The Greensboro (NC) News Record reports that the 16 year old shop will be closing down due to lack of staffing and management.
The Friends of the Greensboro Public Library runs the shop, and like many nonprofit groups, it is struggling to remain relevant in a fast-changing world of information. Lea Williams, the group’s new president, says the decision to close the Booklovers Shop had nothing to do with money. The shop has been struggling for years, but it was making a tiny profit, no more than $1,300 in its last fiscal year. The shop’s shutdown had everything to do with managing the place, she says. It was too time-consuming, and after a year of discussion, Williams says, Friends’ board of directors felt the group had steered away from its role of supporting and funding the library’s programs and recruiting new members.
Members of the friends organized a meeting last month with other supporters of the shop, and they came together to vent and talk to Brigitte Blanton, a 27-year library employee and its new director. They also came together to figure out a way to keep the shop from becoming a canteen. They want to find a way to keep the shop open and viable.
“What this shop first started was magic,’’ says book lover Prudence Strong. “Why destroy something so perfect?’’
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