In this School Library Journal article, Virginia school librarian Maura Madigan describes her “like-hate” relationship with book fairs. It’s great to get more books into students’ hands, she says, but there are the administrative and money-counting hassles and, more important, some families don’t have enough disposable income to spend on books. “Having students make lists of coveted items, knowing some families can’t afford it, is kind of cruel, when you think about it,” says Madigan. “Yes, life can be unfair. Our students will have plenty of opportunities to learn that. They don’t have to learn it in the library.”
Running books fairs she inherited when she became a school librarian, Madigan used the profits to make sure all students got books. But “kids are smart,” she says. “No matter how I tried to dress it up, many still considered it charity.”
Madigan has another concern: “Book fairs contradict what most school librarians hold fundamental – free and open access to books.” So why do we have book fairs? She surveyed almost 400 school librarians using an anonymous Google form and found that most (63 percent) said they felt good about book fairs. Some of the reasons:
- Excitement among students, staff, and parents, promoting a love of books;
- Building students’ home libraries;
- Giving students a chance to shop, handle money, prioritize, and make decisions;
- Profits can be used for books, author visits, programs, and supplies; for many librarians, book fairs are an essential supplement to school funding.
Librarians who responded also listed what they disliked about book fairs:
- Inequity;
- Exhaustion running fairs on top of their other duties; running one, even with volunteers, seems like a full-time job.
- Frustration with lack of diversity in book titles, high prices, low-quality books, and non-book “junk” items;
- Acting as “a for-profit satellite shop for publishers;”
- One librarian called book fairs a “necessary evil.”
- Free book fairs – Funds to make fairs free for students can be raised from the school budget, Title I funds, grants, DonorsChoose, the PTA, parent donations, donations from authors, advance reader copies, free books from conferences, and buying low-cost books from First Book and Scholastic Warehouse sales. The first time Madigan tried this, she raised enough money to buy 1,385 books – almost enough for each student to choose three. “Hands down, this was the best book fair I’ve had,” she says. “Student excitement was high!” Students chose books for themselves and family members. It was almost as exhausting as regular book fairs, but she didn’t have to deal with money transactions for each book.
- Online, in-store, and more – For school libraries that must have book fairs to pay for the basics, Madigan suggests holding them virtually and on weekends. “Purchases are private,” she says, “which many parents appreciate. The virtual and in-store versions are a lot less work for you, and all three options don’t disrupt normal library services.”
- One online option is Love My Library, where families are encouraged to register and pledge money, and each student who registers gets a participation prize even if they don’t raise funds. Half of the funds raised go to students’ books and half to the library.
- Another option is Bookworm Central, a Virginia-based business that offers traditional in-school book fairs locally and online book fairs nationally. With the latter, students choose books and get them shipped to their homes. A book drive feature allows local businesses and community members to donate money so all students can choose free books.
- Barnes and Noble offers in-store and virtual book fairs with vouchers that can be distributed to students and presented in stores or used online.
