Book Sale Day 3 Setting: Sale Dates

Again, no photographs. I really like having a photograph to talk about. Instead let me talk about how we set the dates of our sales.

As many people have commented, three libraries are having major sales this weekend. The biggest one in this area is at Arlington County's Central Library. I wish I could say that we are bigger but I know it isn't true. Being prejudiced I think we are better but that is a subjective judgement. The other one I know of is at Chantilly Regional Library in Chantilly which is in the western part of Fairfax County.

Some people are happy that there are multiple sales in multiple places so they can have lots of choices. Some people are sad because they like to be at opening night and can't be in three places at once. These are the people who wish we would coordinate our sales dates and stagger them.

At George Mason, we think it would be a great idea to coordinate but don't know how to do it. The problem is that demand for meeting room space in Fairfax County is very high. We have to reserve the space for our sale as soon as the Library system opens its books for the next year. That means that we picked our date in June of 2008 for both the spring sale and the fall sale of 2009.

The constraints we have are many. First, we can't have use of the rooms the second Wednesday of the month because the Fairfax County Library Board usually meets at George Mason on that date. Second, we need to check religious holidays. We can't impact people's plans for Easter, Yom Kippur, or Rosh Hashanah. Third, we need to watch the dates for Columbus Day when the library is closed. We also don't want to touch Mother's Day or Halloween. It does feel like a juggling act at times.

The result of all these considerations is that we don't have much leeway. So for all those who are inconvenienced, I can only say I am sorry. I would love to have gone to the Arlington sale myself. Someday, I hope to get to the Chantilly sale but it just hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, come when you can.

Hope to see you on Sunday.