Book Fair Volunteer Information - 2009
The 25th Annual
Newberry Library Book Fair July 23–26, 2009
Book Fair Volunteer Information - 2009
General Information
Online: Find the Volunteer Sign up Sheet at
http://www.newberry.org/giving/events/Bookfair.html . You can also download more sign
up sheets for your friends!
Signup: Please complete the Volunteer Sign up form and fax or mail it to the Newberry
Library, as indicated at the bottom of the form.
Deadline: Submit the form by June 20, 2009. The sooner, the better!
Confirmation: You will receive a confirmation by email, if you provide a working email
address. Otherwise, a paper confirmation will be mailed.
Contact information: It is essential that you provide a phone number and/or email
address where you can be reached. The email address should be one that you check often.
Training: If this is your first time volunteering, you will receive on the job training from
experienced volunteers. Position descriptions are found at the end of this document.
Limitations: The Book Fair has limited volunteer opportunities for people with physical
disabilities or limitations. Most positions require that you be able to reach, carry, lift, stand,
sit, bend, and communicate with various individuals.
Parking: The Newberry Library does not have a visitor parking lot. Limited metered
parking is available on area streets. Daytime and evening parking restrictions do apply, so be
sure to read the posted signs carefully.
Garage parking is also available in the neighborhood. The following garages offer discounted
parking to Newberry patrons ($7 for 0-8 hours; $9 for 8-10 hours). Remember to bring your
parking ticket with you so the Newberry security guard can validate it.
100 West Chestnut Street (enter on Clark Street)
100 East Walton Street (valet service)
General expectations:
Punctuality – please arrive on time to minimize unattended areas and allow volunteers to
pass information from shift to shift.
You are required to wear a book fair apron.
An enthusiastic and courteous demeanor.
Cancel or reschedule: Please make every effort to let us know as soon as possible if you
need to cancel or reschedule your assigned shift.
More information: moorej@newberry.org or butaw@newberry.org
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Book Fair Volunteer Information - 2009
Position Descriptions
In general:
Please sign in when you arrive, and wear your book fair apron.
When leaving at the end of your shift, take a minute or so to acquaint the incoming volunteers
with what you’re doing, and any problems you may have encountered.
Do not rearrange tables, shelves, signs, etc.
Be on the lookout for people stacking their books in front of the fire exit, sitting in front of
doorways, parking their children on the stairs, and other navigational problems.
Greeter:
Your job is to provide bags, maps, directions, and smiles to the customers. Some customers are
intent and in a hurry and won’t want all of these. Others will be bewildered and overwhelmed and
will require all your nicest help.
Watching for people going out the front door with books is important, but please be as polite as you
can about it. The library is open, and there are readers, fellows, and staff members carrying their
own books. If you are concerned, let a security guard know.
Room/Table Attendant:
You are the person who keeps the Book Fair from “looking like the dog’s dinner”, as a late, great
volunteer said (way too many times). But you are also a navigational aid, and advisor. Stand by to
help people put books back, pick up the bookends they knock on the floor, hand them another
empty bag, etc.
As books are bought, refill those empty spaces from the box bookcases underneath, with these
exceptions:
1. Boxes marked “Set” are meant to remain intact; please do not remove the books from the box.
Either move the box as a whole or (preferably) leave it on the floor
2. Do not set boxes of sets or of floppy things on shelves where they will block access to the books
on the lower shelf
3. Do not take books from under the Collectibles table in any case; the Collectibles crew handles
restocking. (For the purposes of restocking, Room/Table attendants in Art and Cooking are
NOT part of the Collectibles crew. Besides, you’ll have your hands full trying to keep Art and
Cooking straightened up.)
Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions:
1. The price is usually in the upper right hand corner of the first white page.
2. Pay for books in the checkout room .
3. Restrooms are located across from the door to the checkout room, or downstairs by the north
entrance.
4. We are open until 8 P.M. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 6 P.M. Saturday and Sunday.
Dan is the only person authorized to fool with the bookcases! If there is something in disrepair, get
someone to find him. Please DO NOT remove shelves from bookcases; this compromises their
stability.
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Book Fair Volunteer Information - 2009
Floater:
Your job is similar to that of the Room Attendant, except that you are not limited to one area. You
might be reassigned to any of the other assignments, as the need arises.
Restocker:
Your job is to make sure books discarded by customers get back into circulation. Many of these will
be left on the discard table, and others will be abandoned in any convenient nook. Concentrate on
the discard table, though, as what looks abandoned may actually be someone’s stash.
Do not be afraid to guess at the topic. If you guess incorrectly, there’s a chance that a customer will
be thinking the same way you do. Take a quick peek at the price of a book, in case it slipped out of
Collectibles.
Checker, Tallier:
Your job is the crucial one of making sure all the rest of us have worked to some purpose.
First of all, do what Marilyn or Steve Scott tell you; they have the knowledge and the experience to
explain the correct procedure that will keep the financial watchdogs happy. What follows are just
general additions:
Checkout and tally people are not allowed to make deals on prices, or to issue refunds. “Deals” need
to be referred to Dan or to Evelyn, and refunds should be referred to them, to Jo Anne Moore or to
Michelle Miller Burns.
Things without prices do appear from time to time. Sometimes the item was just hard to price, so
the number is in a strange place; you’ll pick up the tricks of finding the invisible price after a while.
When in doubt, try to find Dan again.
Squirreler:
Your job is to help people set aside books (squirrel them away) so they can hunt for more without
carrying all that weight around. In doing this, you are going to increase the profits exponentially.
How it’s done: a person brings you stacks or bags or boxes of books. You get them to write their
name on a piece of paper, and clothespin this to the bags or boxes. Put the bags or boxes thus
labeled behind you in some safe place. They will return later, tell you their name, and get their books.
And if someone asks, no, the squirrels are not for sale.
Thank you very much for volunteering.
We really do appreciate it! YOU are very important to the success of the Newberry Book Fair. We
couldn’t do this without our wonderful volunteers!
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