Book donations to help the Chestnut Hill Library can be made at 89 Bethlehem Pike at the following times:
Saturday, October 10 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Wednesday, …
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Book donations to help the Chestnut Hill Library can be made at 89 Bethlehem Pike at the following times:
This is a way for you to help yourself and to help your community. You can make room on your bookshelves, attic and basement by removing good books that have value. You can help your community by supporting a new bookstore that will fill a gaping hole in our neighborhood that was created when Borders moved out ten years ago. We are convinced that there is a waiting market of people in Northwest Philadelphia who genuinely enjoy shopping for books.
Independent bookshops struggle these days. Little neighborhood bookshops find it difficult, if not impossible, to operate at a profit. Profit is not our goal. Any money the Friends of the Chestnut Hill Library make over and above our operating costs will be spent to support our Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. The city cannot afford to fully fund the 54 branches and the main library. By opening a community bookstore with donated inventory, we think we can make enough money to provide financial help to support our free lending library. Our branch needs repairs, the new-book budget is paltry, there are not enough funds to launch programs for children, teens and lifelong learners.
Please don’t bring us books that we do not intend to put on the shelves. Some of you might recall that we used to sell used books in the library on Monday afternoons. That experience taught is that certain kinds of books simply do not sell. PLEASE DO NOT BRING: ENCYCLOPEDIAS, MAGAZINES, TEXTBOOKS, YELLOWED PAPERBACKS, PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS, OR DICTIONARIES. If you do so, we will have no option but to trash them. We’d rather you did that yourself. We will be selling a limited number of CD recordings.
The bookstore is still without a name. Readers of this newspaper have suggested over a hundred-and-sixty of them. It was our hope to have chosen one by this date. Well, our Board is feeling a bit overwhelmed by the number of choices. We’ll get it done – somehow. (I used to work for a firm that paid a branding consultant almost two-million dollars to come up with a new company name that nobody liked. Our little non-profit organization does not intend to hire a consultant.)
We hope to see you on one of the three days named above. Tell your friends. We will be wearing masks and maintaining social distance; please do the same. Bring your treasures. If you would like to be part of our effort to open a community bookstore, or if you’d like to make a donation to help with startup costs, visit our website, https://chlibraryfriends.org. While you’re at the website, be sure to join our organization. There is no cost to becoming a member, although donations are gratefully received.
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