Dewey isn’t the only one going to Orlando next week. Saunter on by the Overdue Media booth (#1983) and say Hi to Bill!

For those of you not attending ALA but planning on being in the Orlando area on Monday, June 28, our friend Nancy Pearl will be speaking about her new book Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason at the Barnes & Noble at 2418 E. Colonial Drive, at 7 p.m. For more information, you can call 407-893-6372

When I signalled on our daily email and on our home page that we were running out of Read Responsibly shirts I didn't quite expect the rush of orders that ensued. Tonight Derek and I got caught up on them and, except for a few poor souls that wanted Purple 2XL's, they're all on their way. Still a few blues and reds in S and purples in S, M, L, and XL. Get 'em while they're still here.

Our online store doesn't update in real time when we sell out of something. So if I don't have time to update the store (as happens when we get a rush of orders or I'm out of town) then people are ordering goods we can't fulfill. And that's no good.

Why not order more purple 2XLs (for example)? Well we only really get good prices when we order in large batches like 144 or, particularly, 288. We need those good prices because margins aren't that high on shirts to begin with, especially when you consider the inventory hassle of trying to maintain 6 different sizes for each color of each shirt. We are contemplating moving to more of a preorder model for shirts and other merchandise, but it has its own logistical challenges.

I may whine and whinge, but it is of course a Nice Problem to Have. Merchandising has as steep a learning curve in its own way as drawing librarians, but we're slowly climbing it. And based on the feedback from our readers/customers we're doing okay and getting better. If you've bought some of our stuff, we very much appreciate it. Let us know what we could do better.