Sorry I didn't get this sent soon enough to be included with Anita's
hit. We bought Sauder tables and chairs this year, based on
recommendations from other libraries, and we are very happy with them.
They look great and the upholstered 3-position chairs are popular with
students and staff. We worked directly with the regional sales
representative for Sauder Manufacturing (in Ohio) and had no problems.
Their prices compared favorably with BroDart and other library
suppliers. Their reputation for durability is good (they're used in
college dorms & libraries)
Hope this helps.
Barbara Kane
High School Library Media Specialist
Southwestern Central School
Jamestown, NY
bkane@swms.wnyric,org
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Anita Beaman
Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 3:00 PM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: [LM_NET] HIT: Library Furniture
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
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