New Jersey State Library

Barnes & Noble and New Jersey libraries work together to sponsor “Love Your Library” Month
 
The New Jersey State Library is partnering with Barnes & Noble and the New Jersey Library Association to sponsor "Love Your Library" month in February 2008 to once again help fund the Statewide Summer Reading Program at all public libraries in New Jersey. Barnes & Noble will donate a percentage of every sale from every customer who presents a book fair voucher at any Barnes and Noble store in New Jersey during the month of February. The funds raised from this month-long event will benefit the children and young adults who participate in the 2008 Summer Reading Program. The theme of the 2008 Summer Reading Program is "Catch the Reading Bug" for the children and "Metamorphosis" for the teens.
 
To participate in this program, a customer must use a voucher at the time of purchase. Vouchers are available to download from http://www.njla.org and http://www.njyac.org. 
 
In order to encourage as many public libraries to participate in this statewide event, Barnes & Noble has also generously agreed to give libraries the opportunity to win some incentives by participating in this event. These incentives include:
 
 1.        A $150 Gift Card
 Libraries would be invited to do a display in their libraries promoting February as "Love Your Library" month in partnership with Barnes and Noble supporting the Statewide Summer Reading Program sponsored by the New Jersey State Library and New Jersey Library Association. These displays would be judged and the winning library will get a $150 B&N gift card.  
2.         A $150 Barnes & Noble Gift Card for Libraries
Each Barnes & Noble store will distribute vouchers to a library in the town where they have a store. The library must put the name of their library on the vouchers.  At the end of the month a voucher will be drawn from all entries collected from all the stores in NJ and the winning library will receive a $150 Barnes and Noble gift card. The more vouchers that are given out from each library, the more chances that library has to win the gift card. Libraries not in a town where a Barnes and Noble store is located can download the vouchers from the NJLA or NJSL websites.
3.       Gift Basket and $25 Gift Card for Customers
 Each voucher would also have an entry form on it for an individual to have the opportunity to win a prize. The winning customer would get a gift basket for "family night" that would consist of a game, DVD, popcorn, a book by David Carter called "Love Bugs" and a $25 B&N gift card.

Possible Outreach opportunity
Some stores will be looking to have their local library host a program during the month. We encourage you to accept the invitation if you receive a call from a community relations manager. This is a wonderful way to promote the program. Not only will you be able to showcase your library, you’ll also be able to remind your audience to use their voucher when they purchase materials. Of course, it would be great to remind them that every purchase with a voucher benefits all public libraries of New Jersey.  You won’t be able to hand out vouchers in the stores during this month, but you can remind the people in your audience to ask for a voucher when they make a purchase, if they haven't brought one with them.
 
For more information, contact Sharon Rawlins, Youth Services Consultant, NJSL, srawlins@njstatelib.org or 609-278-2640 ext. 116.