Warehouse Sale Recap

Twice a year, in April and October, we open our warehouse to librarians to shop our previously selected titles for only $5. During this two-day event located at our headquarters in Plain City, Ohio, we have the privilege of hearing stories of the amazing work librarians are doing every day. One specific customer this year brought her teen advisory board along for the trip. In the several years we have been hosting this event, she is the first brave soul to bring her students, ranging from 8^th to 12^thgrade, to our 34,500 square foot warehouse filled with books.

Kaycee is a librarian at the Mohawk School in Sycamore, Ohio and started her teen advisory board four years ago. Her board assists in raising money to fund library books, supplies, and author visits, along with creating and planning different events and programs, such as a Winter Reading Challenge. The first year she attended JLG’s warehouse sale she was shocked by the amount of books she brought back and joyfully shared the event with her teens. Of course ever since then, they asked to go to the sale too. “The advisory group is full of people passionate about reading and after seeing a few younger people there at past sales I figured they'd really enjoy it and put the wheels into motion to make it happen,” says Kaycee.

During the packed Friday afternoon, JLG staff noticed a school bus pulling into the already crowded parking lot. As the Mohawk students stepped off the bus, they were greeted by cheerful staff and rows and rows of books. “They were so pumped when we pulled into the Warehouse Sale. They went inside and it got really quiet with a few “this is so cool”s thrown in. I barely had time to remind them when to meet up before they all spread out and took off browsing for the books,” Kaycee eagerly explains.

Before the sale Kaycee and her students prepared a booklist and decided what holes in their collection to fill. “We explored the library and looked for genres and sections that could use a little boost. We decided that everyone should be on the lookout for YA Mystery and Suspense books and JF Mythology stories especially,” Kaycee recalls. “One student was very excited about the sale and asked if she could see what sort of books there would be ahead of time so I showed her the Backlist Catalog online. We found some specific titles that I wanted for the library and then she created a PowerPoint presentation that she printed out with specific books she wanted to find for the library. She passed that out to the other members attending the trip.”

Kaycee and her teen advisory board raised enough money this year to go home with 136 new books for their library! “I think this sale is amazing. The quality of the books and the variety of the selection work so well for my library as it’s a PK–12 all-in-one school,” Kaycee declared. “It lets me get a wide selection of everything I need all in one spot. My students had a fantastic time! They really loved picking out the books and I think the group that went got a little closer because of the trip.”