We are so proud of what your support has been able to do for our Non-Profit partners.  So far we have:

With your help, Books for Africa, Invisible Children, Worldfund, Room to Read and the National Center for Family Literacy are doing amazing things to increase literacy around the world!

Thanks!  And please keep spreading the word!

The Great American Book Drive got off to a strong start in Brooklyn.  There was a band, a book sale, face painting, and, of course, lots of book donations.  Minus a few stitches in Dustin’s finger, the drive went off without a hitch.  By the end of the day, the library was already talking about a repeat performance in the spring – and given the number of people who asked when the next event would be, this seems like a great idea.

We received some good press in advance of the event – including mention in the New York Times and TimeOut New York.  And while a concerted push the past two weeks to promote the event resulted in a total of 15,000 – 20,000 books (many were recycled locally and 8 packed pallets are en route to the Green House), the next time around we will be able to considerably build upon this with sustained and concerted promotion.

Check out a few photos from the day.

Looking forward to sharing more details but I wanted to give you a quick update before the close of the weekend.

Finally, was great to have the help of my colleagues – thanks guys – and I’m looking forward to building off of our good start in Chicago and Boston.

Hello Phi Theta Kappa!

I just wanted to share a little of a fabulous day I had on Monday, September 15. I was invited to the Better World Books Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. I was able to talk to the staff about what we do at Phi Theta Kappa and they were able to tell me about the process of what they do. They were so excited and asked so many great questions about Phi Theta Kappa. They were really impressed with the levels of leadership throughout the Society as well as the level of involvement.

They also taught me a bit about Better World Books. Did you know that you can research the literacy programs they work with and designate where you’d like your chapter’s donations to go? I didn’t! I also didn’t know that if you reach the goal of 1000 accepted books, you can earn an additional $0.25 on your book for a total of up to $1.25 per book? I didn’t know that Better World Books never throws a book away. The books you collect will never end up in a landfill. In fact, to date 6500 tons have been diverted from landfills! Better World Books is having an Operation Green impact as well!

I hope you’ll keep this great organization in mind for projects this year. After all, Better World Books can help you create a great Honors in Action project — if you relate your book collection to The Paradox of Affluence to help potential donors understand the importance of promoting literacy around the world and also do the research about where you would like your books to go (Scholarship Hallmark), then take the lead to organize the book drive (Leadership Hallmark), and serve the community giving the books and the communities receiving the books and help minimize landfill space needed (Service Hallmark). One Better World Books employee suggested having a “Packing Party” to pack up all the books collected, enhancing the Fellowship Hallmark!

How lucky are we to be able to partner with such amazing groups? They even gave me a t-shirt to wear!

…and Better World Books (whose Dustin Holland was a 2007 LJ Mover & Shaker) are two of today’s most popular discard solutions. Both help libraries make the most of the marketing principles of the long tail, as coined by Wired magazine’s Chris Anderson, wherein obscure titles are able to find a larger audience owing to the efficiencies of e-commerce.

…contributors to Better World Books are pleased with the results. “The Brooklyn Public Library sees a real value in this relationship and has been more than happy with the revenues it generates,” over $155,000 since 2005, says Barbara Genco, director of collection development. Western Kentucky University Libraries, Bowling Green, succeeded in building a $200 Alibris credit over a two-year period. Southwestern University earned $300 with Better World Books during the 2006–07 academic year.

Thanks, Library Journal!  We do our best to bring libraries the best value while providing a much needed service.

While speaking with clients I am constantly blindsided with questions such as “what goes on at the warehouse, about how many books are stored in your warehouse”, etc… the list goes on! Before my trip to Mishawaka, I would inform clients that (unfortunately) I had never visited the Better World Books warehouse. So the actual process of picking, shipping, and receiving books was a total blur.  However, since I have actually worked hands-on at the warehouse, I am very comfortable with answering questions about how the work is carried out.  Everyone at the warehouse was friendly and very patient with us newbies (a.k.a the Atlanta office). Also, the Trade Show was awesome!  Everyone received the opportunity to share great facts and ideas about each department. After learning this information, I am able to implement this knowledge into my daily Account Rep. responsibilities. When you know better, you do better!

Let me not forget to mention my community service project! I was able to work with the Literacy Council of St. Joseph County shelving books and toys for kids all around.  This organization is dedicated to breaking the cycle of illiteracy amongst adults and children.  Both this organization and Better World Books hold a lot in common, which is why it was so important to volunteer for this organization and demonstrate my appreciation for their hard work by devoting my time to assist them in any way possible.

Since the field trip to the warehouse, I feel more well-rounded as an employee of Better World Books and as an individual. I can’t wait to see you guys again!!  Woohoo!

Woot woot!!

A new program that Better World Books is offering to waste management and recycling centers is called the Better World Books ReUseFirst Program.  The idea is that there are plenty of books that still hold value and end up at our local recycling centers to be destroyed.  What we would like to do is use our new PreScreenReUsed” before they are sent off for recycling.  In the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle chain, this is a better solution for the environment, not to mention our company and our literacy initiatives.  feature to sort out which books can be “

Feedback among the waste management community tells us that there is a great deal of excitement about this new program offering.  Most waste management centers have a longstanding commitment to the environment and appreciate the opportunity to keep these books in the market as opposed to sending them off to be pulped.  While the ReUseFirst Program does require and extra step in sorting, the program is free and in many cases can return revenue for the materials we receive.

Send an email to library@betterworldbooks.com for more information.

To promote the drive, Golden Key created an excellent website that outlines the types of books they collect, where the donation sites are, and who can be contacted with questions.  I recommend all students interested in coordinating a drive check it out as it is a great, efficient way to share information on the book drive: http://ubcgoldenkey.org/bookdrive/.  If you are located at UBC and would like to donate books, you can find donation bins in the following locations:

*Outside the entrance to the David Lam Library
*Outside the entrance to the Education Library
*Inside the Abdul Ladha Science Centre
*Inside the lobby of the Gage Residence Towers

Best of luck this semester, UBC; your dedication to sharing literacy and reducing waste shines as an example to campuses around North America!

-Tip 1
-Tip 2
-Tip 3

Here is your final tip to get as many books as you can even if your semester has ended:

TIP #4: Offer professors and departments an office clean out service!

Students are not the only people on campus with books; Professors and faculty are often sent sample copies all throughout the year, and there are many offices that are just overflowing with books. Most faculty would love the chance the de-clutter their office, support a good cause, and help with your group’s fundraising efforts. You have heard of a car wash fundraiser; offer your campus an Office Wash fundraiser.

BOOK DRIVES THAT COLLECT BOOKS FROM OFFICES AND DEPARTMENTS INCREASE THEIR BOOKS BY 50%!

• Send out a mass email or get a blurb in the campus newsletter alerting all faculty on campus of your “office wash” opportunity.
• Put collection bins in major buildings in easy to reach places.
• Offer a door to door service to come by and do pickups from any office or department that wishes to donate.

Remember, any books that we receive by 7/31/2008 will count as part of your spring book drive totals. As always, our Campus Acquisitions Team is here to make it as easy as possible for you to collect as many books as possible on your campus.  Contact us any time.

Thanks for reading, I hope the end of semester goes smoothly for all of you, and I hope this short series of tips has helped you maximize your campus book drive. Have a great summer!

-Tip 1
-Tip 2

Without further ado, here is Tip #3:

For some of you finals just ended; for others, finals are just around the corner.  In either case, I hope your book collection is in full swing.

And now, the moment you have been waiting for, tip #3.

TIP #3:  CAPITALIZE ON END OF YEAR MOVE OUT!

Yes, the prime place to collect books is near or in the bookstore, to get every book that the bookstore cannot buy back.  However, there are many books that just do not make it to the buyback that still get dumped in the trash when people clean out their rooms.

BOOK DRIVES THAT COORDINATE WITH THE END OF SEMESTER MOVE OUT HAVE INCREASED THEIR BOOKS BY 40%!

• Forge an alliance with the Residence Halls, their directors, managers and RA’s.  No one really wants to see books get thrown away.  Some schools have had a lot of success having the RA’s have one final event for their students, which floor or which hall can accumulate the most books?
• Reach out to Greek houses, Co-ops, or any other off campus housing properties; these areas are often neglected, but think about it: that senior moving out of his or her apartment for the last time probably has a lot of books they accumulated that they really are not going to want to lug around.  Make it easy for them to donate to your book drive.
• Contact your campus building services or facilities departments;  if books tragically do end up in the trash,  these departments are often burdened with hauling them around campus to their eventual demise at a recycling center or sadly, a landfill.  They would gladly give books over to your book drive.

I hope that these strategies can help make sure that no books fall through the cracks and you are able to get as many books from your campus as possible.  And remember, our Campus Acquisitions Team is here to make it as easy as possible for you to collect as many books as possible on your campus.  Please contact us any time.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for Tip #4.

Well, I have not read any good books lately but I had a great story told to me by a potential LPTZ client. At their local county library directors meeting, a fellow director got up in front of their colleagues to RAVE about this new Discards & Donations program that she had been introduced to. The statement made was “Hey, the program is free, they pay for your shipping, and all you have to do is scan a book and they tell you immediately if they can use it or not!!! It’s as simple as that”.

She also stated how books usually sold for 25 cents at the libray book sale, but with our program she stood to make a quarter more per book and support literacy at the same time. This library director was so excited that the potential client telling me this story said that she went on, and on, and on; which lets me know that word of mouth still remains by far the best marketing tool! By the way, the supporter of our program has not even signed up yet but is this excited based on a good conversation. YOU CANNOT BEAT THAT!!!

Hats, gloves, mittens and scarves from the Extremities Tree are donated to the SD Department of Social Services, represented by 1997 DWU human services graduate Laura Bruns. Pictured, from left to right, are Tiffany Hixon, Tami Pickart, Andrea Dalzell, Rachel Streeter, Nicole Krueger and Laura Bruns.

“Students do not have to be a human services major or minor to belong to the club. We have students from other majors who want to be involved in community service/education on areas of social concern and they find the club as a good organization to join.

Besides the areas mentioned on the webpage, last semester the club members assisted Toys for Tots by collecting toys at a basketball game and helping wrap presents before delivery to the families. We also helped assemble food baskets for families served by the Salvation Army, participated in the Take Back the Night Walk, helped bake and frost cupcakes for a volunteer recognition at the local domestic violence shelter (Mitchell Area Safehouse), and attended a conference on “Victim-Centered Care for Sexual Assault Patients.”

In the spring, the group is coordinating two donation drives: The Extremities Tree (we find much more success collecting hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, etc. at the end of winter when everything is on sale in the stores! We box it up and donate in the fall to the Department of Social Services, for distribution to foster children and other families in need) and a used cell phone collection. The cell phones (chargers and cords, also) are collected and donated to the Mitchell Area Safehouse, where they are given to individuals/victims who need to have at least 911 access. Other human service agencies in the area can also contact the Safehouse for cell phones if they have a client in need. Later on this semester we are attending a child abuse prevention conference and will be helping support a mission trip to Tanzania. The monies we receive from Better World Books in return for the donated textbooks are used for subsidizing the projects described!”

-Pam Boline, Faculty Advisor, HSC

For those of you who care, and those of you who don’t, I am headed to Gainesville, FL for a relaxing weekend with my good friend and former colleague Patrick Kindregan.  For those of you who do not know Patrick, he was the second employee of Better World Books Library Division, and he played an integral role in making the Discards & Donations Program the invaluable program that it is today.  I would like to take this opportunity to ask all of you readers to post your favorite story about Patrick so that I may share them with him and his wife this weekend.  Here’s mine:

It took place at the Charleston Acquisition Conference in 2006.  We departed for Charleston , SC the morning the Conference began.  We had given ourselves plenty of time to make the 6 hour drive, leaving time for a lunch break so that we didn’t eat all of the hors d’oeuvres during the Vendor Showcase.  We decided to stop at one of those local grocers to grab a fresh made sandwich and some water for the Conference.  Well, we all ordered our sandwiches, sat down to eat, and as Patrick bit into his sandwich…CRUNCH.  We looked at him as his facial expressions changed from confused to a painful grimace; he had bitten into a toothpick that was holding his sandwich together!  Once he collected himself, he looked at us, smiled, and to our surprise, he was missing half his front tooth!  We laughed hysterically at our colleague’s misfortune for a few minutes, and then continued laughing for the remainder of the afternoon as we realized that he would have to work the Vendor Showcase in this condition.  Needless to say, we made sure that every person that stopped to visit our table noticed Patrick’s dental disaster.  Fortunately (unfortunately), he was able to get his tooth fixed the next morning, but not without some goodhearted heckling throughout the evening.

Post your favorite story as a comment to this post and I will make sure that it is relived this weekend!

*Because Presidents Day is not the official name of the federal holiday, there is variation in how it is rendered.  Both Presidents Day and Presidents’ Day are today common, and both are considered correct by dictionaries and usage manuals.

Onondaga’s Student Newspaper, The Overview, has a blog, which mentions the latest Phi Theta Kappa induction. I’d talk more about it but I’ll let the fine writers at OCC do the work:

Alpha Sigma Zeta, OCC’s local chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, inducted 85 new members on Oct 23, 2007. In a candlelight ceremony, members were honored for their academic achievements and service to their campus and community.

Kelly Insel, chapter secretary, had the honor of presenting checks to Elmwood Elementary School and Seymour Elementary School to purchase needed books and supplies.

*This money was earned through the Better World Books program in which members collected textbooks that were sent to Africa. For each book accepted into the program, the chapter was reimbursed money to be used in the local community.*

Debra Baehr, Elizabeth Bailey, Elaine Baker, Michael Balintfy, Andrew Borchik, Helene Brophy, Latoya Brown, Brittany Caprilozzi, Sarah Carlson, Karen Carnessali, Christa Carsten, Christina Catalfano, Melissa Ceresko, Jonah Cohen, Mert Coskan, Sean Cummings, David Currier, Amy Dederich, Caleb Defrees, Paul Dooley, Alexander Douglas, Emily Dwyer, Franciscalenae Egbuna, Christopher Ezomo, Justin Fabiny, Christine Finnemore, Megan Forman, Kimberly Germinio, Jacqueline Goletsas, Kevar Griffin, Shelby Hall-Lorenz, Peter Hawley, Machia Haynes, William Heuschneider, Lauren Jemola, Susan Johnson, Swaroop Joseph Varghese, Terea Killings, Jessica Kline, Melissa Krausnick, Craig Laduke, Katie Larock, Crystal Lauzau, Ashley LeClair, Debra Ledford-Prahl, Martha Lortie, Kimberly Lowe, Allison Masella, James McCampbell, Sarah McMichael, Jessica Milton, William Mitrus, Jason Myers, Timothy Olson, Kevin O’Toole, In Gi Park, Peter Paynter, Edward Perry, Nicholas Pikarsky, Kimmy Radell, Alison Randolph, Mike Robbins, Robert Rudeau, Dipendra Sah, Jacqueline Samora, Cadelyn Schmid, Alice Shaw, Denise Shuart, Josh Siddall, Deborah Silver, Thomas Sleeth, Staci Smith, Jill Stellmack, Sutida Sukkrasae, Andrew Swan, Margaret Swift, Timothy Szarek, Alexis Truskalo, Heather VanAlstine, Marina Vasquez, Lan Vo, Katharina Wesel, Janet Witter, David Youngentob, Jaime Zolfaghari

Collections 2.0.‘s main focus is to show “that library collections and collection development are still important in the networked environment, and [in] developing collections that mesh with Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 concepts to create the interactive and customizable library.”

Show your support and check out Steven’s new blog today!

The Library Division is proud to announce that Better World Books is now a member of the Georgia Recycling Coalition! The mission of the GRC is to compliment and coordinate activities relative to recycling, to foster communication amongst professionals, organizations, government agencies and individuals and to promote and enhance waste reduction and recycling programs throughout the state.

We believe that the new relationship with the GRC will further enable BWB to connect with those who are as committed as we are to making a positive environmental impact.

These book drives are truly making a difference in the lives of impoverished people. Books collected in a Better World Books /AMSA drive will either be sold to raise much-needed funding for Books for Africa , or they will be sent to their collection center for shipping overseas. Pat Plonski, Executive Director, Books for Africa , notes, “By increasing African literacy, we decrease African poverty. Every book donated by a student or a bookstore puts us that much closer to ending the African book famine.”

Better World Books has provided $3420 to AMSA chapters, and has allocated $1056.75 for a travel scholarship to Africa . The hope is to make improving literacy in Africa an everyday, every chapter effort that expands each year. With increasing book collections we hope to have a growth of this fellowship to fund not only travel but support promising students in their development of an on the ground literacy initiative in Africa.

To read the entire article pick up a copy of December’s New Physician Magazine or visit this link, www.amsa.org/chapoff/BWB.cfm

AMSA: It takes more than medical school to make a physician

Hey, if you live in Oklahoma, are a Sooners fan/alum or just really dig news about the Big XII, check out the following from The Norman Transcript:

Phi Alpha Theta, Zeta Theta chapter, will organize a campus textbook drive to benefit Worldfund, a nonprofit organization seeking to transform lives in Latin America through high quality education, between Monday and Jan. 9.  The group will collect all textbooks and other college level texts published between 2001 and 2007.

An assessment by the U.S Agency for International Development reports that children in Latin America attend school an average of 5.4 years, stating that “the inferior quality of education impedes the ability of Latin America to move forward economically.”

Organizers of the Worldfund book drive will collect used college-level books in green-and-white “Book Drive” collection bins on the OU campus at Dale Hall, Dale Hall Tower, Ellison Hall, Gould Hall and the Fine Arts Building.

Thanking the University of Oklahoma community for its support, Worldfund Founder Luanne Zurlo said, “By donating your books to benefit Worldfund, you will help individuals gain the education they need to lift themselves out of poverty.”

In July 2006, Worldfund retained Better World Books as its premier agent to collect books on its behalf. Books collected for Worldfund will be sold online to generate a sustainable stream of unrestricted funding for the organization. Nationwide book drives since fall 2006 have raised $15,000 for Worldfund’s programs. For more information, visit Worldfund.

(Link to original article)

Fall ’05 – 149 cartons (3,427 books)*
Spring ’06 – 284 cartons (6,532)
Fall ’06 – 109 cartons (2,507)
Spring ’07 – 116 cartons (2,668)

*based on average of 23 books per carton

So how have they had such success?  I’ve never heard Ana say she was doing something incredibly out of the ordinary, per se, but instead they just know how to use the resources provided to them in an effective manner.  Between

• on a cold day (they get a few of those in Ontario) ”Give a book get a hot chocolate,” to
• large banners created at the print shop to advertise in the student center to
• a heavy advertising campaign with articles such as this in the campus e-bulletin and getting the word out to both teachers and students to
• the much appreciated and helpful assistance of the wonderful folks at the University of Guelph bookstore to
• painting the cannon on campus (apparently you can paint a large cannon and as long as someone hangs out at it then no one can paint over it until you leave) to
• the very awesome idea of putting a sign on their backpacks that says “ASK ME ABOUT OUR BOOK DRIVE!” with the dates and locations on it to
• a thermometer showing how many books they collected with a goal to
• a donor appreciation day with a raffle to get people out to
• well you get the picture, they get what they need to do!

Here are some of the volunteers (including Ana) reppin’ BFA and Better World Books.

“BROOKLYN PARK – On Tuesday, November 27, 2007, a newly formed partnership between Better World Books, The North Hennepin Community College (NHCC) Bookstore, the NHCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, and the NHCC Foundation yielded its first donation toward a new textbook scholarship for NHCC students with a $822.00 check.”<

What’s so interesting about this is that the Phi Theta Kappa group helps organize and promote the book drive in support of Books for Africa.  The main collection point is at the bookstore during buyback and the Phi Theta Kappa group has a table set up to help promote the literacy cause.  The scholarship check is given to the NHCC Foundation whose main function is to distribute scholarship money to deserving students.  This particular scholarship is unique for the Foundation because it’s distributed via the bookstore and specifically for textbooks!  It’s a great combination of effort from Phi Theta Kappa students and faculty on campus working with the bookstore and the school’s administration to build a stronger campus community, help support literacy in Africa, AND reuse and recycle thousands of books that might otherwise go to waste.  Ingenuity and goodwill in action- what Better World Books was founded upon and what our partnerships with NHCC and Phi Theta Kappa are continuing to spread.

(back) Peggy LePage, Tom Curtis, DeeDee Heitzman, Matt Cici, Niko Tomlinson (Better World Books), Carole LaFleur

A summer teaching English in South Africa my sophomore year ignited my love for the continent. The following year, 2007, I took on the effort to set up a library for the secondary school my cousin is building in Rwanda, and received a $10,000 Projects for Peace Grant to get it started. With the guidance of Washington and Lee University professors and librarians, I spent three months soliciting donations, purchasing books and software, making shipments, and devising a unique library cataloging system.

When I stepped of the plane in Kigali, Rwanda, I found that the books I had shipped three months earlier had not yet arrived. Though temporarily projectless, I was thrilled to immerse myself in Rwandan culture, get to know my Rwandan family, and take over teaching my cousin’s class of forty students, ages 9-46, while she traveled to America. The class was composed of pastors, electricians, mothers, farmers, and children, and though I stood at the front of the room, ours was a symbiotic relationship of learning and understanding. At night, I poured over the journals of the students—thankful for such an intimate window into their lives and inspired by each of their stories of devastating loss, forgiveness, and hope. I spent my free time devouring books on Rwanda’s peace and reconciliation process and found to my surprise that Rwandans were willing to speak about the genocide.

I traveled to Arusha, Tanzania to observe the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda where the masterminds of the genocide are put to trial. When I returned to Rwanda, I attended the traditional Gacaca courts where more grassroots reconciliation takes place. Sitting cross-legged in a field, I watched murderers confess to the families of their victims and walk free—an indispensable human experiment in restorative, not retributive justice.

The 2,500 pounds of books began to arrive shortly before I returned to America, and I spent sleepless nights cataloging them with the added inspiration that the students who had inspired me daily in the classroom would soon have the chance to experience the creative power of these stories. Through the library project, my hope is to cultivate peace in a small way by creating a safe and stimulating environment where both Hutu and Tutsi children can come together and use literary access as a healing resource.

Back on campus at Washington and Lee University, I step with purposeful energy. As chairwoman of W&L’s speakers committee, I am organizing a “Re-imagining Rwanda” forum this spring, and as campus President for Books for Africa, I am leading the effort to recycle and reuse books for use in Africa. The library project challenged me to be innovative, entrepreneurial, and flexible, but it was the personal relationships I formed with my students and my own observations of Rwanda’s growth and reconciliation that have truly inspired me to study and share the intimate lessons of Rwanda’s healing example.

Check out Logan’s amazing blog for more stories and information.

The following blog post is from Tim Stewart working with the Belmont (University) Volunteers for Literacy to run a drive:

For the past 2 years, Belmont Volunteers for Literacy, a student run group dedicated to improving literacy among children and adults in the Nashville community through educating students about the problem of illiteracy and involving students in literacy tutoring, has participated in the Better World Books Book Drive in order to assist in funding their annual Family Literacy Day.

Belmont’s Annual Family Literacy Day, which was begun in the spring of 2000, is designed to celebrate the joys of reading with children and their parents in our community. Serving as a culmination of the various ongoing tutoring and service projects that students are engaged in throughout the school year, the event involves more than 150 student volunteers and engages 200 – 300 children annually. Student groups organize “Reading Circles” with different themes. One fraternity, for example, dresses up like pirates and reads pirate stories. Nursing students have done health themes and read fun children’s books about the importance of taking care of our bodies.

In addition to the Reading Circles, we have reading related games and crafts and the children can get their faces painted like their favorite character in a book. Refreshments and door prizes round out the festivities and each child has the opportunity to choose a book or two to take home from a large collection of books donated by a local literacy organization.

Though additional funding is necessary to put on the event, the portion we receive from our Fall and Spring Book Drives provides a significant contribution to our efforts. We are pleased to be able to support literacy initiatives both globally and locally through our partnership with Better World Books.

Sincerely,
Tim Stewart

This is a very special thank you to Bell Tower Books for their donation and to the La Salle Cross Cultural Association for their tremendous work helping to pack these books.

Tons of drama taping.

Hooray!

AND

you have saved 25,282 pounds of books from the landfill which is equivalent to over 12 tons of books–all from Florida!

Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!

Thank you to all the chapters in this, the Sunshine State that made this possible!! You are bringing light and hope to others through these book drives.  From my heart, I thank you for yours.

Florida from Space, courtesy of Wikipedia

I want to personally thank Michael Casey, a medical student and AMSA member. His hard work and passion for this partnership is instrumental to its success. Thanks to his tenacity and passion in just one years time one book drive has increased to 20 and 500 books have become 10,000! We are grateful to all the AMSA chapters that participated. I especially want to thank the top three collecting AMSA chapters from last Spring:

1. California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo: Collected over 1,000 qualified books!
2. University of Florida: Collected over 950 qualified books!
3. Columbia University: Collected over 850 qualified books!

Thanks to all the books AMSA has collected Books for Africa can fund the shipment of 30,000 books to Africa, enough to fill 15 schools! We are truly thankful to work with such remarkable and passionate people. Thank you!!!

Weber State University in Utah suggests using printable nametags to fill in the Who, What, When, section of your posters.  You can buy these at most any store that sells office supplies (and if you save the receipt your RD can make sure you are reimbursed).  They cut down on the time it takes to prep your posters and give them a professional look.

If you have a problem with folks tossing trash in your bins, UC-Denver and Metro State College recommend placing your collection bins next to garbage receptacles.  They’ve also found that taping the book slot down to the size of a large text book has helped to reduce the amount of garbage collected.

More to come soon and in the meantime, good luck with midterms, finals, and holiday travels!

Abby doing her best Ansel Adams in Utah

Better World Books was there with the Prison Book Program deciding which books would be sold for funding or which would go directly to the prisoners, and after a grueling 10-7pm nonstop sorting and packing session we actually had to shut the doors of the church to make sure no one else showed up!

Thank you to UCC, PBP and all the volunteers who showed up for a great experience.  It’s not often enough that we actually get to go out there and get our hands dirty, and the opportunity was a great one.  Below are some photos, courtesy of the Boston Globe, Sunday edition (City & Region 10.21.07).

The website suggests:
This award recognizes individuals whose long history of service to the campus, State University, local community or professional societies/organizations sets them apart as well as those who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership in local or system-wide faculty governance.

You can read the full description of his excellent works, but you’ll notice that one reason he is receiving this award is of particular interest:

[Al] works with the Center for Learning and Teaching and the Institute for Student-Centered Learning. Vos, campus organizer and coordinator of the Books for Africa campaign, also contributes time and expertise to other community initiatives.

Congratulations, Al, you’ve always been a committed and excellent representative of Better World Books and Books for Africa, and this award is well deserved!

The conference was great fun and inspired many new Phi Theta Kappa groups to get involved with Better World Books.  After talking to each other and hearing of how successful the Phi Theta Kappas at Pikes Peaks Community College (35 cartons!), Arapahoe Community College (37 cartons!), and Colorado Mountain College-Alpine (32 cartons!) and others were this year.  Thank you all for the opportunity to attend.

The trip to Colorado gave me the opportunity to visit many other great schools as well.

CU-Boulder had an amazing book drive this spring, coordinated by Alternative Breaks.  Brie, the drive coordinator, has handled the book drive for 3 semesters and brought in 105 cartons this spring promoting solely with e-mails and using only two collection bins!  This spring we are planning to get another student group involved and double the number of promotion methods and collection bins – Go Buffaloes!  Let’s see 210 cartons for literacy!

Golden Key and Mortar Board are planning to take the reins of a drive at CSU-Ft. Collins.  Not to play off of an old rivalry, but I think CSU could compete well with CU-Boulder’s spring book drive — they have an incredibly motivated group of coordinators and I’m excited to see how successful this drive can become.

I was also able to visit Front Range Community College–Larimer, where the Office of Student Life will begin coordinating numerous student groups on campus for a successful drive.  These groups will be responsible for varied aspects of the book drive and each will have the opportunity to table in the Student Center.  This should be a great way for the student groups to increase membership while supporting literacy!

Thank you, everyone, for the opportunity to visit!  I’ve had an awesome time meeting everyone and becoming more familiar with your campuses and experiencing the beauty of Colorado!

One of the exhibits was a Books for Africa table at which we signed up volunteers and shared information about the success of the project.

The Cross Cultural Association headed by Elizabeth Moreno, Victor Decouto, and Chiara de Leon have run wildly successful book drives on behalf of Books for Africa for the past three semesters. Last year they collected a total of 2,908 books, raised $1,742 for student scholarships, saved 746 books from ending up in landfills and sent 329 books directly to Books for Africa .

Thank you so much for all your great work!

]]> http://blog.betterworldbooks.com/2007/10/10/kudos-la-salle/feed/ 0 http://blog.betterworldbooks.com/2007/10/08/first-book-runs-a-book-drive-in-washington-dc/ http://blog.betterworldbooks.com/2007/10/08/first-book-runs-a-book-drive-in-washington-dc/#comments Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:46:28 +0000 admin http://www.betterworldblog.com/PermaLink,guid,2fa0cbe6-615e-4158-9c11-4a7b5a614aa5.aspx First Book and Better World Books teamed up for a community book drive in our nation’s capital from September 8^th (International Literacy Day) through the 23rd.  First Book has distributed over 50,000,000 new books to children from low-income families in the United States .

Partnering with the Washington DC VFW, the Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church, and SunTrust Mortgage Bank, we collected over 15,000 books!  Proceeds from the sale of those books will help First Book get books into the hands of children.

Our team (pictured) went through all of the books in just 3 days.  It was a lot of fun meeting our new partners and getting out of the office to sort some books!

You can still help support First Book by donating your books to generate funding for them.

Prison Book Program, a literacy partner of Better World Books, is organizing a city-wide book drive on Saturday October 20th.  Our goal is to collect at least 10,000 books.  Your book donations will be sent to prisoners around the country, sold at the City Mission used-book store, or distributed by Better World Books for the benefit of national and international literacy charities around the world. This is a great chance to clear out that bookshelf and ensure that your books go to good use.

If you live in the Boston area, please bring your unwanted book donations to benefit Prison Book Program, City Mission Society and other local non-profits. Hardcovers, paperbacks, used and new, fiction and non fiction.

WHEN:  Saturday October 20, 2007, 10am to 4pm
WHERE:   Brighton Allston Congregational Church UCC
404 Washington Street
Brighton , MA 02135

Full details are available at:  http://www.prisonbookprogram.org/bookdrive.htm
For more information, please email: info@prisonbookprogram.org or call 617-423-3298

The word spread so completely on campus that Villanova staff later dropped off books at our collection center over the summer while in Indiana .

Read their impressions of Better World Books in action:

“I wanted to let you know that I did end up stopping by Better World Books on my way to Chicago . The organization is wonderful and they were very helpful taking my books and asked for the organization who informed me of them.  I would definitely encourage Villanova to use them for a book drive in the future – they were very efficient and organized.  I feel like it’s so cool seeing a place you donate to, up close and personal, so I am passing along these photos!”

“My club adviser for Habitat sent me pictures of your center in Indiana from a colleague of hers who also went to drop off boxes. She returned boasting about the large scale organization and incredible mission statement of Better World Books-and the pictures were really something to see. I was surprised at just how many books you had! I just wanted to send that back to you and let you know again how happy we are to be working with you and how everyone who learns more about BWB is only that much more impressed with it.”

]]> http://blog.betterworldbooks.com/2007/08/29/rave-reviews/feed/ 0 http://blog.betterworldbooks.com/2007/07/16/phi-theta-kappa-book-drive-featured-on-ncfls-website/ http://blog.betterworldbooks.com/2007/07/16/phi-theta-kappa-book-drive-featured-on-ncfls-website/#comments Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:26:15 +0000 admin http://www.betterworldblog.com/PermaLink,guid,35795352-3db3-42f1-b9bf-ebc28d7b6e26.aspx The National Center for Family Literacy’s Success Stories section is currently featuring a Phi Theta Kappa book drive at Chattahoochee Valley Community College: Student volunteer earns national honor while supporting NCFL

Sharon Darling, the Executive Director of NCFL (pictured right) & Emily Kirkpatrick, Senior Director visited our warehouse back in May.

…I started to gather group support for the project through my fraternity of almost 100 men.  I posted messages on bulletins for large classes through our online system, WebCT and I posted messages to the different list serves

…After the fall drive, I recruited other groups to help make the spring drive bigger and better.  I organized what each group was going to do and divided the campus for our groups to have a better drive.   I wrote an editorial piece for our student newspaper that has a huge readership. I spoke at several meetings throughout the year to promote the drive.  I was in contact with the assistant to the President,  I was in contact with the head of  Residence Life…  I put up posters in high traffic areas and I was able to get our informational/planning meeting on the UGA front page.

The planning meeting was great to facilitate brainstorming for the drive and we presented a powerpoint to student volunteers.  I contacted a member in our student government to help me with the facebook event to get many student government leaders involved and help them to spread the word.

I learned a tremendous amount from working on the book drive and I feel extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to help others. I believe we have a great opportunity at UGA to create an extremely large drive which could turn into a campus movement. I have been mentoring some freshmen TEP to take over the drive and I made sure to thank all those who helped our drive so that those who helped will be inclined to do so in the future.”

-Irv Steel

Using their turnkey approach, no books wind up in the landfill, literacy programs benefit both with increased funding or books to distribute and kids of all ages can learn to read. In addition, BWB provides funding to groups on campus who serve as collection crews for the books. To date, BWB has diverted over 4,700 tons of books from going into landfills. They have also provided over 520,000 books and $2 Million dollars to various non-profits in the US and around the world.

In two book drives, Leon County diverted 3 tons of books from the landfill. Currently we are working with Florida State University but are planning on expanding to Florida A&M and TCC this summer. This is a very easy program for any local government to participate in. All you need is a contact at the University and some room to store boxes. BWB handles the rest! For more information check out Better World Books on the web at www.betterworldbooks.com.

The University Bookstore has been involved with Better World Books for two years, helping CASA raise over $3,600. Better World Books is a positive alternative to throwing away books that have little to no value at buyback.

Many bookstores across the country see Better World Books as competition, but not us. Better World Books sells books online that UMaine students can’t use – and a portion of that sale helps to benefit CASA.

“I love the fact that our bookstore at University of Maine has a great relationship with Better World Books . It is such a great organization. We all can benefit from it. Being part of the book drive helps CASA achieve our financial goals for Honduras . It’s just amazing what simple steps of recycling can mean to a community and the environment,” says Danijela Krsmanovic, UMaine sophomore and president of CASA.

The University of Maine bookstore spends a great deal of energy to partner with different organizations on campus that have an altruistic motive. Better World Books is just one example of how student organizations and the University Bookstore successfully work together to promote awareness and community relations.

While the bookstore collects the books, it’s really CASA that does all the work. They come to collect the books in boxes we provide and ship them out on their own. For very little work on our end we get rid of unwanted books and help out a wonderful student organization at the same time. If only everything could be this easy!

Many thanks to Melanie Brooks, David Hazen, Bill Hockensmith, Marisa Schrock and all of the bookstore staff for their wonderful help & participation! Also, huge thanks to Danijela Krsmanovic (that’s her in the photo below!), Amber Gallant, Kathleen March, Emin Okutan and all of the CASA & Alpha Kappa Psi students who have helped spread the word, pack up books & make the book drive a great success! The books collected in their drive not only help CASA, but also make great positive impact on our Latin American literacy partner, Worldfund, helping them fund high-quality education for impoverished children.

This is the best time of the year, for many people the culmination of 4+ years of hard work. But amidst all the excitement it’s important to remember the people who make all of this possible. As for me I’m thankful for those students and teachers and bookstore managers who have stayed with us through the years, the students just starting and making time to do the right thing, and my own coworkers for making my job one that I enjoy and can do with pride.

Regardless of where you are today, drop those books off, pick up the phone and thank Mom and Dad, and good luck to all of you. Have a great summer!