You can set up a corporate account with Amazon, you only get the free shipping if you order more than $35 and wait a little longer, but that is what we usually do. Except at holiday times, our items usually come in 5 days, or occasionally, even less. A few times, I've done 2 day and paid shipping for an item someone was desperate for. Once you get the account set up, you just give them a purchase order, if you have it - but you don't have to - and the school is billed once a month. The only problem is that once your accounts payable department receives the bill, it needs to be paid fairly quickly - about 2 weeks, I think, - or they charge interest. But, we are large enough that our accounts receivable dept. writes checks often. I just send our person a list of ordered titles and copy of P.O. She checks titles against the bill that comes directly to her, and then pays it. On Wed, Feb 11, 2015 at 9:59 AM, Daina Dickman <daina.dickman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > My current situation is that if I need items with a quick turnaround I use > Amazon Prime. Follett has a turnaround of up to a month in my experience, > which is my preferred vendor. The problem is that I am expected to use my > own debit card and be reimbursed by the school when I use Amazon. > > Because the library collection I inherited last year is so out of date > (average age of NF was early 1990s) there are constant curricular > emergencies from teachers. I want to be responsive to teacher needs, > especially because I am trying to promote the library as a valuable > resource. However, I am at a point where financially I can't be waiting to > be reimbursed for several hundred dollars at any given time. My school > head told me "no" when I asked about getting a departmental credit card to > tie to Amazon. > > Can I ask what other school libraries do? I am leaning towards telling > teachers that I can't make exceptions and they need to give me order > requests 6 weeks out. However, I HATE doing that because I like being > responsive and flexible -- especially as I rebuild the collection. The > library was in such chaos when I came in that I don't think there were any > procedures in place in the past. > > Thank you, > Daina > -- Ann Lane Librarian, Saint Francis High School