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Thank you so much to so MANY of you who replied. I'm all set with responses now thanks to your generosity. ORIGINAL TARGET: I'm writing an article in my Mrs. Skorupski hat about book swaps. I haven't hosted one myself but I've talked to folks who have and they sound like an excellent idea! Of course, the key is good organization, so that is what I'd love to hear. How did you organize yours? For each book that a student brought in, did they get a book in return? Were there any restrictions? Did you have a way to ensure that needy kids got books even if they couldn't donate any? And then, of course, I'd like to hear any warnings about what NOT to do, pitfalls, detours, etc. HIT: We've done an annual book swap for the last 10 years. I'm happy to share what we do, although we're a small independent elementary-middle school (under 300 kids) so, what works for us may not work in a larger setting. We have very generous families, who often donate gently used books to the library. So all year long, we start collecting items to get a head start and then a week before the swap, publicize the event asking families to send in items in good condition for children and young adults only (no adult books). Students may swap up to 10 books (usually on their regularly scheduled library day) and everyone is entitled to one item, even if they haven't brought any in. The teachers also participate, often swapping books from their classroom collections. We do try to sort on tables as best as possible, by level/age group, and we do this for an entire week. We usually schedule it for when regular library circulation has ended, so students are still bringing home books from the library. After the swap is over, we save a box to start next year's swap and donate the rest to local youth groups. *** I do a book swap every May. I think I have done it now for 5 or 6 years. I separate the books, one cart is picture books and one cart is chapter books. I seed the carts every year. I use donated books from Mothers who clean out their children's book shelves, some from the book fair, and some from classroom book orders. Teachers sometimes give me points. There is really no organization. For every book a child brings in, they may get one off the cart. I don't monitor it closely. I don't make sure that everyone brings a book. My goal is for them to have something to read. A new phenomena this year was the teachers. Many of them brought books to swap. (Actually they looked through the carts, took the ones they wanted and I think brought some of theirs back, but I am not positive about that) I know some teachers just took some books. I pack the ones that are left and then save them for next year. It is pretty painless. I had a big donation of chapter books this year which was really great. I put many books from the shelves that I had deleted which still in ok shape. I need to beef up the picture books next year. I did one book that someone left on the cart that wasn't really appropriate. It was a adult book for teaching Bible stories. That is only time I have had that problem. We do sometimes have problems with students leaving books that are missing pages, but the kids tell me and then I throw it away and they choose another book. I think the kids like the fact I don't bother them. In fact we talk about that the only reason I should even know that they are in the library is if they select a damaged book. It is sort of like shopping for free. The teachers like it because they know there is an opportunity for the students to select a book, even though they can't check out. And this year the teachers liked it to swap books for themselves. (We had a ton of teachers changing grade levels so they brought their classroom books to the cart and selected appropriate ones for their new grade level.) They come individually, which is another reason the kids like it. The book swap is open all day everyday and they can come anytime their teacher will let them. The primary kids usually come in small groups…or herds. :-) *** We have had one at our school for the past 10 years. I have so much to share about it, so please contact me if you want more information. The students have about two weeks to bring their books in. I have boxes set up in my office in which I (and some parents) sort the books into different categories. Most stay the same from year to year, but depending on the year there are always new categories or some that we need to delete. For every two books students bring in, they get one book buck. I do this because everyone brings in books that are young for them, so I end up with so many picture books and board books and not very many chapter books. Teachers pass out the book bucks. This year instead of giving out individual book bucks for each two books the student brings in, I made book buck coupons that had their name, teacher's name, and amount of book bucks it is worth. This saved on paper, but also on kids losing their book bucks. The first day of the swap is for students with book bucks only. The second day is for book bucks and cash. On this day, students can purchase books for $.50/book. The money goes to purchase books for older readers for next year's book swap at garage sales, book sales, and Goodwill. I do not restrict any books, but always get some that are just not appropriate (ie: How to Nurse Your Newborn, several very religious books, used activity books, etc.) I just get rid of those as they come in. The religious books I donate to a local church. Our school is very privileged, so most who want to participate are able to. Teachers tend to let me know if there is someone I should be aware of and then there are always extra book bucks that students choose not to use so I give them a couple of those. At the end we end up with 20-40 boxes of books left over. Those are donated to another organization that is in need of books. Throughout the years we have donated them to Books for Africa, a school in Africa, a partner school in New Jersey, Born to Read, a shelter, and a low income school that sent them home with the students on the last day of school so they had a book in their home over the summer. I have documents that I could email to you if you want. This event always drives me crazy when it is occurring, but I get so many anecdotes of how thrilling this is for the students, that it makes everything worthwhile. Good luck! *** I've been doing book swaps for years. They are really pretty simple to do and the kids really seem to enjoy them. I now do one a year, the same day as our school's field (play) day at the end of the year. About a month ahead I send out messages in the school newspaper and weekly teacher messages. Each child may bring up to three books to exchange. Each child may bring more than three books, but anything over three is considered a donation to the fair. I ask parents to please check to make sure that family heirlooms are not brought to school. I use the student council members to visit each classroom the week before the fair to pick up books and record how many each child brought. The student council members enjoy doing this, but the day of the fair I just take the students' word for what they brought, I figure if they really want books who am I keep them from getting them. All students take the number of books they have brought; however, all students may take one book. Besides it keeps it simple. I watch for upper level books throughout the year because that is what we are always short of. After all, kids get rid of what they have outgrown and sixth graders do not bring in high level books. This year I had enough books to let all the first graders take two books apiece and kindergarteners take three apiece. I still took two boxes of books to Goodwill and kept two boxes as fodder for next years fair. When the books come in I have the student helpers put them into two piles. One pile is picture books and beginning readers. The other pile is any book that can be considered a chapter book. On the day of the fair I just start putting books onto tables for the students to go through and make choices. VERY IMPORTANT: You must start with the oldest students to let them make book choices. If not, the younger students will take all the more difficult books whether they can read them or not. I always end with kindergarten. *** Several years ago I was the teacher-librarian at a K-7 elementary school that had a couple of book swaps. The principal did most of the planning and the PAC took care of arranging the books in the gym. The three fiction sections - easy, novels & adult - were arranged by....author name. They grouped the non-fiction together by like-subjects. Picture books were in rows on the floor at one end of the gym, novels were on tables mid-gym & the adult books (mostly novels) were on tables at the other end of the gym. I can't recall how individual teachers kept track (maybe wrote the # of books brought in beside each student's name as the books arrived). There was a week or so of 'bring in books' (we had only 12 divisions/classes in the school). The PAC members picked up the boxes from the classrooms & sorted the books a couple of times during the week. They kept the 'sorted' books in boxes on the stage before the event. Students received a ticket for every book they had brought in, but they didn't receive their tickets until they were heading into the gym to select the 'new' books. Classes went to the gym in rotation, students could only select 2 books at a time during the first class visit. Classes rotated through twice then the students that still had tickets got to go again (with the principal supervising). The second year was done much like the first - except they only had one class visit. We then had an evening event that was tied to a "literacy fair." At the evening event, there were student displays - in the library, gym, hallways & classrooms- plus additional books set out for the pre-school children. The PAC set up a couple of arts'n craft tables - and manned them. We had special guest readers in the library (the high-school principal that read pirate stories "in voice" was hugely popular). There were door prize draws (PAC arranged). It was a very successful and fun event. For both swaps the principal and I checked for students that hadn't received any tickets - we made sure that every student received at least 2 tickets. We randomly (seemingly) would hand out tickets - "that was a really helpful/kind/whatever...here's a couple book tickets - thank you" or 'chores' that enabled students to earn tickets. Students that had 'many' tickets also shared -and& later traded books with each other. The PAC donated books. I cleaned out my bookshelves at home (novels that my children had left at home when they moved out) and donated those. The teachers were a great help in ensuring that nobody was left out, as were the secretary and custodian. Parents were also wonderful about bringing in 'extra' books. Left-over books, and there really weren't many, were given to a local charitable organization. *** Book swap is a hot topic with me right now because we are in the middle of our annual swap. We always swap during the first week after check out ends for the year. It's organized like this: -For three weeks kids bring in their old books to the library -Fifth graders work as "book swap employees": they check the condition, determine the level and hand out tickets, one ticket for each book given. -Students in grades 2-5 must be responsible for their own tickets -We keep K and First grade tickets in an envelope with the teacher's name on it in the library until the day before the swap. -The first day of no check-out in the library we cover all the library books and set out all the book swap books on tables, boxes, carts, etc. I cover the shelves with plastic tablecloths (we use them for book fair and other events, too) -Books are divided into E for easy to read; and M for middle readers. E tickets only swap for E books and M tickets only swap for M books. It's amazing what a fifth grader considers E and M, so it's not an exact "by reading level" sort. So there are some chapter books in the Es. In my library I've pulled the 3rd grade reading level and above picture books and put them in a separate section, so my kids are used to not looking at a picture book and immediately thinking "easy". And lots of kids choose books for their siblings, neighbors and friends. It's really a time when I see their generous spirits. -Every surface area is covered with books: tables, risers, boxes, circulation desk. By yesterday we had swapped over 1300 books. Still two days to go. We didn't get them all displayed until yesterday, so some were still in boxes when the first children came. -Students come to the library during their resource/specials time with two tickets only on the first day: each student may only pick two books on the first day. -The next four days students come to the book swap during scheduled times and swap the rest of their tickets. Grade levels come during the "open library" time in the morning or afternoon. Sometimes individual classes come because I don't see them due to statewide testing. And the individual classes that are scheduled with me swap during class time. -The number of left-over books is guess-timated, divided up and tickets are given to teachers to distribute how they like: kids who didn't get to swap books, or as a behavior incentive, whatever. Some are books that were donated during the year. Some kids don't swap all their tickets. I had one student turn in 69 books. Still waiting to see if he will swap all of his tickets! -Remaining books are picked over by teachers for classroom libraries and the rest are donated to day cares, then Goodwill. -We also hold an adult book swap for teachers and parents to trade their old books and get some good books for poolside reading! -Books that are donated throughout the year are saved for the book swap. My school is K-5. *** I always had extra books on the tables. I also had the oldest classes go first so that they had first pick of the titles they might like. We made our bags in library classes and I put the flyer inside. (Everyone made a bag, but not everyone chose to swap.) A permission slip had to be returned. I did not accept "adult" books but did accept books no matter how messy or awful looking (would discard.) Even the most impoverished (and our school is a high Title I percentage) student had a book to swap. I did not provide books if kids didn't have any to swap (and don't think that I should!) I took the books out of the lunch bags as they were returned and placed the lunch bags (checking for the permission slip so that kids did not bring in books they weren't supposed to give away) into a larger paper bag, one for each grade. On the day of the book swap, I covered the tables with books and had the swappers appear. I got the original idea out of a magazine some years ago and adapted it. *** Yes, we have done book swaps several times. Before I do one, I start collecting books from donations or wherever I can find them just so I have a few extras. When I explain it to the kids I tell them - bring in a book you are finished with and don't want anymore, get permission from Mom or Dad before you bring it, make sure it is in readable condition (no pages falling out, no scribbling with crayon, etc.) but it does not need to be new. They can bring up to five books in. They receive a coupon for each book they bring. I made coupons for chapter books and coupons for picture books. On the day of the swap, they come and spend their coupons - chapter books for chapter books, picture books for picture books. They have a great time with it. *** First of all, make sure the principal is on board. My principal had concerns about whether the books would be books that would be appropriate for middle school. I assured him that any books that were not would be donated to the high school or the public library's Friends of the Library program. Next, check books as they are donated to make sure they are in good condition and do not have any scribbling or kids' drawings of lewd pictures or profanity added by students. For each book donated, a student gets that many back. Two paperbacks equals one hardbound book. We had a whole set of Harry Potter books donated and I added those to our swap for kids who probably could not afford to donate a book. Also, I used Scholastic Book Fair dollars to buy books when on sale. I would get books that were originally $7.99 marked down to $2-3. I added those to the swap. At my level, I also allowed them to bring elementary books because some kids were actually happy to take a Dr. Seuss book home to a younger sibling. You could also ask teachers to either pick up a book for $5.00 and bring it in or donate $5.00 for you to buy books for those kids who want to participate but can't donate a book. Use your fine money to buy books and add to the swap. The point is: every student who wants to participate should be allowed to do so. Every kid gets a book. *** I've done an annual book swap for many years and it's a huge hit with the kids. Here are a few details in no particular order: 1. We collect books for the swap the week following the closing of circulation. (I'm in the thick of it right now!) Kids come at the convenience of their teacher to drop books off and we record the number they brought in on their class barcode list. Students can bring in as many as they like, but we cap the "shopping" at 10 books. That way, we always have extras for kids who don't bring in anything to swap. 2. I always try to weed prior to the swap, and these become part of the swap. 3. On their shopping day (their last library class of the year) we pay each child with "book bucks" based on the number we recorded for them. We turn the library into a bookstore and kids "shop." Those kids who brought no books get 1 buck to spend. Everything costs a dollar. 4. Letters are sent home requesting books for the swap--we specify no baby or toddler books and we ask that things are in good condition. 5. We refresh the offerings for every class so that not all the "good" ones get snapped up by the first class to shop. 6. We always have plastic bags on hand during shopping so kids with 10 books to take home have a tote. 7. This is a great way to fill those 15 minutes at the end of class when kids are no longer signing out books AND it gives me a way to plug summer reading. "You all have something new to read this summer and it didn't cost you a thing. What a deal!" 8. It's a crazy 10 days or so with boxes and bags all over the place, but it spreads a lot of good will. Kids look forward to it so much that it's worth it. 9. When all classes have shopped I send an email to staff inviting them to pick through the leftovers. After that, we box up any we want to save for the following year or we take donations to our local Goodwill or Salvation Army. *** 1. We used tickets - the kind you can get for raffles at party stores, on a roll. They were color coded. If you brought in a "nearly perfect" novel, you got one color; picture books were a different color. We also limited the number to 3 books each. 2. We collected all the books one week and sorted them roughly. 3. The next week, we had kids come in to select their swaps. We set up the tables in the library according to the categories - fiction or picture. Each ticket earned them one swap, and they had to pick from the correct color coded book (novels or picture books). That prevented our older kids from bringing in all their own baby books and swapping them out for chapter books. We had a designated time for younger students and then another time for older students. 4. I also had some extras, as "seed books," that I placed into the mix, just because we wanted to have a good selection for all. 5. It was mostly successful, however, some kids were disappointed near the end of each session because the pickings were slim. I would caution you to be quite particular in accepting the donations. They must be in good condition for anyone to want to swap for it. 6. We had time slots for each level - K,1 for half an hour, then 2,3 followed by 4,5. Students came down independently, without their teachers, since not everyone participated. 7. I kept a running list of the kids who participated, along with the tickets earned and homeroom, just in case they lost their tickets -- and some did, of course! 8. If we did it again (it was a lot of work!) we thought we would add teachers to the mix. That way, they could swap out some books from their classroom libraries and get some new stuff. We would also reverse the time slots, for fairness to the older kids. Book Swap Ideas Kids may bring in up to three books. They must be in good condition. LMS to decide. Students will be given one ticket for each book brought in. Books due in by Feb. 23, 24, 25. LMS to organize the books into tables in the library. On March 2, students may select books, paying one ticket for each book selected. Book swap will take place as follows: 1:00-1:30 Grades K - 1 1:30 - 2:00 Grades 2 -3 2:00 - 2:30 Grades 4-5 Students will be allowed to come in independently to the LMC for the swap. Left over books will be donated to a worthy cause. *** We did one where students and parents brought in book during one week-we didn't keep track. On the day of the sale every book was $, no matter the size. I guess this wasn't really a swap, but it did work out smoothly and easily and we earned $800, with very little effort. It was actually a fifth grade fundraiser and not for the library. We left tables etc out in the front hall way of school and kids and parents dropped them off. We only gave one weeks notice which worked out fine. We got a few parent volunteers together the night before the sale and we separated the books on tables accd to age appropriateness, including an area for parents. We did get one adult book that wasn't appropriate, which we all got a good laugh about. The next day students came to the sale during after lunch recess, (tables were set up outside cafeteria), and parents were invited to come any time throughout the day. Tables and sales were manned by parent volunteers. Every book was $1 no matter it's size or quality. That was it! Very easy and charging $1 avoided having to keep track of donations. Plus we made god money with very little effort. Without volunteers though it may be difficult to man. *** We are just starting our 6th annual Summer Book Swap. We sometimes do one at Winter Break, and Spring Break if we have the resources, but we always start the summer with a Book Swap. Since we have stopped circulating books in the Library (to get them back, get them organized, and get them inventoried) we give each student a free book on Library Day instead. These are gifts and discards form teacher collections, and anything we can gather throughout the year. Some are new, some old, but all are sorted into upper and lower levels readers. When students come to class, we open the appropriate boxes, and spread the books out on our tables. Students "shop" for a book, and leave happy. The following two weeks, on Library Day, the students can bring one to three books and swap for the same number. If they bring more, they are often disappointed and cannot find enough books to take. Somehow the books keep changing, and the kids keep finding ones that are interesting. I always offer to let them swap between weekly classes, but the students rarely do. One enterprising youngster, however, brought 3 books each day until he had essentially swapped his entire home collection! The only pitfalls we have encountered occur when students bring books that no one wants: either they are too babyish, in poor condition, or really strange topics. Parents often look upon this time as a chance to clean out closets, so we never really give away ALL of the books, although we sometimes try! *** I am doing a book swap for the first time in a couple weeks (June 16). A teacher loved the idea when I presented it and is helping me. We are asking students to bring in 10 books or more and they can swap (receive) up to 6 books. We are trying to keep it simple. They can swap a book for a book regardless if it is paperback or hardcover. If they bring in 10 or more books they have "credit" for a friend to swap in case they aren't able to bring in any books (this way everyone wins). Also, teachers/staff can donate books so there are plenty of "extras". As of now we are planning on having each student pick a book one at a time until each student has 6 books. This way they don't have to go to the table at a frenzy. I gave a box for each teacher to place books into until set up time. I'm sure we'll have left over books and I'll save them for next year. We're thinking of doing the swap again before our December break and again before summer. *** I do a book swap every year. I limit the number of books to five paperbacks with the caveat that students are invited to bring in as many as they choose (hardback too) so long as they are aware that they may not find an equal number of books they are interested in. The extras become donations and go to either my collection or classroom collections, and secretly to students who just need books for economic reasons. Truthfully, I don't think the needy students even know where the books come from that their "teachers give them;" the teachers just know that they can come to me. I keep lists of participating students by class and simply write how many they brought in. They can then select an equal number of books. I tell them that if they cannot find something they like, they can select for siblings, cousins, neighbors etc, or simply take as many as they can find that they do like. I ALWAYS end up with leftover books. I tell the kids that the books must be in good shape, but accept almost anything from them as I always have extra, and many are financially needy (those books are discreetly disposed of). I just want the kids to get books! I do tell the students in advance that they must be appropriate for elementary school, and can't be about sensitive topics. The swap takes place on one day, and all participating students are called to the library at the same time. I simply stand in a prominent place and ask students to check in with me before they leave. I check that they have taken the correct number of books, and cross their name off the list. If a student is absent, I make sure to find them when they return to school, and they select from what is left. I do sometimes delve into my donated books (not intended for the swap, but not yet added to my collection) to supply those few students with something they might want. Some years are better than others in terms or participation and quality of books, but the kids look forward to it, and several ask (usually around May) when the book exchange is going to be. *** This may not be quite what you were looking for since it's a twist on the usual book swap. We had a "Read for Relief" for hurricane victims when I was in Kansas (this was before Katrina and I sadly can't quite recall which hurricane) and I was working in a fairly well-to-do area. Kids were invited to bring their gently used paperbacks which we organized and sold, with Student Council help, for $.25 each. Proceeds were donated to the Red Cross. One of the neat things was that kids who had a few extra quarters bought books for their friends who forgot or didn't have enough extra cash. *** Up until our library clerk position was eliminated two years ago, our book swaps ran like this: 1 - classroom teachers promoted it in newsletters home and flyers were sent home from the library explaining the book swap to parents and kids 2 - we set empty boxes aside to hold books for each grade level 3 - students could exchange paperback chapter books at their reading level and in good condition ONLY 4 - up to ten books per student. Anyone could bring in as many as they wanted, but could leave with only ten. 5 - tickets were filled out for each student who brought in books indicating the number of books they brought in. They were entitled to exchange each ticket for a book or share their tickets with others, if they want. 6 - the ticket form (one for each classroom) stayed in the library (just in case) 7 - on the day of the book swap, the scheduled grade level's books were spread over the library tables for the exchange. We started with highest grade first. Students had 30 minutes to select books and "check out" (verify the number of books vs. their number of tickets) at the circ desk. 8 - The tables were re-loaded with leftovers from that group and the next lower grade's books. 9 - when every grade had been through, leftover books either went into classroom libraries or were donated to a local charity. * It's important to keep a written record in the library of how many books each child brings in. * "Paperback chapter books at student reading levels ONLY" makes it possible for everyone to find something they'd like to read and you don't get stacks of baby books or coffee table books that nobody wants. *** Here's a letter I sent home to parents explaining how the swap works for us- Dear Parents, In order to encourage your student to read over the long vacation, we will be holding a book-swap the last full week of school (December 14-18) during your student's regular library time. Here is the way it works: Students bring in books that they have read and enjoyed, that they are willing to give away; books will not be returned. Books should be in good shape and an appropriate reading and interest level, something they would share with a classmate. Students may bring in as many books as they wish, but will only be allowed to take home 6. Extra books may be donated to the swap for future use, or credit given to a classmate who did not bring any books in. Books are left in a container in the classroom, and a record is kept of the number of books each student brings in. Books should not be swapped at this point. On the day of the swap, the container of books and list are brought to the library. There is an additional cart of books that will be added to each class's books. Library cart books are from previous swaps and donations, not the library shelves. Students then swap one for one- they may choose one book from the swap for each they bring in. Books are swapped one for one, or two paperbacks for 1 hardcover. This system has worked well in the past, and seems to prevent most problems. It is a great opportunity to "weed" your student's collection to make room for new books, and to encourage reading over the holidays. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. You can email me through the school library website. Thanks, And a happy holidays to all your family. *** Kids bring in books for the swap in the 2 weeks prior to the event, and I give them tokens for each one. (I use foam cut-outs purchased by the bucket at the crafts store). These tokens can then be redeemed on the day(s) of the big swap. The tokens are worth 1, 5 or 10 books. On the back, they have little labels that I printed that read "Book Token". This system works quite well. Some kids bring in tons of books, and their parents admonish them NOT to bring home that many, so I encourage those children to share their book tokens with their classmates. I always have LOTS of books for "seed" that I store all year long just for the big swap. At the end of the swap, I always have more books for younger readers than I want to store, so I invite the teachers to bring their classes down so every child can pick a "freebie". I also hand out book tokens as prizes for small heroic deeds to the children during the month leading up to the event. One problem I've encountered is that I don't have as many books for my 4th and 5th graders, because all the kids bring in books they've outgrown (which are usually picture books, of course). I tried to get a neighboring middle school to do a collection for me, so that I'd have more to offer my 4th and 5th grade, but it didn't really pan out. I usually supplement the chapter book selection with volumes I pick up at Goodwill or garage sales. I also keep the little kid's books separate from the older student's selections, so I don't end up with a first grader taking home books meant for more mature readers. The kids really look forward to this event all year, and it's a great way to get fresh reading material into their hands for the summer months ahead. The event also alleviates some of my guilt about cutting off circulation of library materials during the last week when I'm trying to inventory the collection! -- Toni Buzzeo, MA, MLIS <mailto:tonibuzzeo@tonibuzzeo.com> Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year Emerita Buxton, ME 04093 http://www.tonibuzzeo.com Adventure Annie Goes to Kindergarten (Dial 2010) BRAND NEW PICTURE BOOK! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. 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