BOOK SWAP!

My goal as a school librarian is to get books into the hands of my students. Also as a school librarian, I personally buy LOTS of books and most of the time, they just collect dust on the bookcase at home.

I have new books that I know my students would love, so why not plan a BOOK SWAP?! It cost nothing to set it up and the students and teachers loved it.

I ran the idea by my Principal last week and began advertising the next day. We talked about the BOOK SWAP on our morning news show and I put posters in all the hallways. The ONLY thing I regret is not sending a small flyer home with students. I will do that next month.

I set up 3 tables in front of our cafeteria and brought about 30-45 books with me to start the swap. Our lunch periods run from 10 am until 1 pm, so many students saw the tables and were sad that they didn't bring a book to swap and asked if I would be set up on Monday! I told them that we would set up a BOOK SWAP again next month and to save up their books to trade. They were satisfied with that answer.

BOOK SWAP tables in front of the cafeteria.

Each book that left the BOOK SWAP tables had a note attached that the student visited the BOOK SWAP and that the book was theirs to keep. I did this in case any parents wondered where their kid got a "new" Diary of a Wimpy Kid book.  I printed out 33 (not sure why I chose this number?) sheets with 4 notes on each page. By the end of the SWAP, I ran out of notes, but it was during 5th-grade lunch and those students can verbalize how they got the book.

The only issue I had was with students that didn't understand the concept of the BOOK SWAP. Some brought their library books to trade for another library book - I don't think this will happen next time, but you just never know! 

Our first BOOK SWAP was a huge success and we will definitely do it again!