By Jeffrey Zuckerman, Staff Writer

On Tuesday, November 30, the BHS library club hosted its annual book fair held at Barnes & Noble at Eton Collection in Pepper Pike. Highlighting the evening was a performance by two students playing the guitar and singing, and a rousing medley of music by the BHS orchestra ensemble.

The mood was subdued, since bookstore patrons are not usually a rowdy bunch.  Shoppers were treated to the orchestra’s performances of “Deck the Halls,” “Jingle Bells,” and “S’vivon” (a Chanukah Dreidel tune).  This was the fifth year that the BHS Library Club has sponsored a book fair.  Several years ago, the book fair was held at Joseph Beth Booksellers, but that store will be closing soon.  Although the results of this year’s fair have not yet been tallied, BHS Librarian Jennifer Flaherty hopes that the fair at Barnes & Noble will be as successful as it has been in previous years.

Flaherty explained,  “We get 10% of what is spent. Last year, we had about $1000 [in book sales credited to our school], and we received 100 dollars in cash. So a lot of work goes into it, and it doesn’t bring back a large profit. We want the money to be used for the Library Club instead of just buying materials for the library.”

A new feature of the book fair this year is that the BHS library club will get credit for online purchases during the day, as well as in-store purchases.  Flaherty is anxious to know how much online purchases will contribute to this year’s results.

The library club plans to use the money raised from this year’s book fair for furniture for the library.  Flaherty recognizes that $100 (last year’s profit) will not buy much in the way of furniture; she is anticipating some additional income from the book drive in the spring next year.

Flaherty explained that book fairs benefit the bookstore by bringing in many people that may not typically come in on a Tuesday night, or people that usually don’t shop at Barnes and Noble.  She said, “I know my own father came, and he always walks away with quite a few purchases, and while we [BHS Library Club] get 10% of proceeds, Barnes and Noble gets the rest.”

When asked why Barnes and Noble hosts book fairs, Barnes & Noble Community Relations Manager Lynn Zukowski said, “We like how the book fair brings people into our store. We do book fairs for arts and literary groups in addition to various schools.” Zukowski added that she hopes the library club will benefit financially from the fair, and that Barnes & Noble is pleased to host the event.

“A big draw this year was having our musical guests, Chloe Hernane and Solly Poprish, and the orchestra ensemble … [this] really brought in extra people—parents, and friends of students involved,” said Flaherty.  Story time is also a draw for parents of younger children.  In an attempt to improve the results of this year’s book fair, BHS Science teacher Jim Burton offered extra credit to his students who appear at the Book Fair.

Flaherty indicated that each year, the club learns from the successes and challenges of the previous year.  Future fairs, she said, may be scheduled for weekends, instead of mid-week, making it easier for younger students to attend story time.

Library club Co-Presidents Jared Skoff and Monica Arkin were pleased with the turnout.  Skoff said, “The book fair this year was one of our most successful, with more attendees than in past years. We had great performers and we are grateful to all who came to help us raise money.”

Arkin commented, “Most attendees were upperclassmen, so we look forward to getting more younger students involved with library club as the year goes on, but everyone definitely had a good time.”

Flaherty is impressed with the enthusiasm and effort shown by the library club.  “We had a great library club turnout. Last year, we had eight total members, and this year, we have twenty. They’re at every meeting, they help us plan, a lot of them are freshmen and sophomores, and because of these people, the library club is building again. They’re a great group of kids. “