HIT:Book Swap, Part 3

[kahoover <kahoover@FTC-I.NET>]

Karen Hoover, Library/Media Specialist
Cherryvale Elementary School
Sumter, SC
kahoover@FTC-I.NET


The HSA (home and school association) in my building runs a week long
"book exchange".  This is pretty much how they do it:
Flyers are sent home a few weeks before advertising the week the book
exchange is being held.

I'm not sure if there is a limit of how many books a student can bring
in or swap. but I know it is a given that whatever is leftover at the
end gets donated to classrooms or tossed out -- whichever is more
appropriate.

It is week long, and is done in the main lobby of the school. Students
drop books off in the morning, and swap during recess time.
We are doing ours this year the first week of Feb. If you want more
actual details, email me back and I will get more specifics from the
parents.



I love book swaps and so do the students!  I highly recommend them.  I
have
held them for the last several years.  They are hugely popular.
Everyone
likes to get in on it, even the teachers.

My swaps are pretty organized, so take this advice for what it is, not a
casual situation.

Make sure you have plenty of room to hold the swap and to store the
books.
It is really best to have *lots* of extra books to "seed" the swap meet.
That way there is a really good selection.  I have bags and bags of
books
I've been collecting  from garage sales, etc.  See if your local grocery
store will donate lots of plastic bags for those students who really
turn
in (and get) a lot of books!

Promote it about three weeks before you begin. Tell them that each book
must be a children's book, in good condition with a cover, and they have
gotten permission from their parents.  Name insides are OK. I reserve
the
right to reject (gently) any book that you know another student simply
will
never, ever choose.  You will get some weird books, but you will also
get
some library books, usually from other schools.  Promote it in the
school
newsletter as well so parents know all about it.  Intercom reminders in
the
morning are also effective. Make a cute swap coupon, I call mine a "Book
Buck", with space for their name, and as the students bring in their
books,
I give a pink coupon for picture books, and a yellow coupon for a
chapter
book.  Student sign their names to the "bucks" and place the bucks into
a
manila envelope that has their teacher's name on it.   Have students
bring
in their old books at a set time every day.  Plan to have some help if
you
can!  I don't set a limit on the number of books.

After all the books have been turned in then the fun starts. Provide a
set
time for each class to come get their "new" books.  Give the manila
envelopes back to the teachers for them to return to the students, who
then
use their "book bucks" to buy other books. Don't put all the books out
at
once.  Leave enough books out for each class so that there is a fresh
batch
for every class.  I put out the books out on the library tables, or
other
tables elsewhere in the library if you have the space.  Separate the
books
quickly in general by picture books and chapter books.  That way they
can
know which tables to go to.  They use the pink bucks to buy picture
books,
and yellow to buy chapter books.  They put the bucks inside the front
cover
so we can see them as they go through the check-out.  We take the bucks
out
and tear them up and throw them away.  You're done!  And the students
are
so excited.  I usually give two bucks for books in great demand, such as
collectible series.  I do allow Goosebumps, which are wildly popular at
the
swap.  If a parent doesn't like his child's choice, then take the book
back
and let them get something else.

Keep it fun and easy.  It's great fun, also especially at the end of the
school year as they are returning their library books for good, then
they
have some new books if you close circulation before school's out, and
they
have book for summer reading.  It's also fun to do during Children's
Book
Week in November.


**************************************************************************************

Advertise the swap a week or so ahead.  Usually, I do a swap just before
a
vacation and a month or so after a book bazaar. 15--20 minutes,
depending on
the number of kids, should suffice. I have held a swap during a long
homeroom period and during lunch.   The area of the library used for the
swap--or the entire library, if possible--should be closed to others.


I am accustomed to hardbacks and paperbacks being considered "equal
swaps".
The school I am in presently, however,  restricts the swap to paperbacks
only. Either seems to work well. Request that the books come in bags.
Keep
the bags for the day of the swap. Keep a few extra bags on hand.  I give
special book marks or pencils as gifts for these "special" middle school
kids.  (You may not be able to do this in an elementary school; I
imagine
you will have  many of your students participating--if not in the first
one,
then in subsequent swaps--after the word gets out.)

By all means, you *must* reserve the right not to accept--and not to
give
credit for--inappropriate books.  These may be books from a
younger/older
sibling, mom's or dad's reading material, and sometimes, their old
college
texts!

Keep a list of each  participant and the number of books for which s/he
may
swap.  Have this list ready the day of the swap.  Time permitting, you
can
issue tickets:  5 *non transferable* tickets for five books, etc.

Try to seed the collection of books to be swapped with good left-overs
from
book bazaars, and with any titles you can get from teachers dismantling
class sets.





At the end of last year (my first at this school) I held a book exchange
and
sale, a tradition from my predecessor.  Kids received one coupon for
every two
books they brought in, I skimmed the best books off the top to add to
the
library -- a great way to add popular fiction without spending any
money! --
and I held the exchange and sale in the library the last week of school,
so
that kids could still have something neat to do in the library even
though we
were no longer checking out.  It's not possible in every setting, but I
also
sold all the materials that I'd weeded from the collection over the
school
year, too!

I sold everything for $.25 apiece, and even with all the books the kids
took
in exchange for the ones they'd contributed, I made $100.00 for the
library
and generated a lot of good will.  We'll definitely do it again this
year!




I've been doing this for 1 week - yes 1 week - so I don't have  a lot
of experience but here is what I did.

I explained to the students - (5th and 6th graders)

1.  They would get one ticket for each book accepted into the swap
2.  I would approve all books before they would be accepted
3.  Books have to be in good condition, not marked up or torn, all
pages in tact, appropriate for our grade levels (so they wouldn't
bring all their little brothers and sisters' books) and could not
have inappropriate language, pictures or other materials in them.
4.  They then trade their tickets for books from the swap table.
5.  The tickets have a place for their name and I make them write
their names on them when they get them.
6.   Hardbacks are equal to paperbacks.  I really don't encourage
them to bring hardbacks but some do anyway.

I think I've turned down maybe 6 books this week -  mostly their
mother's romance books.   I got a couple of good hardbacks that I
gave to a teacher because they were from a set of classics which she
keeps in her room for literature class. -- I replaced them with books
from a previous bookfair.

I put in maybe a dozen new books to get the swap started  - so the
first couple of swappers would have a selection to choose from.

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