Book Buyer at The Library Shop

Title: Book Buyer

Reports To: Library Shop SD Manager

Employment Status: Full-time, Non-Exempt

Schedule: Flexible schedule totaling 40 hours/week

Location: Library Shop SD’s Central Library and Mission Hills locations

Compensation: $22-$25/hour depending on experience

Benefits: Paid time off (PTO) and paid holiday schedule, employer-sponsored health and dental plans, 401 (K) program with employer match

Organization Overview:

The Library Foundation SD strengthens communities by supporting excellence in the San Diego Public Library (SDPL) system through philanthropy, advocacy, and outreach. Library Foundation SD supports the entire system of 36 library branches across the City of San Diego. Our team of 16 staff members is based at the downtown Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common.

Library Shop SD is a well-curated nonprofit book & gift shop catering to librarians, library lovers, literary obsessives and book nerds owned and operated by the Library Foundation SD. We are located inside the Downtown Central Library and will soon be opening a full-service bookshop in the Mission Hills neighborhood. Proceeds support the San Diego Public Library system.

The Library Foundation SD is an equal opportunity employer and embraces a philosophy where diversity and inclusion are core values.  As the San Diego Public Library serves every citizen in the City of San Diego, so, too, does the Foundation.  A broad understanding of diversity is employed that includes, but is not limited to: race, ethnicity, national origin, class, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, and religion.  Library Foundation SD acknowledges that personal identity is complex and various. It is a goal of Library Foundation SD to facilitate broad participation, particularly by historically underrepresented groups, throughout the organization’s staffing and activities.

Position Overview:

The Book Buyer will curate, select and maintain the Library Shop’s inventory of new books at both our existing location in the San Diego Central Library and at our forthcoming stand-alone, full-service bookstore in the Mission Hills neighborhood. 

General duties for the Book Buyer position include but are not limited to:

• Meeting with publisher sales reps virtually and in-person to order forthcoming titles
• Reviewing publisher catalogs and placing frontlist and backlist orders via Edelweiss
• Collaborating with the Library Shop Manager to develop an annual book budget and reviewing on a quarterly basis
• Collecting and maintaining metrics such as sales, returns, and turns
• Monitoring inventory levels, managing publisher returns, overseeing inventory counts
• Reporting publisher invoice shorts, damages and discrepancies and reviewing and approving invoices for payment in a timely manner
• Entering frontlist in Point-of-Sale system
• Reporting weekly sales to IndieBound and the New York Times
• Collaborating with the Library Shop Events Coordinator to review author tour grids posted to Edelweiss and place event orders
• Working with Library staff to place book orders in support of Library programs
• Oversee special orders including business-to-business, educational sales
• Researching publishing trends and responding quickly to our local community’s buying habits and reading interests
• Communicate regularly with publishers and reps staying apprised and in communication regarding policy changes, discount schedules, store bestsellers, staff recs, co-op opportunities and all publisher bookstore related business.

Additional duties may also include:

• General day to day bookselling duties (on-site or off-site) such as handselling, cashiering, merchandising and receiving especially when staff is short-handed due to vacation, illness or seasonal factors, including but not limited to the Holiday season, Independent Bookstore Day and Comic Con

Qualifications:

Required

• An abiding appreciation and love for Libraries as essential institutions
• Empathy and compassion for people from all backgrounds and walks of life
• A high level of ability to prioritize, delegate, and manage your time
• A passion for books and the written word
• Previous experience in bookselling or publishing

Preferred

• Previous book buying experience
• Previous experience purchasing and budgeting in a retail environment
• Basic Familiarity with Edelweiss and MS Office
• Comfortable articulating the Library Foundation’s mission to customers, patrons, publishers and community partners

Being part of the Library Shop SD Team is not just a retail job- we’re also brand ambassadors for the Library and the Library Foundation SD’s mission and often staff pop-up shops at important community outreach events such as Comic Con, San Diego Pride Festival, or occasionally at Library branches across the city.

How to apply:

Please send a resume and cover letter to the email address below.  In your cover letter, please let us know how you learned of this opportunity and answer the question: How has the Library impacted your life?

Scott Ehrig-Burgess
Public Engagement Manager
[email protected]