Tea in the Library (31 page)

Tea In The Library had been started, and continued, with several high ideals. Not only did we want to provide a community forum where matters of interest could be considered and debated by anyone who was lucky or clever enough to find us, we also aimed to indulge a strong social conscience and to support social justice and charitable causes. We determined to “give back”.

On the one hand, this reflected my own instinctive preferences. On the other hand, I also thought it would resonate with our demographic 
—
“people like me”. The archetypal Tea In The Library customer would enjoy the added
frisson
of knowing that their patronage and their purchases were also helping worthwhile causes, and this seemed to hold true. Our published “Philosophy” went like this: 

Our Philosophy

The philosophy behind Tea In The Library is based on three strong values 
— a respect for books and their value in our community and the world;
  
a commitment to service that is beyond all expectations; and a strong
community involvement through events, discussion groups and a forum
for “having your say”. Giving back where we can is also fundamental. 
The value of books underpins any good independent bookshop, and
we plan to share this by providing a well-selected range of books, both
new releases and backlist, as well as unusual and beautiful books whenever we can find them. Our shop will be a place for bibliophiles and
booklovers. We can source out-of-print books and provide a valuation
service for your treasured old books. Our shop will support local charities
calling for books and third-world projects where schools and libraries
need help, and these will be showcased in the shop. We believe in giving
back. 
Our service philosophy will be an antidote to the “phone queues” 
and bad service that plague modern life, and we will strive to exceed
our customers' expectations. Great service is a hallmark of a good independent bookshop, and our professional booksellers can help you find
that book you are looking for, arrange gift-wrapping, delivery — with
personalized expertise. 
Our original and lovely ambience provides a great venue for bookclubs, author events, book launches, discussion forums — and a little live
music. Our customers will have the opportunity to hear, see, question,
and participate — in a convenient city venue. 
And of course our café — with lovely light meals, great coffee, more
than 19 specialty teas (and a liquor license) — supports all of these values
and helps us deliver on our promises!

One of our earliest forays into the charitable world (where the fight for the donated dollar can be very fierce) was with The Smith Family, a charity which supports disadvantaged children and their families, focusing particularly on education. We did look for causes which we could tie to a literary or book theme; and, of course, this wasn't solely altruism
—
we still aimed to sell books. The Smith Family have a program where bookshop customers are encouraged to buy an extra book at Christmas time, to be distributed to needy children as gifts. We set up our first Christmas tree, and as customers chose that extra book, it was gift wrapped and placed under the tree, for distribution later by The Smith Family. This was a win-win-win combination, with the book buying customer getting a warm glow; Tea In The Library selling an extra book; and the eventual recipient hopefully enjoying and profiting from the gift.

This began a continuing, if rather off-and-on, relationship between Tea In The Library and The Smith Family. Earnest young charity workers came to see me on several occasions to discuss the launch of a city talk series, to be called “Sydney Conversations”. The idea was to invite interesting and high-profile speakers to address the crowd on topics concerned with social justice issues, life in the city, challenges facing urban families, etc.
—
topics related to the areas where The Smith Family works and sees the need for discussion, education and action. Audience discussion would be encouraged. I was told that the idea was modeled on a successful series in Melbourne, called (naturally) “Melbourne Conversations”. The Smith Family girls were lyrical about how, in Melbourne, crowds of several hundred had been attracted to large venues like the Town Hall. They compiled hopeful lists of impressive people who would be invited to speak at the
—
admittedly smaller-scale
—
Tea In The Library Sydney version.

The Smith Family were looking for a venue, and I was happy to offer Tea In The Library
—
it would, I hoped, attract potential customers, and raise our profile, especially if well-known speakers agreed to be involved. However, there were costs associated with opening in the evening, especially staff costs, and no obvious connection with the sale of books. We talked about The Smith Family attracting other sponsors to provide food and wine, hire extra seating, etc.

It seems that wheels in the charity world turn very slowly, and it was many months before The Smith Family managed to pull off the inaugural “Sydney Conversations”. To their credit they attracted several well-known speakers. The Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, officially launched the maiden voyage. Then a panel that included the Federal Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Prue Goward, and a well-known journalist made some thoughtful remarks on the topic, “Where have all the children gone?” followed by questions and discussion from the floor. The idea was to discuss issues of child care at office buildings, family-friendly precincts for inner-city dwellers, and related issues of family versus city life. It all went pretty well. The audience were engaged with the topic and the speakers were articulate and thought-provoking. A pity that the maiden voyage was also the last, and that “Sydney Conversations” sank like the Titanic. Tea In The Library held itself at the ready to repeat the exercise, but The Smith Family didn't manage to organize a repeat performance before we, too, sank.

In another charitable exercise, we advertised our support for a Nepalese child in Kathmandu, little Dawa Sangmo. I had personally been supporting Dawa Sangmo since my first trip to Nepal in 2002, and I had actually visited her in 2003. We had pictures of Dawa on the shop and office walls
—
“Hasn't she grown!” Paul would say when I brought in an updated picture. While support for Dawa and the Himalayan Youth Foundation (www.hyf.org) was ongoing, I hoped to also hold a Benefit Event to raise a chunk of money for the HYF
—
they run a hostel for over 80 orphans and poor children from remote rural areas in Nepal, and at this time had a project to raise funds for a mini-bus to transport the children to school. There was always a need for money, to keep the project going, and to expand it. I obtained promotional material from HYF, and made an effort to recruit an appropriate speaker. The idea was to collect a donation at the door, all of which would go to HYF, along with a percentage of any proceeds from the sale of books and café goodies on the night. I wanted to have a mountain climber or adventurer who had been to the Himalayas to speak
—
this would tie in with the Nepalese connection, and also our shop's interest in mountaineering and adventure books. With the help of our customer Julie, who ran a speakers bureau, we tried to attract Mike Groom, an Australian mountaineer who has climbed in Nepal (despite losing his toes to frostbite!) Mike's book
Sheer Will
was a favourite. However, while Mike was willing to reduce his speaking fee, his appearance would still be costly, since he would have to fly down from his home in Brisbane. In the end, the project didn't get off the ground
—
I regret not pushing on with that one.

Our other “literary charity” enterprise was inspired by Jeff McMullin and his work for the Ian Thorpe “Fountain Of Youth” Trust. Jeff and the Trust draw attention to, and try to do something about, health and literacy among remote aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. I had heard Jeff speak at an Australian Booksellers' Association Conference, and invited him to address our inaugural Breakfast Club meeting. The crowd was gobsmacked at the information
—
98% illiteracy in some remote communities! And a strong link between illiteracy and poor health. People queued to talk to Jeff about how they could help.

We followed up with an ABA-arranged meeting which we hosted at the shop, with representatives from the Northern Territory Health Service and The Fred Hollows Foundation, who could tell us first-hand what was needed. Apart from Kate becoming a bit concerned about the quantities of red wine consumed, this meeting was useful and made us feel like we were at the cutting edge of this cause, and giving some practical help. The wonderful bookshop in Newtown, Better Read Than Dead, owned by Derek Dryden, had piloted a plan where their customers were invited to donate their customer loyalty points to this cause, BRTD matched this dollar-for-dollar, and books were purchased and shipped to Darwin, for distribution in remote communities by The Fred Hollows Foundation or the Northern Territory Health Service. Derek and his customers had managed to get quite a number of books into the communities. Another model was pioneered by the Brisbane bookshop Riverbend Books, which ran a very successful “read-a-thon” that collected a small entry fee. Ian Thorpe signed certificates for those who completed their reading successfully. The proceeds were simply handed over as a cash donation rather than trying to purchase and ship books, and quite substantial donations were made. This project enjoyed excellent success. The ABA was struggling a little around this time with this issue of cash versus books, support from publishers (both for book supply and shipping), and distribution questions. I regret to admit that in this somewhat disorganized atmosphere, Tea In The Library 
—
while giving moral and vocal support
—
never managed to ship a carton of books
—
an abiding regret.

But we did stay true to our avowed philosophy right up until the end, when we ran a successful fundraising night a few weeks before our demise, to benefit victims of the horrendous South-East Asian tsunami. This was Emma's brainchild, aided admirably by Sandy bringing along all her friends with their hearts and cheque books open. And let's not forget our generous customers! We raised nearly $4,000 that we donated to UNICEF. Our guest speaker, Graham Stroud
,
had been traveling in Thailand at the time of the disaster, and was 24 hours away from flying right into the affected area. He spoke movingly of emotions both on the ground at the time, and in his own heart. He then did a fantastic job with his auctioneering skills, and the gathered group responded brilliantly. We had all kinds of donated items to auction, including wine from our wine supplier Wayne, a massage from Bea The Fall Of Stars, and that gorgeous Hindu art book, worth $400, which we had never been able to sell!

It was a rewarding last salute to our “give back” philosophy. Everyone was doing tsunami benefits at this time
—
it was such a shocking tragedy on an incomprehensible scale
—
but appropriate and natural for Tea In The Library to do its small bit as well.

If we had only been profitable, we could have done so much more.