Quarterly Newsletter
December 2019
Dear Friends,
I would like to bring you up-to-date on some items that I thought you might be interested in concerning the Friends of The Jacksonville Public Library store.
As I mentioned in last quarter’s newsletter, we are paying a lot more attention to copyright dates of books where it makes sense to do so; for example, travel books, self-help exam books (SAT, ACT, etc.). We have been going through entire categories of books already shelved to ensure that we are displaying for sale the most current books we have available by removing books that are, quite frankly, no longer relevant.
We continue to see a significant increase in music CDs, books on CD and both non-fiction DVDs and DVD movies/TV series/live performances, etc., from the library and other sources. In the coming months, we expect to significantly clean-out what we believe to be less popular titles for those that are more popular. This process will not be accomplished overnight, so be patient. But at the same time, for some of these titles, it might be your last chance to purchase it from us.
I am excited to inform you that sales of our large print books have increased since we have made efforts to place them all in the same area of the store. We have made them a lot easier to browse through to find what you are looking for, and maybe even some that catch your eye.
Another change we are making is to identify our most popular fiction authors by placing a book that reflects the author’s name and books are on hand. They are now alphabetized by their titles within that sub-section. We currently have identified 16 authors that fall into this category. We are also moving books written by other authors writing in the same series or characters, and placing them in with the originating author’s name. We are doing this because the books are typically identified by the originating author’s name; for example, Robert Ludlum’s (name of book or series of books), or Robert B. Parker’s (name of the book, or series of books), etc. I have personally received many, many requests from people trying to find a book, knowing it is a “Ludlum” book (for example), yet in reality, it was written by someone else.
I would like to remind you about Volunteering at FJPL. If you love books, may I suggest that you give serious consideration to becoming an FJPL volunteer? Can you come for a few hours on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday, or maybe a few days a month? Please don’t think that you are making a long-term commitment of “X” hours a month. We welcome all volunteers who can find some time to help us. If you need more information, ask any serving volunteer in our store. I’d be willing to bet that in addition to answering any questions you might have, they will tell you how much fun it is to volunteer here. As they say on one TV show: “Come on down!”
One more item before I close; another way you can help support us, and you don’t even have to leave your house to do it. The Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library is a registered 501(c)(3) charity on Amazon Smile. When you make your Amazon purchases through smile.Amazon.com and make Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library Inc. your charity of choice, Amazon will donate a portion of the sales to us! You shop like normal and Amazon gives!
On behalf of all of our volunteers, thank you for your continued support, and I hope to see you soon at the store!
Mike Steve
VP, FJPL
