TARGET: Working with PTO / Book fairs

[Kate Couzens Wakefield <kwakefield@SNET.NET>]

In a new position this year, I have already found that change is
difficult---for OTHERS who are used to things being done the way it was
always done! I am looking to you for advice on a particular problem that
maybe some of you have run into...

This summer while I was busy getting ready for the new year, I scheduled a
book fair to raise money for the library. I chose the week of
Parent/Teacher Conferences in November hoping to get a bit of holiday
business as well. This was all on the further recommendation of another
librarian in the district.  (Currently, my book budget is about $12 per
pupil.) When I met the PTO president recently and she asked me if I needed
any help, I told her about the book fair. She looked at me like I was from
another planet and said, "The PTO always has a book fair in October and in
May. We certainly don't want two book fairs in the fall. We'll have to talk
about this." Then she left.

Apparently the PTO book fairs raise money for ALL the teachers in the
building, not just the library. My question is: How can I convince this
person to let me have one book fair JUST for the library??? What
argument(s) would you use? What statistics might be important? Should I
really fight for this book fair or is there a better fundraising activity
for libraries?

TIA!
Kate Wakefield
Library Media Specialist
John F. Kennedy Elementary School
Windsor CT 06095
kwakefield@snet.net

"If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are
eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way
of looking at things."-- Henry Miller (1891-1980), U.S. author.

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