Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Third annual Bookfair aids school libraries

Date: 11/23/2010

Nov. 22, 2010

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW -- On Dec. 9, the Barnes and Noble in Enfield, Conn., will give people a chance to support the East Longmeadow public school libraries while doing their holiday shopping.

School librarians, staff members, volunteers and students will be at the popular bookstore singing songs, playing musical instruments and providing other services at its third-annual Barnes and Noble Bookfair.

"I like the Bookfair because this is an event which all the schools in the town work together," Mapleshade School librarian Deborah Foley said.

At the fundraiser, which runs from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., members of the different schools' parent teacher organizations (PTOs) will offer free gift wrapping, while students will also be helping out in the kids' section of the store making bookmarks.

Retired teacher Brian Sheehy, Meadow Book library secretary Celeste O'Brien and Mountain View Elementary School principal Elaine Santaniello will be guest story readers.

While enjoying these perks, customers will be able to donate money to the schools without spending any more than they intended to on their shopping trip.

Barnes and Noble will donate a percentage of its sales to the schools when paying customers present a Barnes and Noble Bookfair voucher to the cashier.

Foley said that the event is a major source of funds for the libraries, which often are among the first to suffer from budget cuts.

"This fundraiser is huge. It supports us a lot. We need to keep buying books because we need to update the collection," Foley said, adding that recently written book series, such as the "Diary of a Whimpy Kid," have become more popular and the demand has been up for these books. She also added that, over time, "the classics need to be replaced, too."

The Enfield store was chosen because the organizers' impression is that more town residents use that location than the Holyoke store. Also, the logistics of getting volunteers to and from Holyoke didn't make as much sense.

"I think that location is the book store to go to for people from East Longmeadow in particular and in the past we've had excellent success there," Foley said. "They've also recently remodeled the store and it looks great. They took out their music section and added more educational books and supplies in its place."

Those who are unable to go to the Bookfair may still help the school by making a purchase online from Dec. 2 to 5 with the Bookfair voucher ID number 10350171.