For those who were there, you caught the Better World Books team making quite the splash at the recent annual meeting of our nation’s librarians and library professionals. For those who weren’t, you missed a rare opportunity to see us at our best, relaxed and basking in the glow of the best jobs in the world: taking books which were either donated to or discarded by libraries and creating opportunities for literacy and success on nearly every continent of our small globe.

(L-R, standing: Phil Sorberg, Client Support; Christopher Johnson, Director, Community Outreach; Rudy Reyes Jr., Director, Sales and ARC; Dustin Holland, Vice President; Walter Sears, Director, Library Services; kneeling: Christian Blue and Jacob Fu, Account Representatives.)

We enjoyed seeing so many of our old friends and meeting some new ones. We also bumped into a number of our closest collaborators including Emily Kirkpatrick, Sr. Vice President at the National Center for Family Literacy. She insisted on getting a photo that she could put on her desk — we take no responsibility for the office rivalry that is sure to ensue.

Thanks to all who stopped by to say hello. We look forward to seeing you next year (theme to-be-determined; suggestions welcomed)!

Above: Paul Drake, Geoff Schwarten, Silvia Sweidan, Brad Weirich, Natasha Harris, Justin Brandon

Above: Plastic Man

The man above was one of the flashier participants at the Fest.  He single-handedly ran his own awareness campaign about plastic, and came dressed in 700 plastic grocery bags (the amount of bags the average person throws away in a year) in order to effectively demonstrate how much waste our lives contribute to the environment.  Makes you want to buy reusable grocery bags, right?!

I was delighted to have attended the Nev-Cal Phi Theta Kappa Spring Regional Conference in San Diego this past weekend.  What a blast!  In the fall Better World Books had agreed to embark on an initiative with the Nev-Cal PTK region to fundraise for a very wonderful non-profit organization called Bridge 2 Peace (www.bridge2peace.org), which services a school in tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka.  We never imagined at that time how successful this initiative would be (we should have known better – when DOESN’T Phi Theta Kappa exceed our expectations?).  In total, Nev-Cal PTK members raised $2,237.25 through this fundraiser last semester.  This money, raised through running book drives, is going directly into a travel fund that will pay airfare for PTK students in the Nev-Cal Region traveling to the Bridge 2 Peace school this summer.  In total, participating students will be there for six full weeks to teach English and work with students, and we can’t wait to hear stories after their return!  I’m so excited to be able to support this partnership, and hope to triple the amount of money raised NOW in the spring semester!

As you can see, we took some great pictures this weekend.  This first is of Nelioufer Jayawardana and I.  Nelioufer is Sri-Lankan born and very involved with Bridge 2 Peace.

The second photo is of Zoie Lewandowski (Palomar), Jason Dunn (Palomar), Kurt Meyer (Irvine Valley College, Advisor), Me (Natasha, BWB) and Nelioufer.  Nelioufer had just accepted a Better World Books check on behalf of Bridge 2 Peace.

Zoie, Jason and Kurt will all three be traveling to Southeast Asia this summer to teach at the Bridge 2 Peace school in Sri Lanka.   I’ve asked them to take lots of pictures while they’re overseas, and will post some on this blog when they get back.  We wish them all the best!  Go PTK!