Hold a Book Swap

Hi,
Last week I read an article in a library journal about book swaps and I thought you might be interested in this. It’s a great way to recharge the personal libraries of your students. I have held a couple of them and they are really pretty easy if you have some guidelines and know what mistakes others made so you don’t have to make those same mistakes! The basic swap is simple. Students bring in books they no longer want in their libraries and swap them for someone else’s books. One book for another book.
First, decide how and when you will hold the swap. Talk it up to your students and designate the time period for collecting books and the swap. You can do the swap itself in one day or less. Collecting the books can be over a period of days or weeks. I had students bring in their books on Monday and Tuesday and we had the swap on Wednesday morning. As students brought their books to me, I gave them a ticket for each book they brought. I checked the books quickly to see if they were appropriate for our school. Students were responsible to keep track of their tickets.
On Wednesday at swap time, students came into the library with tickets in hand and ‘bought’ books. I had stressed previously that even if they brought in ten books, they might not find ten books that they wanted and this was OK. I had the older students come first, then younger students. Other schools learned that this worked best. They saw Kindergarten students leave with large chapter books and there were not many choices for the older students. So they had older students choose first, then younger ones.
After all students with tickets had had a chance to choose their books, then I let students come in who didn’t have tickets. They could buy books for a dime each. I got a lot of books sold that way and the library got to keep the small amount of cash generated.
It was pretty easy and the kids had a ball. Students can run the swap and take tickets and be in charge. A teacher should be the one to collect the books, and make the decision, but after that students can run the swap with little help if need be.
Here are some guidelines to follow if you decide to hold a Book Swap at your school.
1. Collect books. Give a week or two notice on this and encourage families to bring in books that are in gently used condition. Make sure that students have parent permission to swap their books. Books that are missing pages, or beat up should not be brought in to the swap. Also stress that books need to be appropriate for our school. Give a ticket or token for each book. I have included books that were weeded from the library shelves in the swap, too.
2. Set a time for students with tickets to buy their books. Only students with tickets were allowed to come in and browse. Then set a time that anyone can come and buy a book with cash. You will be left with some books, but I am willing to bet that most of them will be gone. Leftover books can be saved until the next swap, or given away, or disposed of however you choose. I read that some donate to daycare centers, homeless shelters, or Goodwill.
3. Some libraries restrict the contributions and don’t allow board or toddler books, encyclopedias, or adult books. That would be up to you but it seems like a good idea to me.

I think you will enjoy a book swap. One of the problems that you may have is the students who will be asking when the next swap will be.
Have a good week.
Audrey
Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com