Bountiful » Bountiful Elementary librarian Sheri Thompson would love to keep her shelves stocked with new books. But she is on a shoestring budget, and it's not possible to have a steady stream of new books trickling in.
"I can't do anything about the budget difficulties we are facing," Thompson said, "but I'm not willing to stop buying new books for the library."
So the enterprising librarian discovered a creative way to generate a few extra bucks: She opened a used bookstore inside the school's library.
Open after school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (from 3:30 p.m. to whenever customers leave, often about 4 p.m.), the store offers titles for children and adults. Thompson also sells an eclectic array of treasures, which she found in the school's basement, affectionately known by the Bountiful Elementary community as "our dungeon."
Principal Ross Quist told Thompson if she cleaned out the school's "horrible basement," she could sell whatever she found.
Turns out, the basement was a gold mine. She found textbooks, visual aids, "things that belonged to teachers that have been gone for 10 years," and even rusty, old, child-size chairs. Thompson restored the chairs, soaking them in Naval Jelly to remove the rust, and then sanding and painting them. They're now on sale for $50 each.
At Bountiful Elementary's bookstore, most books cost between 25 cents and $2. Visual aids, such as a picture of the Wright Brothers in flight, cost a mere 10 cents.
"I think I've got the best prices in town," Thompson said.
Thompson got the idea to start a used bookstore from a Santa Fe public library, which she visited in the spring while on vacation.
"I thought, 'This is a great idea,' " Thompson recalled, joking she was "motivated by greed."
Making money is, undoubtedly, a major reason Thompson opened the store: She aims to raise $100 a week. The money pays for about five or six new hardbacks, which sell for about $18 apiece.
In addition to raising money, she also wants to make book ownership accessible to Bountiful Elementary students and to everyone else in the community.
"I would love to have home-schoolers come by," Thompson said.
The used bookstore has shelves of textbooks, including Discovering Utah, and sixth-grade science textbooks, which are perfect for home-school students, Thompson said. They cost $1 apiece.
"I need two things: customers and donations," Thompson said, "and I've been getting both."
She hopes customers -- she gets about 10 each time the store is open -- will see the shop as a regular bookstore, although it has a few drawbacks that regular stores don't have, including limited hours and the fact that customers must check in at the front office before visiting.
Last Wednesday, Anastasia Lott, mother of two Bountiful Elementary students, perused the shelves, buying $20 worth of items, including a copy of Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.
"Yet another great enrichment idea by our fabulous librarian," said Lott, as Thompson scurried away, shy at the praise.
"It's not about me," she insisted.
Lott shops there about once a month.
"I've been surprised to see there's new stuff every time I come in," she said.
New stuff requires donations. Thompson hopes neighborhood folks, and anyone else who has extra books lying around, will donate.
"At a time when funds are short, it's a cool way of recycling books," Quist said. "[Thompson] goes above and beyond."
The librarian is quick to deflect praise.
"There isn't a teacher, there isn't a librarian that doesn't put in more hours than they're paid for," she said. "I'm not different than anyone else."
