James Saunders: School Library Hero
TingL: What was it like growing up in the book
business?
James Saunders: As with all family businesses it was great,
challenging, fun and interesting all wrapped up into one. I was
always doing something business related. My Dad, Dave Saunders,
had an office supply and furniture store when I was a teenager. I’ve
worked in the family business since the age of 14, but truthfully
I probably began even earlier. My Uncle, John Saunders, had
Saunders Book Company at the time and he started giving me
some books to sell in front of our store on Hurontario St. in
Collingwood. I was hooked! I started in publishing even earlier.
Around Grade 4 I was creating a hand drawn magazine of sorts
for the kids in my class. I sold photocopies of it for 25 cents a copy.
My art and my handwriting are atrocious, so it was so much better
when we started to use desktop publishing programs to create an
anniversary history book for Collingwood Collegiate Institute when
I was in Grade 12. While my family and my co-workers are very
artistic, I am not!
Today our company has 90 employees and is owned by me, my
cousin Sean Pearson and Ian Kerr. Sean and I have grown up in
the business since we were kids and Ian has been working with us
You’re a big supporter of school libraries. Tell us about how you support and advocate for school libraries and school library professionals?
Our whole company is a big supporter of school libraries and professional staffing of school libraries. We believe that there should always be strong support at the school board level as well to help provide a structure and voice for school libraries.
Carol Koechlin, Anita Brooks Kirkland, Liz Kerr and I go way back. When I was a young sales rep my very first appointment was with Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. I guess you could say that is where my training in the school library work began. Carol would host evening events at the library resource centre in Scarborough. I would set up a book display, she would send me off with the food that was left, and I would learn about learning commons, inquiry based learning and critical thinking. This knowledge I like to think we try to incorporate into every Beech Street Books title today. From that point on I have always seen what we do and what you do as teacher-librarians as vital and we continue to try and support you in your role. After all, the ultimate goal is to provide the best education possible to students. Cheesy, I know, but true! The ideas for each book we publish and what we look to carry come from educators. We are always listening and adjusting to serve everyone the best way we can.
So, I would say as a company we advocate through our support of Treasure Mountain, OSLA, Canadian School Libraries and really anything we are asked to do! Anita has pulled me into a lot of different things, and she always knows that I will say yes. I have been pleased to be asked to speak on podcasts, write articles and appear before trustees in order to provide a little more insight into what educational publishers and distributors do. I hope that little contribution assists in the fight against censorship and other issues as they come up.
I am also the current President of the Ontario Book Publishers Organization and I sit on a number of committees with the Association of Canadian Publishers. With OBPO we host our Ontario Book Day each year at Queen’s Park where we meet with the Ministry of Education as well as with a number of other Ministers and Ministries. Our biggest request at the OBPO is to get the government to provide stable funding for schools so that they can support our great Canadian publishers and authors.
Saunders Book Company has a long history of providing resources to school libraries in Canada. Are there any stories or events that stick out for you over the years?
There are definitely some stories! Some of which I can’t tell of course, but most of which have to do with travel.
Not long after coming back to Collingwood after university, we bought a bookmobile from Kitchener Public Library. It was a full tractor trailer with furnace, electricity, everything! We took the bookmobile to a number of places doing book displays. These were the days before we started our large vendor fair book displays that Adam Cichon now runs. For one display, our driver was on his way to Sault Ste. Marie and I was about an hour behind him in my vehicle. He blew two tires and ended up in a snowbank on the side of Highway 11. We were lucky that we had a small trailer at the time and another truck that was driven by one of our long term sales reps, Glenn Crandlemire. Without even a thought, he backed that truck and trailer up to the bookmobile and loaded all of the books inside, in no time flat, in a snowbank, on the side of the highway. Glenn then got a taxi to a small hotel outside of Parry Sound and stayed through the night until the tire service came the next morning. Glenn saved us more than a few times!
I guess that’s what it’s all about though, the people. Whether it is connecting with everyone I have known for a while or meeting new people at book displays, meetings, dinners or conferences or having long term employees, the industry has always been like a family for all of us here at Saunders and Beech Street.
How can people connect with you?
They can call me anytime 800-461-9120 ext. 3050, e-mail jamess@saundersbook.ca or interact with me on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. z
