deliver the book with a certificate inside the front cover saying who donated it. The media specialist always made a big deal about the birthday book and put it on display. Then the child who had made the donation was the first student allowed to check it out. From: Jean Townes townesj@csos.orst.edu The elementary school which my son attended some years ago had this kind of program. They had a solution to getting only books that they wanted and to enable kids from all economic backgrounds to participate. They kept a box of assorted new books that they had ordered for the library. The birthday child could make a donation to the library of any size and then pick out a book from the box that he/she wanted to be the birthday book. A nameplate was put in the book (I think) and that child's name was added to a train car which was then added to the birthday train along the top of the wall. From: Sister Penny Cunningham pscunnin@mailbox,syr.edu Our birthday book program took off last year after I made a few changes. This is how it works now: At the beginning of each month we send a hand addressed letter to the parents of each student with a birthday in that month. (Summer birthdays are done in April.) The letter is personalized by a mailmerge and includes a brief description of the program, two giving categories ($10 and $16, changed from $5, $12, and $17 last year because we ran out of our series of $5 Bible story books for the younger grades) and a copy of the bookplate that will appear in the donated book. On the school day closest to the child's birthday I bring him or her in to a table with all the books in the giving category that the parents chose spread out. All books are processed, just waiting for sponsors. When the student chooses, we check out the book on the spot so it can be taken home and shown to the parents. The giving categories are an average price for the books that will be shown to the students. In other words, in the $10 category there will be some that cost us $8.95, some that were $9.95, and some that were $10.95 or $12.95. No one has complained about the discrepancy, if they have even noticed it. I think they understand that it is an average. The parents send a check made out to the school for their donation. This goes into a special "Designated Gifts" account. I primed this account with some book fair money to order the first set of books. At the end of the school year I got the inventory down as far as I could with the spring and summer birthdays. Our bookkeeping allows me to keep a small inventory over the summer, but I had to order another large batch to start the school year. These books are paid for out of the designated gifts account. In the parent letter, I list a few types of books represented in each category (the popular American Girl series, books to support our ecology theme this year...) I have learned that keeping the list general allows me flexibility when I see a book I would like to add to our collection that I couldn't otherwise afford. Even the older students love the birthday labels in the books, and all students have become more appreciative of our benefactors. We teach them to say a brief prayer ("God bless ___ for giving us this book") whenever they see a donor label--birthday, memorial, or other. From: Beth Bugnaski bugnaski@umd5.umd.edu This is the 2nd year I've run the "Seven Oaks Book Bunch Club". I keep it as simple as possible. Guidelines are published in the school newsletter several times a year. Response has been good. 1.Parents can come in Tue or wed before 10 am without an appt., or can call my office to set and appt. when I'm not teaching. 2.I keep about 50 books (gleaned from my book orders) on a shelf; various subject areas, even some reference books. 3. Parents select a book, and make a donation of 10.00 to the school. I collect their cash or checks, and turn the money in to the school secretary who receipts the parents. 4. The parents supply me with the info for the book plate (ie. child's age on birthday, who book is donated by, or In memory of_____ and by_____). I use a pretty font on the word processor, print the info, and cut and paste the info onto the bookplate. Bookplate goes inside front cover, and clear contac paper over it. Actually, I have a parent volunteer who cuts, paste, and covers. 5. I make a perky announcement over the intercom about the child being honored; that child is first to borrow the book, and we announce it in the newsletter. Last school year this project generated about 400.00. I used this money for more books, gleaning more for the Book Bunch Club. From: "St. Paul Academy and Summit School" 8666spas@informns.k12.mn.us The West Media Center at Breck School, 123 Ottawa Ave. N, Minneapolis, MN 55422 has such a program for birthday books. Contact media generalist, Patty Flakne, if you get no 3-mail responses. This program has been in existence for at least 10 years and is a natural for the community From: Pat Gill KWO_GILL@MEC.OHIO.GOV In the elementary schools in our district, generally the librarian has purchased a selection of books from which a birthday person selects with $$. In the high school we just started a program 2 years ago in which students donate a dollar amount = to their graduation year. This check is made payable to the PTO or the the Library Activity Account. The student is given the option of listing a topic/subject they'd like the book to be about, but generally the librarian does the selecting. Of course, we also accept donations of books that students want to give us as long as they fit in with the district selection policy! In both cases, elementary or secondary, we keep a list of the student making the donation, the title, author, and call number of the book donated. Also, we place a donation plate in the front of the donated copy. Generally, we put the books selected during the previous school year in a showcase for display during the final 2 weeks of school along with the list of donors so all the student body and the guests of the graduates can see. This also helps "beef up" donations the following year. In addition, our PTO includes a list of donors in the first fall newsletter. I hope that this hit answers most of the questions that you might have in regard to gifts books in the media center. Thanks again for all of the help. I am now busy finalizing our system's program. Linda Friel friell@woods.uml.edu Methuen Public Schools Methuen, MA 01844