Thursday, March 3, 2011

the one where I lose my cool.....

Mission Statements. Non profits. Libraries. Books. Volunteerism.

Yesterday we had our monthly Friends meeting and one topic for discussion was a review of the bookstore pricing structure. The prices in the store were set almost four years ago and I felt it was time to review what we charge for each item. As the executive board talked about the issue, several of the gals offered to take time out of their days and make trips to several used bookstores in our area and see how those items were priced.

What they discovered was not unexpected. We charge less than everyone, and are closely aligned with what our fellow Friends group in Gtown charges on some items, but on others we are priced lower.  That group, however, pays their store manager to do the job I did for free for two years.

We brought this information back to our group. Interestingly enough, we actually had a few faces show up to discuss the topic who do not bother to attend meetings any other time. Hmmmm. One of those faces borrows books from the store, sees if she can sell them online, and if so, does that and then pays for the book. She is a regular volunteer at the store and the sales.

The discussion ensued yesterday and several folks brought up the purpose of the store. They feel, strongly, that we need to keep prices where they are as this is more than an effort to raise money, it is also a community resource and outreach service with the money generated being an added bonus.

Now, if these folks were not active participants in the store, I wouldn't take their comments as seriously as I do. I view the store in a different way. The money generated is our PURPOSE. That the store is a community resource is a byproduct.

The store has generated over 100K in revenue for our group to donate to the library. That is a lot of money and we work very, very hard to make that money. Yes, it is a nice thing to have this as a service. Who doesn't love finding a great book at a great price, but we aren't talking about raising prices to equal what the stand-alone store-front stores charge. Those places charge half the cover price on most items.

We are talking about going from $1 to $1.50 and increases of that nature.

I guess I have a different philosophy about our purpose and mission and goal. I volunteer with the Friends to help them raise money for the Library. I don't volunteer with them to give books away. We help buy the books and programs that the Library can allow to be checked out or attended for free. We exist to support the library.

So, when the topic of giving books away was broached and viewed as the 'ideal', I got a bit steamed. My tone changed. I counted to ten. I sucked in some big lungfuls of air. I wrapped up the meeting.

The topic will be presented again next month for a motion, second and further discussion. I expect that will be an interesting meeting as well.

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