Dollar Signs
In 1999, the book -- priceless in many ways -- is, alas, not priced less
Renee Olson, Editor-in-Chief -- School Library Journal, 3/1/1999
AVERAGE BOOK PRICES |
1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
| HARDCOVER (children's and YA titles) | |||
| Average price (all titles) | - | $15.99 | $16.66 |
| Preschool/primary | - | $15.80 | $15.97 |
| Grades 3-6 | - | $16.03 | $16.27 |
| Junior high and up | - | $16.14 | $17.76 |
| PAPERBACK (children's and YA titles)* | |||
| Trade paperbacks | $9.29 | - | - |
| HARDCOVER (adult titles)* | |||
| Fiction | $21.40 | - | - |
| Nonfiction | $51.80 | - | - |
| PAPERBACK(adult titles)* | |||
| Fiction | $13.08 | - | - |
| Nonfiction | $23.54 | - | - |
| *These 1997 figures, the latest available, will be published in the Bowker Annual 1999, due to be released early this summer. | |||
Starting this month, Alice Bethke's school district will spend some $28 per student annually on library materials. That's well above average for a library media center, but when you're in Silicon Valley, as is Bethke, it barely starts to make up for years of funding drought. All California school libraries will receive these funds, thanks to a $158.5-million allocation approved by the state legislature last summer.
Still, as district instructional media specialist for the Santa Clara (CA) County School District, Bethke will struggle with increased book prices. In 1999, she'll spend $16.66, on average, for a children's or YA hardcover trade book, according to calculations by School Library Journal. Ouch.
But before being gripped by a price-increase-induced seizure, be aware that a change in our calculations will make comparisons between 1998 and 1999 prices inaccurate in two cases -- the overall average price and the price for the junior-high-and-up category. We've introduced 1999 prices for nonfiction series, a growing staple in libraries, into the junior-high-and-up category to make the numbers more accurate.
For those of you who work with older kids, increases in adult book prices are steep enough to make you reach for extra-strength pain reliever. Based on the latest figures, the price for trade paperback nonfiction increased 4.8 percent in 1997 over 1996 and hardcover nonfiction increased 3.6 percent (see Editorial, March 1998, www.slj.com/articles/opinion/19980301_5750.asp).
What exacerbates the problem is that high school book budgets simply aren't large enough to absorb higher-priced titles, even in California, now a poster child for increased school library funding. Nationally, high school libraries actually spend less on books than do their elementary counterparts: $6.27 per student compared to $6.73, according to "Small Change: Expenditures for Resources in School Library Media Centers, FY 1995-96" (October 1997, Table 9; www.slj.com/articles/articles/19971001_5643.asp).
Principals, site-based committees, and library directors need to know about these increases -- none of this information is going to land on the business pages of newspapers where they can find it themselves.
By the time Bethke buys enough just to start restocking her district's library shelves -- extra copies of books, such as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, new books to replace worn copies, and science titles for young readers to fulfill a district goal of teaching reading with nonfiction as well as fiction -- she'll have run up quite a bill.
Help your funders understand what quality library resources for young people cost. By doing this you give young readers a sign that they're valued.
A dollar sign.
Renée Olson
Editor-in-Chief
rolson@slj.cahners.com
