Our partners stop by for a visit!

Posted by admin on 09.24.2009 at 2:02 pm

It’s always great to meet with our partners face to face and to show them around our South Bend, Indiana warehouse so they can really get a feel for what’s we’re doing.

Just last week we had a visit from Shaun Skelton, Executive Director of Visions In Action and Pat Plonski, Executive Director of Books For Africa where we  discussed ongoing collaborative opportunities.

Visions In Action is shipping seven containers of books to South Africa, Uganda, and Tanzania, with Books For Africa providing the books and Better World Books and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) providing funding.

“Better World Books is our number one funder, our number one source for college textbooks, and our number one source of visibility on some 800 college campuses across North America,” Plonski noted. “Their support has been critical to our success, and it was great to tour their facilities and meet their staff.”

–Always a pleasure Pat!  We’re so glad you do what you do.  Thanks for stopping by!

2 Comments » | Tagged Our Partners, books to South Africa, Books to Tanzania, books to Uganda, Executive Director of Books For Africa, Executive Director of Visions In Action, indiana, Pat Plonski, Shaun Skelton, south bend, United States Agency for International Development

Better World Books Podcast: Mary Kay Andrews

Posted by Dana on 09.21.2009 at 12:20 pm

I met Mary Kay Andrews for the first time in 2006 when BLUE CHRISTMAS first came out.  She came to my little bookstore to do a signing and could not have been more supportive or gracious.  Already a New York Times bestselling author she could have been a total diva – but she was exactly the opposite.

Since then I’ve gotten to know Mary Kay through various events and saw her again at the Decatur Book Festival earlier this month where I had the pleasure of introducing her and Haywood Smith at their very well attended talk.  This time Mary Kay (whose real name is Kathy) had her daughter and adorable first grand-baby in tow and was proudly introducing them around.  I guess my point is Mary Kay knows who she is and is Read more…

Better World Books Author Podcast [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1947)

Have your say » | Tagged Author Podcast, Blue Christmas, dana barrett, Decatur Book Festival, Haywood Smith, Mary Kay Andrews, The Fixer Upper

Better World Books at SOCAP09

Posted by Dana on 09.17.2009 at 12:34 pm

September has been a very busy month here at Better World Books.  Our warehouse is busy processing and shipping loads of textbooks to all the students gearing up for fall and we have been unplugging ourselves from our computers to get out into the real world and meet some of you.

The beginning of the month found CEO David Murphy, Co-founder Xavier Helgesen and myself at the SOCAP09 Conference in San Francisco.  David spoke on a panel called SELLING WITHOUT SELLING OUT with Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Company News, best books on social enterprise, Calvert Social Investment Fund, dana barrett, David Erickson, david murphy, Federal Reserve, Satori Capital, SOCAP09, Sunny Vanderbeck, Terry Mollner, The Housing Policy Revolution, Xavier Helgesen

The Power of Literacy

Posted by admin on 09.08.2009 at 2:39 pm

As you undoubtedly know, we are all about literacy here at Better World Books.   But you might ask, why literacy? And what does it mean to promote literacy?  That’s why we thought in honor of International Literacy Day we’d share our views on why literacy is so important to us and to the world.

Those of us who can read and write sometimes take that ability for granted, but think of all the things you couldn’t do without those skills, from navigating your way in a new area to knowing what medication to take to being able to understand and communicate with the world around you.

Being literate is not just about the ability to read a story and enjoy good books, it is about being empowered.  United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said it best:  “Literacy is not just about reading and writing; it is about respect, opportunity and development”.

There is a correlation between literacy and poverty. This is why empowerment through literacy is so important. Literacy presents new opportunities and brings the marginalized onto equal footing enabling them to lift themselves out of poverty. Literacy is foundational to education which in turn is foundational to development.

To celebrate International Literacy Day, we’re discounting all used books in our warehouse 15%.  As always, you’ll be helping one of our amazing non-profit literacy partners with every purchase.   (Note — that means used books from our warehouse, not from the Marketplace.)

Just use this code at checkout:    4LITERACY
One Day Only – Good on Sept. 8, 2009!

7 Comments » | Tagged Impact, 4Literacy, International Literacy Day, literacy, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon