…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.

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)!

Our Better World Books banner in Left Field.

Our First Baseman, A.King focused on the coming game.

I’ve also started running again and just started picking up biking.  What outdoor activities are you involved with?  And do you have suggestions for anything else that will get me outside?

Wow.

I wanted to share a couple of highlights from the Library Division’s trip to Minneapolis to exhibit at the Public Library Association’s biannual conference.  We tend to measure our impact on literacy through books donated or revenue raised and no doubt, that’s important.  What was interesting about this week was the impact some of our key literacy partners had on us!

The 1st day we spent almost entirely with Tom Warth and Pat Plonski, the Founder and Executive Director respectively of Books For Africa.  With their warehouse in St. Paul, we also had the good fortune of touring their facility later that evening.  For Tom and Pat to take their time that weekend with the Better World Books crew, made a big impression on me.  Two of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and you know exactly where their hearts are in terms of ending the book famine in Africa.

BFA Headquarters

In keeping with our Non Profit Literacy Partner’s involvement in the conference, we kicked off the weekend by attending John Wood’s opening keynote address.  This really helped me understand more in depth the business model that Room to Read employs.  His speech clearly struck a chord with all who were in the room because the conference was buzzing all weekend with Room to Read’s cause.  John was gracious enough to mention Better World Books’ support for his mission and that resulted in a firestorm of visitors to our booth to find out how their library can utilize our Library Discards & Donations Program to benefit Room to Read.  Thanks John!

Thursday evening, after the exhibits closed, we were treated to the New Orleans Public Library’s Master Plan Party.  We started off at the swank digs of Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle where we were given a taste of the vision and direction that the NOPL Foundation has taken in their efforts to ReBuild New Orleans Public Libraries.  As MS&R’s spokesman touched on, there is a deeper relevance that exists in an architect located at the start of the Mississippi River, providing services to the rebuilding effort down at the mouth.  It’s remarkable to think of it in that sense; the ability of one terrible event to engage a nation of people. People like Irvin Mayfield who sits on the board of NOPL’s Foundation and with a hot jazz trumpet and complementary band, encapsulates the rebirth of New Orleans.  Following the presentation at MS&R, the Better World Books crew had the unique opportunity to attend Irvin’s live performance that night.  He played a total of 3 nights in Minneapolis and all raised funding for the New Orleans Public Library.

Irvin Mayfield, Jazz Trumpeter

How about that!  A summary of highlights from Minneapolis and not one mention of the Mall of America!  Whoops!

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!!!

So if you haven’t noticed, the Library Division has grown a significant amount in the past few months.  In fact, the entire Atlanta Office has really exploded and it’s been both exciting and overwhelming!

You can see the growth of the entire Atlanta Office in the Diagram below (keep in mind this does not include our massive warehouse in Indiana ).

Having more people down here has really made the day-to-day work much livelier.  Just today, we had Fiesta Friday Potluck Lunch, which we would have never done before.  We even started a team for the Office Complex Softball League!

More importantly, it’s really given us the opportunity to pay more attention to all of the libraries we partner with!  It’s been such a significant change to have others to help manage all of our relationships and I hope that you all will benefit from that positive change.

On another note, anyone have any good stories from St. Patty’s Weekend?

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.

I began my career with Better World Books at ALA Midwinter ’07. Without much in depth knowledge of our Library Discards & Donations Program I was thrown into the metaphorical library pool to sink or swim. Having recently returned from ALA Midwinter ’08 and reflecting on a full year of transition, change and overwhelming progress, I am filled with pride with how well I’ve stayed afloat. While I could go on and on about my own incredible competency (it’s review time so this forced arrogance is a result of having to justify ones existence or right to a pay increase, I’m not always like this), I can not ignore the amount of guidance, instruction, support and encouragement I have received from the stellar colleagues I have throughout the Better World Books family. This blog entry is a thank you to all of you for allowing me to be part of this incredible mission. I look forward to many more years at Better World Books!

As usual, we had a tasting of the local cuisine.  Christian and I even had a surprising run-in on our hotel elevator with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who was in town promoting his most recent book On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance!

Doesn’t it look good??

Philadelphia was littered with sculptures throughout the city.  You’re never quite sure what you will run into around the corner.  At the base of one of the buildings, were HUGE board game pieces.

Don’t crush me!!

And although I didn’t get a chance to visit the statue, Philadelphia is of course home to the one and only Rocky Balboa.

“Yo, Adrian! I bought a book off BetterWorld.com!”

I look forward to the next conference and seeing everyone again.  Thanks to those who stopped by our booth and I hope you had just as great a time as I did!

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.

One of the things I most enjoy when going to a new city is the food!  During the GALA Reception on Thursday night, we were presented with barbeque, boiled shrimp, steamed shrimp, and a plethora of other goodies.  Although I’m not a big fan of oysters, it was a lot of fun standing around shucking and enjoying everyone’s company.

Pictured: Jacob Fu, Walter Sears, Dustin Holland, Christian Blue

Another great place we stopped in for brunch was Jestine’s Kitchen.  It was a great local place that had a line waiting to get in before it even opened.  The meatloaf and sweet tea were amazing!

I definitely look forward to going back next year.  Let me know if you have any suggestions on places I need to try.

Thanks to Corrie Marsh, Associate University Librarian at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, I learned that they are using RFID to indicate low tire tread, keep track of students and school buses, even pay for cover charges and drinks at bars in Barcelona & Miami.  That’s right, a bar owner in Barcelona has added an RFID reader that can charge your account for cover charges and drinks through an RFID tag surgically imbedded under your skin!  Check it out here www.txcdk.org/rfid.  To take it a step further, China is planning to issue over 10 million RFID identification cards to individuals and 3 million RFID readers to the police to assist in crime prevention.

Is RFID going too far?

We recently joined the National Recycling Coalition as part of our continued effort to be green.  We attended the 2007 Indiana Recycling Coalition state affiliate conference in Bloomington IN and it was great meeting so many other people as passionate about re-using and recycling as we are.

One of the organizations we met publishes newsletters for county recyclers.  Trash Talk loved the Better World Books story and published an article about us that reached 1.5 million people!

It is truly an exciting time to be involved with Better World Books.  When you consider BetterWorld.com, the affiliate program, and the addition of some incredible new staff members; it is difficult to be subdued.

As I write, we are transitioning into our new office space to allow for our imminent expansion.  When I began here in Atlanta (only 5 months ago), we were five.  We have grown in to 10 down here in Atlanta and have our sights set on the future.

It is my hope that between this space and the well-oiled machine that is our Mishawaka warehouse, we will be the cutting edge company that our corporate friends will model themselves after and follow our lead into creating social profit.

Do you want to send us mail?  Address your letter/Library Sign Up Form to:

Better World Books
1105 Lakewood Parkway, Ste 205
Alpharetta, GA 30004

Note: Please do not send books to this address.

We had a great time in the city when we did have some free time to spare. One evening, we had a great meal at Legal Sea Foods where the waitress actually recognized our company from the logo on our shirts!

Back at the show, we had the opportunity to introduce a number of our new program features. These and also answers to some of the most common questions asked are listed in the posting below.

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by our booth!  We hope to see you all soon!

Acceptable Material Guidelines – Types of material accepted by Better World Books

BetterWorld.com Online Sidewalk Sale – Browse inventory by zip code and library name on BetterWorld.com

BetterWorld.com Affiliate Program – earn 5%-8% on purchases from BetterWorld.com

Thanks again to our host for organizing this wonderful event.

Better World Books is exhibiting at the upcoming ALA Conference in D.C. Stop by booth #1405 for a chance to win an iPod.

Safe Travels!!

Here’s an excerpt from an article in ALA’s American Libraries Online…

Better World Books Takes on the Sort
During the volunteer days, workers at the Algiers Regional Branch sorted through thousand of books that have been donated to New Orleans Public Library from across the country for addition to the library’s collection, distribution to local community groups, and resale. In an effort to alleviate the large quantities of donations NOPL has received since Hurricane Katrina, over 60 ALA volunteers spent two eight-hour days sorting and packing books at the Algiers branch.

Although the building did not flood, it suffered major roof damage. As a result, wind-driven rain entered the building, ruining its contents. The gutted branch is currently being used as a holding and sorting space for the thousands of book donations sent to NOPL from around the world. Of the estimated 500,000 books, almost 25,000 books were sorted, packed, and shipped to Better World Books, which will process and sell the books in over 14 online marketplaces, returning a percentage of the proceeds to NOPL. As of March 31, Better World Books had donated $4,923 to NOPL, generated from other donations that were redirected and listed for sale. In lieu of further book donations, potential donors are being asked to participate in ALA’s Adopt-a-Library program. See www.ala.org/katrina for for information.

Full Text