Booksellers and Librarians Share Tips for Successful Partnerships

For a special education session at last month’s ABC Children’s Institute, the American Booksellers Association teamed up with the American Library Association for the panel discussion “Partnering With Your Local Library,” a conversation that featured booksellers and librarians discussing tips and strategies for creating and sustaining successful partnerships.

ABA planned for this year’s Children’s Institute, held in Orlando, Florida, to take place immediately prior to the American Library Association’s annual meeting in order to take advantage of such joint programming. The panel was moderated by Natasha Gilmore, associate children’s editor for Publishers Weekly.

Rediscovered Books in Boise, Idaho, has partnered with libraries since the store opened in 2006, and one of its most successful relationships has been with the Boise Public Library, for which it serves as an authorized book donation drop.

“If you sell used books, it’s an incredibly good service to offer to your customers,” said Laura DeLaney, co-owner of Rediscovered Books. The store takes in used book donations, sorts the titles, and passes on to the library any books that don’t work for the store. “We’ve sent thousands upon thousands of books to our public library. That’s a great way to begin, by giving something. That’s the heart and soul of how we started our relationship.”

Partnering with Rediscovered Books means the Boise Public Library can bring in authors that it would not otherwise have access to or for whom it could not afford the speaker’s fee, said information services assistant supervisor Heidi Lewis. Even when authors do visit a library, like when one of Boise Public Library’s branches won a contest to host Dav Pilkey, the patrons still needed to be able to purchase books for Pilkey to sign, added Lewis. 

When Holly Weinkauf bought Red Balloon Bookshop, a children’s bookstore in St. Paul, Minnesota, five years ago, some of the store’s preexisting library partners were hesitant to work with someone new, she said. “For the past few years, there’s been quite a bit of work on reestablishing those relationships.”

One of the most successful partnerships has been with a local librarian who is an excellent storyteller, said Weinkauf. As part of their relationship, when Red Balloon rents a literary character costume to use in the bookstore, it also allows the library to use it; in exchange, the librarian visits the store to conduct an exciting story time. The librarian also offers storytelling training for store staffers, and in return Red Balloon allows the library to purchase puppets for its story times at cost.

Red Balloon also serves as the bookseller for events with the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota, a children’s literature archive featuring books, original manuscripts and illustrations, and related materials. Lisa Von Drasek, the curator of the children’s literature research collections at the university, will also bring groups to Red Balloon for book talks.

Lauren Zimmerman, owner of Writer’s Block Bookstore in Winter Park, Florida, said she made cold calls to connect with area libraries when the store opened two years ago, and it took a year to establish contact with the director of one local library.

“I said, I don’t want to just have us being the bookseller, I want to have a real partnership; I want to be able to bring in top authors and not have it cost you anything,” said Zimmerman, whose goal with the new partnership is to work with publishers to bring authors in and give a portion of the events’ proceeds back to the library.

Zimmerman was persistent and that was important, said Sabrina Smith, assistant director at the Winter Park Public Library, as was the fact that Zimmerman didn’t want help with an event; she offered the library the opportunity to partner on an event that was already fully planned. “Like many libraries, we do not have a lot of staff or a lot of resources,” said Smith.

Libraries can also offer booksellers access to larger event spaces, either within the library or in another city venue. “We do have the occasional big author event and it’s a great opportunity to have the space,” said DeLaney.

DeLaney’s favorite events are authorless, she said, and include the library’s May the Fourth Festival, for which members of the 501st Legion came dressed in Star Wars costumes. “It was an incredibly great time because it was a chance to connect with our community,” DeLaney explained. “Yes, we have books for sale there and we share our profits with the library. But it’s a great chance to get to know [the community] and for them to realize there is an independent bookstore. One of our challenges is people knowing that we’re there.”

A few years ago, Rediscovered Books teamed with the Boise Public Library and the Boise Public School District for what Lewis said was her favorite event: a full-day workshop for local teachers and school librarians on comics, featuring a comic book author. The library provided the space, breakfast, and some advertising; the school district used its budget to get the participating teachers continuing education credits; and the bookstore provided the books.

For a recent event with author Kwame Alexander, Von Drasek worked with Red Balloon and eight community groups to coordinate the purchasing and donation of books to encourage kids from under-resourced schools to attend the event, which was held on the University of Minnesota campus on a Saturday. “Books were sold, books were given away. It was really exciting, and it rippled long after the event,” said Von Drasek.

Weinkauf recommended that booksellers ask their publisher sales reps about possible community sales or business-to-business sales agreements for such events, which can allow stores to acquire books at a greater discount if the books are going to be given away by the purchasing institution.

When going into any partnership, Weinkauf tries to be clear about what her goals are for Red Balloon, she explained, whether it’s about book sales, exposure, or relationship-building.

Smith recommended that booksellers learn as much as they can about the library they’re looking to partner with prior to reaching out. Try to set up a relationship with your nearest library system branch first, she added, cautioning that responses may vary from library to library.

Lewis agreed that librarians can be hesitant to try new things and many may be too busy to partner at the moment, but she said the relationships that do come together are worth the effort. “Find those champions within the library and make sure they’re the ones talking with the bookstore and partnering with the bookstore as much as possible,” she said.