[LM_NET] HIT: Library Furniture

[Anita Beaman <abeaman74@YAHOO.COM>]

Here's the hit in email - the formatting's kind of wonky - sorry!
   
  Library Furniture Tips & Recommendations
   
  General Tips
  I would check with Brodart, Highsmith, Gaylord, Demco for quality
  library furniture.  Check with your local office supply places but I
  would go with a company that makes library furniture.  The school 
  system
  that I worked for in the 70's purchased (the librarians were not asked)
  furniture from a department store. Yes, they looked nice but they 
  didn't
  stand up to daily junior high school use.  When a student would be
  writing it would shake the whole table.
   

I don't know if you will be able to tell about this or

not when you are ordering chairs . . . the chairs we

bought about 5 years ago have/had little plastic disks

on the bottom of the legs.  These plastic disks pop

off after the chair has been tipped back so many

times.  Once the plastic disks are off, the chairs

will no loger glide across the carpet to be pushed in

etc.  It's like they are stuck to the floor!  I don't

know how you can avoid this, but you should try!

 
  If at all possible deal with a local rep from an office supply store.  
  That way, if there is a problem...he will take care of it.  Mail order 
  places tend to drop you as soon as they make the sale.  Go with 
  rectangular tables rather than round.  That way you can reconfigure to make a 
longer or larger table if you need to.
   
  You might ask around to see what can be made locally. A somewhat higher 
  initial price may be offset by the transportation costs. If you have 
  any 
  Amish or Mennonites around your area you could talk to them. There is 
  usually someone who is a woodworker, and they produce very high quality 
  products at very low prices. I buy wood from the Amish around here, and 
  can't believe the low prices.
   

I wonder if your distict allows local competitive bids? My principal 

just bought $11,000 worth of new library tables, including a walk-up one $1200) 
that had a bad scratch on the laminate top when it arrived. I really think we could 
have gotten better value for less money from a 

local carpenter or company.

 
   
  Supplier Recommendations/Comments
  Positive
  TESCO Industries, right here in Bellville, TX., has great library
  furniture!  Go to their website for more information.  They make 
  quality furniture and are easy to work with.
   

Hicks-Ashby Company

10618 Summit

Lenexa, KS

1-866-829-5414

Bob Wagner

bobwagner@hicks-ashby.com 
   

I've used Brodart.  Very pleased with the quality and service.
   
  eBauman@SchoolSpeciality.com
   
  Eric Bauman will hook you up!  He's done numerous jobs in Oklahoma.
   

I have used Tesco out of Texas (they have a local rep here in KC)

They were great and the furniture is beautiful! 

Also just got some from bigcozybooks.com, very cute, cute stuff but 

Kind of expensive but oh, so wonderful!  

 

I opened a new library 5 years ago and needed to order new furniture at 

that time. I worked with Brodart and they were wonderful - they sent 

wood samples, gave me a discount for such a large purchase ($10,000) 

and replaced the two chairs broken in shipping, no questions asked. I 

bought solid wood furniture, nothing upholstered. I would definitely 

use them again.

I would strongly recommend Sauder Manufacturing.  I have upholstered

3-position chairs and we really like them.  They made the IMC the 

Coolest place in the school!

 

All of our district's campuses have library furniture from Buckstaff 

Library Furniture. We made that decision back in 1994 as we were 

preparing to build a new high school. We examined several 

installations by different companies in neighboring districts. Only 

Buckstaff had rave reviews after 10 years use. I don't think you can buy better 
made furniture. This is real wood - no plywood or particle board here. The frames 
are made of solid (red?) oak and the shelves and outside surfaces can be either a 
variety of wood or laminate.

Buckstaff is family owned and has been in business for 156 years! 

Their guarantee is awesome.

Call 1-800-755-5890 and ask for Frank Yench. He'll send you to the 

sales rep for your area. Frank is national sales VP I think. 

 

We had a very good experience with Demco Library Interiors. They coordinated 
deliveries with 13 different vendors, were very timely in responding to questions, 
need for spare hardware, etc.
  I dealt with Mike Schmidt, but someone else may cover your area. Saw him last 
week at Texas Library Assn conference and he asked me how my husband was enjoying 
working in China -- and I hadn't talked to Mike in about 7-8 months!! 
  Great people to work with, everything in the huge Demco catalog and more, plus 
they discount a lot off the catalog prices. They can give you quote that includes 
shipping, etc. very quickly.

 

Brodart has some great two-position chairs...I got so tired of telling

students "four on the floor" (chair legs) that the "rocker" chair was

perfect!  I also ordered their "Village Lounge Furniture" with the

Bookcase upholstery that teachers and students just

loved.

 

I would recommend Greg Martin of Ken Martin School Supply in Mountain 

Home, Arkansas.  They redid my library and the furnishings are beautiful and just 
what I ordered.  1-800-209-7256  email 

info@kenmartinschoolsupply.com  on-line ordering  

www.kenmartinschoolsupply.com.

 

We opened a brand new library last year.  Our district asked me what I

wanted then sent out bids.  Indeco Sales out of Belton, Texas was

awarded the contract and my furniture is beautiful!  I bought double

sided shelves, curved shelves, casual seating, wooden chairs and 

tables.  It has held up well so far and when we did have a problem, we called, and 
they were here within 2 days to fix it.

They specialize in classroom, library, auditorium, science, and church

furniture.

The sales rep was wonderful to deal with and was accessible.  (Terry

Paden) Indeco Sales, Inc.  805 East 4th Ave   Belton, TX 76513  1-800-692-4256

 

I bought furniture and shelving for my new library four years ago from

Brodart. Our maintenance men put it together.

I bought oak shelving and oak chairs with padded seats.

Oak tables and two loveseat type chairs.

I have only had one chair break and that was fixable.

I saved the district $26,000 over the bid they got from a regional 

vendor.

 

 

Negative

While the furniture is sturdy I did not have a good experience with the 

sales people for Bretford.  They wrote my request down wrong on colors, I missed it 
and they wouldn't correct it.  I promised I'd never buy from them again.

 

We bought a large number of computer desks for our media lab through 

Gaylord.  I have been VERY disappointed!  Many of the desks came missing parts or 
with the wrong hardware, and we had a terrible time getting the proper parts from 
them.  They claimed it was the manufacturer's problem, not theirs, and wouldn't 
stand behind the product.  We eventually got them all put together and installed 
(no exaggeration, 6 months to finally get all the parts) and they didn't last even 
one school year.  

They almost immediately started falling apart and Gaylord wouldn't do 

anything.  Now, we've had them for three years and my head of maintenance spent all 
vacation trying to rebuild them so that we might get one more year out of them, but 
says he's not going to touch them again, so well have to find some money next year 
to replace them.  Yack!  They weren't cheap either (about $9000 for the whole 24 
seat lab). I've had great experiences with Gaylord for supplies, but I know that 
I'll NEVER purchase furniture from them again.


Anita Beaman, Librarian
Washington Community High School
Washington, IL 
abeaman74@yahoo.com
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
  You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings
  by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET  2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL  4) SET LM_NET DIGEST  * Allow for confirmation.
 * LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
 * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
 * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/
 * LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------