Greetings fellow Naperwrimos! I'm Sara, as some of you may know and I'm your Bookdriver-in-Chief! Some of you may have heard about the massive Bookdrive that OLL is putting on during NaNo. For those of you who haven't, here it is summed up:
- The Office of Letters and Light (the organization that puts on NaNoWriMo every November) is partnering with Better World Books this year to organize a massive bookdrive, and the different regions are being asked to have a local bookdrive.
- BWB is an organization that takes used books and resells them, with a portion of the proceeds going to different non-profit groups that promote literacy around the world.
- The books that WriMos in the US, Canada, and the UK collect will be shipped or picked up by BWB, and a percentage of the profits will go to OLL to help fund their various projects promoting literacy and creativity for adults and children.
More info at: http://www.nanowrimo.org/bookdrive <--- very very helpful
So what can we as a region do to help?
So glad you asked! :) I'm looking for volunteers to be my minions helpers. I need all different types of help because (although I hate to admit it) I'm not Wonder Woman.
I'm looking for volunteers who are willing to do one or several of these things:
- Finding local businesses, libraries, churches, schools, etc. that would be willing to have a collection box for used books. I live in Wheaton so I'm mainly going to be hitting places in that general area, but I'd love it if I could get people who have contacts in other cities! (aka Naperville). Local businesses can even advertise at some of our events if they let us put a collection box in their store.
and something that goes along with that.... - Regularly checking collection boxes and taking donated books to a write-in or somehow getting them to me or another volunteer (if you can't store the books).
- Collecting books at the various write-ins and events our region puts on. I won't be able to make it to all the events (though I'll try my best) and it would be fantastic to have someone who could collect books that day and hold on to them until I can get them.
- Storage! Hopefully we'll end up with so many donated books that my basement will be bursting at its seams, but it would be great to have other places to store books so that my family doesn't get banned from going into the basement. It would be especially useful to have storage places in Naperville and other cities that aren't Wheaton. :P
- Scanning and packing donated books. It would be fantastic if we collected over 3,000 books (which would mean we don't have to pre-sort the books for BWB), but I'm guessing we'll have to end up pre-sorting them. Either way they still have to be packed up into the boxes BWB will send us.
- Fly(er) monkeys! OLL has designed two different fliers for regions to post in public places to raise awareness about the bookdrive. I need people to put some of these up in bookstores, coffee shops, colleges, community centers, etc. Let me know if you can do this and I'll get you a stack of fliers (or you can print out your own, doesn't matter).
I can't set up a collection box, so where can I find used books to donate myself?
Garages, basements, crawl spaces, attics, closets, college students' bookshelves... ;)
As well as hunting through your house or a relative's for books, consider collecting books from these places:
- Libraries! Sometimes they have old books that aren't in circulation anymore and they want to get rid of them.
- Book stores sometimes have surplus books and books that they need to get rid of to make way for new titles.
- Craigslist and Freecycle are both GREAT places to find boxes of used books for free. Just make a post saying you need used books for a fund-raiser and give some info about NaNo.
- Garage sales - it's nearing the end of Garage Sale Season and a lot of people still have old books to get rid of. Give the owner a flier about our bookdrive and tell them a bit about NaNo. They may end up donating their unsold books and we can always use new converts to NaNo! :D
...those are just a few places to find used books without setting up a collection box. If you have any more ideas, share them here. :)
---Prizes---
Oh and did I mention the prizes?!
There's a lot, depending on how many books your region has collected, so I direct you to this page ---> http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/bookdriveprizes
Do we want Christ Baty playing DJ at our party? I think so!!
---Accepted Books---
So you're ready to go out and collect a mountain of used books. Good for you!! But there are some used books that BWB sadly cannot accept.
(straight from the bookdrive guide)
GOOD:
-Antiquarian, rare, collectible books
-Dictionaries and Thesauri
-DVDs and books on CD (must be operable including original artwork and casing)
-Ex-library copies (do not remove treatments)
-Gently used children's books (especially Newberry winners)
-Hardcover fiction and nonfiction
-Mass Market Paperbacks (must be in like new condition with copyright 1980 or newer)
-Monographs
-Textbooks (copyright 1998 or newer)
-Trade Paperbacks
-Travel books (copyright within last 5 years)
NOT SO GOOD:
-Academic Journals or Literary Criticisms
-Activity Books (coloring, crossword, etc.)
-Books Published by Magazines
-Case Law and Procedural Law Books
-Custom Course Packets
-Directories or Telephone Books
-Encyclopedia Britannica, World Book, or Incomplete Sets
-LP Records, VHS Tapes, Cassettes, or CDs
-Open Software Sets
-Periodicals or Magazines (i.e. National Geographic, TV Guides)
-Tax or Government Documents
-Book Club Editions
-Harlequin Romance Novels
-The Modern Library Series
-Reader’s Digest Condensed
-Marquis Who’s Who
..and books in the following conditions:
•Dirty
•Moldy
•Water Damaged
•Damaged Binding or Pages
•Missing Covers or Pages
•Excessive Writing, Markings, or Highlighting
•Cut Out Library Treatments
•Warped (softcover books)
If you have a question about if a certain book meets the acceptable criteria, ask me and I'll find out the answer for you.
I think that's about it. If you have any questions or want to volunteer please post here, send me a NaNo message, or email me at taintedpepper213 -AT- gmail -DOT- com. I'll frequently update information on this thread about our current progress and upcoming region events where we will be collecting books.
Thanks!
Sara Bolds
Naperville Region Bookdriver-in-Chief
101,608 / 50,000
Nov 29, 2010 - 16 32
How is this going? Do we need to flood you with books?
----------NaNoWriMo region: Ferndale, MI | Naperville, IL
Genres: Urban contemporary; fantasy, sci-fi; speculative; historical
0 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2010 - 20 22
Hello again everyone!
In the past few weeks we have dashed past 500, left 600 behind, and waved at 700! Yep, we now have collected 757 books!!! That's seven hundred fifty-seven guys! We had 85 books donated at the Kick-Off Party on the 30th, and hopefully we'll be collecting more throughout November.
I'll be at the Naperville Caribou Coffee write-in this Wednesday (6-9pm), so if you have any books to donate bring em by and I'll add them to the pile of boxes in my garage. :)
Come on guys, let's collect 243 more! 1,000 is a pretty fabulous number, don't you agree?
-Sara
67,456 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2010 - 10 37
Thanks!
Yes, BWB is a commercial enterprise. The Office of Letters and Light will be receiving 35% of the proceeds, which is very significant.
----------50,105 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2010 - 10 09
Ahhh - I didn't realize the books were resold.
----------Thanks!
http://herbookself.blogspot.com
0 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2010 - 12 07
I'm not 100% sure, but I highly doubt it. Better World Books resells donated books so ones marked with "Not For Resale" would kind of be a problem. :( I can double check though.
50,105 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2010 - 11 27
Are pre-publication ARC's (Advance Review Copies) acceptable?
They're the usually in trade paperback form but are often marked with "Not For Resale". I'd assume they're able to be donated but just want to double check.
Thanks for organizing this! Glad to see it's off to such a great start!
----------http://herbookself.blogspot.com
0 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2010 - 15 21
The total count is 389 books! :O
Just 2611 to go!
67,456 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2010 - 14 09
Now I'm off to sort through the boxes... hopefully I won't find any donated spiders. :(
-Sara
Great work, Sara! Let's see what we can do to build on that...
Just imagine if we can win the prize to have Chris Baty come out to our region!
--Tim
----------0 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2010 - 13 44
It's true! So far our region has collected 10 big boxes of books for the bookdrive! That's roughly a couple hundred books, so we're off to a great start! I'm in contact with several people who have books to donate, but we still have a ways to go if we're going to meet our 3,000 book goal!
Now I'm off to sort through the boxes... hopefully I won't find any donated spiders. :(
-Sara
0 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2010 - 19 55
Book Collection and Events Schedule:
Please go here for more information about these events: http://naperwrimo.org/wiki/index.php?title=2010_Events
10/16 (Saturday)
When: 1-3pm
What: Prep session #3: Character Development (hosted by Joe Turpin)
Where: 95th Street Library, Naperville
Book collector: Sara Bolds (1-2pm)
10/30 (Saturday)
When: 11:45-3 pm
What: Kick-off Party!
Where: Naperville Municipal Center
Book collector: Sara Bolds
11/1 (Monday)
When: 9:30-11:30 a.m.
What: The first write-in of NaNo! (organized by Katherine Lato)
Where: Caribou Coffee in Naperville
Book collector: ?
When: 6-8 pm
What: Write-in (organized by Angie Baugher)
Where: Eola Road Branch Library in Aurora
Book collector: ?
11/3 (Wednesday)
When: 6-8pm
What: Write-in (Angie Baugher)
Where: Eola Road Branch Library
Book collector: ?
When: 6-9pm
What: Write-in (organized by Heather [Viridian Soul])
Where: Caribou Coffee in Naperville
Book collector: ?
11/6 (Saturday)
When: 9:30-11:30 am
What: Write-in (Katherine Lato)
Where: Caribou Coffee in Naperville
Book collector: ?
When: 10am - noon
What: Write-in (Angie Baugher)
Where: Aurora West Branch Library
Book collector: ?
When: 12:30pm to 3:30pm
What: Write-in (organized by Dave Dean)
Where: Plano Library
Book collector: ? (Volunteer needed!)
11/7 (Sunday)
When: 1-4pm
What: Write-in (organized by Tim Yao)
Where: 95th Street Library, Naperville
Book collector: ?
11/10 (Wednesday)
When: 6-9 pm
What: Write-in (Heather [Viridian Soul])
Where: Caribou Coffee in Naperville
Book collector: ?
When: 6-8pm
What: Write-in (Angie Baugher)
Where: Aurora West Branch Library
Book collector: ?
11/13 (Saturday)
When: 9:30-11:30 am
What: Write-in (Katherine Lato)
Where: Caribou Coffee in Naperville
Book collector: ?
When: 10am-noon
What: Write-in (Angie Baugher)
Where: Aurora West Branch Library
Book collector: ?
When: 12:30pm to 3:30pm
What: Write-in
Where: Plano Library
Book collector: ? (volunteer needed)
11/14 (Sunday)
When: 1-4 pm
What: Write-in (Tim Yao)
Where: Nichols Library, Naperville
Book collector: ?
11/15 (Monday)
When: 6-8 pm
What: Write-in (Angie Baugher)
Where: Eola Road Branch Library in Aurora
Book collector: ?
11/17 (Wednesday)
When: 6-8 pm
What: Write-in (Angie Baugher)
Where: Aurora Main Library
Book collector: ?
When: 6-9 pm
What: Write-in (Heather [Viridian Soul])
Where: Caribou Coffee in Naperville
Book collector: ?
11/20 (Saturday)
When: 9:30-11:30 am
What: Write-in (Katherine Lato)
Where: Caribou Coffee in Naperville
Book collector: ?
When: 10am-noon
What: Write-in (Angie Baugher)
Where: Aurora West Branch Library
Book collector: ?
When: 12:30pm to 3:30pm
What: Write-in (Dave Dean)
Where:
Book collector: ? (volunteer needed)
11/21 (Sunday)
When: 1-4pm
What: Write-in (Tim Yao)
Where: 95th Street Library, Naperville
Book collector: ?
11/22 (Monday)
When: 6-8 pm
What: Write-in (Angie Baugher)
Where: Eola Road Branch Library in Aurora
Book collector: ?
11/24 (Wednesday)
When: 1-3 pm
What: Write-in (Angie Baugher)
Where: Aurora Main Library
Book collector: ?
When: 6-9pm
What: Write-in (Heather [Viridian Soul])
Where: Caribou Coffee in Naperville
Book collector: ?
11/28 (Sunday)
When: 1-4pm
What: The final write-in! (Tim Yao)
Where: Nichols Library, Naperville
Book collector: ?
12/5 (Saturday)
When: 11:45-3 pm
What: TGIO Party
Where: Naperville Municipal Center
Book collector: Sara Bolds
My work schedule changes from week to week, but I'll know at least a week in advance if I can attend a write-in or not. I won't be able to attend any of the write-ins at the Plano Library, so it would be great if I could get one or two people to volunteer to collect at those write-ins.
Please let me know if you're willing to collect books at a certain event. All you would need to do is bring some kind of box to hold the books, and hold onto them until I can get them (or until the next event).
0 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2010 - 18 30
DVD movies and books on CD are accepted. Music CDs aren't.
I'm going to try to be at as many write-ins as I can, but I won't be able to make them all. So far I haven't had anybody volunteer to collect books when I'm not there, but I'll put up a schedule soon of which write-ins will definitely have somebody collecting books.
If you're planning to be at the Kick-Off Party I'm definitely going to be there collecting books!
0 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2010 - 18 22
Here's something you can print off to explain NaNo: http://www.nanowrimo.org/files/main/Press%20Release%202010.pdf
And I printed out pages 2, 4, and 6 from the bookdrive guide (http://www.nanowrimo.org/files/main/book_drive_guide_9.19.pdf) for my Mom to take to the school she works at. Those pages explain more about how the donated books will be used and what types of OLL programs they'll support, as well as what books are accepted.
67,456 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2010 - 21 28
There are some promotional flyers here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/bookdrive.
--Tim
----------101,608 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2010 - 11 49
Is there any form, letter, or website/URL which we can point people to? I ask this only because I've not really wandered around the city of Naperville in the past looking for donations or fundraisers, and I'm sure that having something to print off or reference would help a lot of people know what we're about.
----------NaNoWriMo region: Ferndale, MI | Naperville, IL
Genres: Urban contemporary; fantasy, sci-fi; speculative; historical
50,233 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2010 - 20 58
"DVDs and books on CD (must be operable including original artwork and casing)"
So is this "DVD movies" and "books on CD"? or is there such a thing as DVDs on CD? And if it is movie DVDs, can you also donate music CDs?
Also, will someone be at each write in collecting books? I'm excited to get some of my outdated textbooks off my hands since my career and my degree aren't very related.