After leaving the library building, the Friends of the Santa Maria Public Library was without a location for its bookstore for more than a year.
The nonprofit left its space in the building’s lobby following numerous disagreements with the library over contracts and lease agreements. During the past year, the Friends primarily sold its books online or during book sales at different locations throughout the city.
“It’s exhausting when you have to pack up 40 to 50 boxes of books, haul them someplace to have a parking lot sale for a day, and then repack them and haul them all back to storage,” Friends board member Jeni Newell said.
But the Friends has a permanent location again after its bookstore, The Library Shop, opened at the Santa Maria Town Center on Sept. 29. The store is located on the second floor of the mall, right across from Rockin’ Jump and KT’s All Star Gymnastics.
At this new location, the Friends picked up right where it left off, selling an array of books at deeply discounted prices. Children’s books usually top out at $1, but are often half that. While the newer, more expensive books run about $3 to $4. Newell said all of the books are donated, usually in large quantities from residents looking to pare down their collections.
In addition to running the store, the Friends continues to sell books online through Amazon. Its online collection is usually reserved for more special-interest type books, such as ones on music theory and other specific topics.
Despite its no longer being housed in the library, the shop still supports and promotes the facility and its services. Flyers about events and programs at the library are posted on a corkboard hanging on the wall near the shop’s register. But from a monetary perspective, the Friends can’t provide as much funding to the library as it used to.
Newell said at the end of every year, after the Friends covers its expenses, it determines how much it can afford, and sends the money to the library. But now, with what the nonprofit has to pay in rent and utilities, that amount won’t be quite as high.
“We typically could give between $35,000 and $50,000 a year,” Newell said. “With having overhead now, that’s not possible.”
Newell—who was a librarian in Santa Maria for 30 years—said the Friends’ relationship with the library is OK. But, since leaving the library, the nonprofit has begun forming other partnerships throughout the city, such as one with Allan Hancock College. The Friends even held a book sale within the Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter on Foster Road prior to the bookshop’s opening.
As for donations, Newell said residents can drop books off at the shop or contact the Friends, and members of the nonprofit will drive to residents’ homes to pick up large quantities of books. The nonprofit is always in need of children’s books for all ages, especially those for teenagers and beginning readers. But, she said, they have more than enough cookbooks.
“A lot of people buy them with good intentions, and then they collect a whole bunch,” Newell said. “We get cookbooks in the plastic wrapper, or there’s not food on them, so I’m thinking nobody really used this book.”
Highlights
• On Oct. 19, Marian Regional Medical Center hosted its sixth annual Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) graduation. At this event, people who were born at the hospital and spent time in its NICU will meet with the hospital staff that took care of them during their time in the unit.
• The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department is seeking input for a community health needs assessment. The roughly 20-minute survey can be found at cottagehealth.org/communitysurvey and can be accessed until Nov. 1.
Staff Writer Zac Ezzone wrote this week’s Spotlight. Send ideas, tips, and interesting tidbits to spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 24-31, 2019.