11 Excellent Library Supplies on Amazon
There are many online vendors of library supplies, but these are my 11 top favorites to purchase on Amazon! Gotta love that Prime free shipping!
At the schools I’ve worked at, the ability to shop from Amazon with our library budget seemed to come and go for no apparent reason. It was always a gamble when I walked down the hall to our bookkeeper’s office to place an order. I loved the times when we could order from Amazon and enjoy that quick, free shipping.
There are so many library supplies on Amazon that you won’t find on a typical library supply website. In this post, I’ll share 11 excellent library supplies that I’ve either used myself or that were recommended to me by my school librarian colleagues.
1. A Laser Pointer Cat Toy is a Library Supply?
Yes, my friend, you’ll want to order this laser pointer and keep it handy. I recommend clipping it on your ID lanyard so you don’t lose it and it’s right there when you need it. When students ask you about the location of a book on your shelves or at a book fair, a quick flick of your laser pointer will save you MANY steps and will allow you to continue the conversation you were in the middle of or the task that you were engaged in.
2. Bluetooth Wearable Ring Barcode Scanner
This blew my mind when I first heard about it. I couldn’t believe that it was real! You can order this barcode scanner and wear it as a ring as you complete a large scanning project, without having to pick up and set down a barcode scanner repeatedly. Librarians use this handy tool for large checkouts, like textbooks and Chromebooks, and when processing book orders. You can keep the ring on as you work through your lists to make this repetitive task so much easier.
3. Staple Gun for Bulletin Boards
Do you love to change out your bulletin boards, but struggle with flimsy staplers? It seems like I was always working on bulletin boards at the end of the day, and I would get so frustrated when our flimsy school staplers would jam. Check out this Fiskars Staple Gun that’s strong enough to handle the job, without slowing you down by jamming. It’s lightweight too, so it won’t wear your arms out.
4. Thermal Binding Machine
This thermal binding machine will repair the spines of your hardcover books. This Thermobind machine is similar to the Cover One Machine which is much more expensive. It sets new glue on the book spine and melts it on, so that the new spine is sturdy enough to last for more check-outs. Because of the heat, it creates a much stronger bond than glue from a bottle that you simply pour on the binding and let dry. This machine can eventually pay for itself, since you won’t have to buy replacement copies for your books with broken bindings.
5. Triazzle Brain Teasers
You can buy supplies for your library centers at Amazon, too! Check out the Triazzles, which look simple, but will allow up to 4 students to work collaboratively to find the one right solution to the puzzle. Students that may not normally even sit together will be motivated to work as a team to find the answer. Adults find these puzzles challenging, too, so you may find teachers engaging in this library center!
6. Animal Scratch Bookmarks for Prizes
Many librarians have found that these Animal Scratch Bookmarks make great incentive prizes for library challenges. You could give these to students when they reach a reading goal or when they return all of their library books at the end of the school year. They are similar to the “magical” rainbow scratch off books that we often have at our book fairs and that are always wildly popular.
7. Reading Tent
This tent is the newest version of the tent I wrote about in this blog post about how I created a buddy reading center in a tent. Key features of this beach cabana tent are that the front is completely open and the other three sides are see-through. We want to be able to see and supervise our students at all times. Even with all of the mesh windows, students flock to this cozy reading spot, and it’s fun to add butcher paper decorations for different holidays or library themes.
8. A Delightful Little Book Shop
This is not necessarily in the category of library supplies, or necessities, but if you’re looking to add moments of fun and magic in your library, check out this miniature bookstore kit. Can you imagine how delighted you would have been as a child to stumble upon this little miniature world on a library shelf? In this photo, librarian Beth Kovacic printed her own custom books, to showcase her students’ favorite titles. I’m adding this to my personal Amazon wish list because I think this would be great on my home bookshelves, too!
9. Wireless Barcode Scanner
This wireless scanner is great to use if you want to have students bring their library books back to their tables for check-out, rather than waiting in a line and getting restless. You can set up your laptop to display the checkout process on a projector screen, make library cards for each student (highly recommended!), then you just scan the student barcode and the books’ barcodes as you move from table to table. Quick and easy!
10. Astrobright Paper and Cardstock
Many schools only provide white paper and a couple of pastel colors in the workroom. For printing our library cards, library displays (like these Library Rules signs), book fair flyers and other communication, I preferred Astrobright paper and cardstock. If you have a library supplies budget, this is a reasonable expense to get the look you want in your school library and to color code for organization and for attention.
11. Bluetooth Speaker Pet
Reading a book aloud with the Novel Effect app is amazing, and it works even better if you use a bluetooth speaker for clearer sound quality. I love these My Audio Pet speakers, because they can fit in your pocket as you move between activities and students are intrigued by the sound effects coming out of the little animal.
Need different library supplies?
Check out my Library Learners shop on Amazon. I update this shop all the time, adding items that are getting rave reviews from school librarians. Have I missed one of your Amazon favorites? Let me know in a comment below!
