Wichita library, book store find new ways to serve customers during shutdown

Book sales are going gangbusters at Watermark Books & Café in Wichita.

Sarah Bagby, the longtime owner of the independent bookstore, said sales from the e-commerce store on the business’ website are probably up 300% as the city, state and other places in the U.S. have issued stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re doing a lot of web orders from all over the country,” Bagby said. A popular selling point is Watermark’s flat $2.99 shipping fee. E-books and audiobooks can also be purchased from its website, watermarkbooks.com.

And local readers — including some who likely didn’t find time before to read — are keeping Bagby and three employees busy with curbside pickup orders as well, which have been averaging about 15 per hour since the store started that service March 13.

“We all have our own space and we stay far enough apart,” Bagby said about fulfilling shipping and curbside orders.

For the popular curbside pickup, staff members leave a customer’s order in a brown paper bag with the customer’s name outside the store in the Lincoln Heights Shopping Village at the corner of Douglas and Oliver.

“We get to wave at the people as they come by and that’s fun,” said Bagby. Large windows comprise much of Watermark’s storefront. Curbside delivery is available from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday during the COVID-19 shutdown.

New books remain popular purchases, along with some classics, she said. Books about past pandemics or fast-spreading virus — like “Hot Zone” by Richard Preston that chronicles the story of the Ebola virus and Gina Kolata’s “Flu,” about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic — are big sellers too, she said. Customers are also buying puzzles.

“This is such an unusual time and we’re having parts of our life peeled away so this is a good time to surprise yourself and try a new genre,” Bagby said.

If you’re looking for book recommendations, Watermark has started airing a new feature called Book Broadcast on its Facebook (facebook.com/WatermarkBooks) and Instagram accounts, with a staff member offering some favorite picks. The store is also adding more recommendations to its website to replace content about now-canceled author events during the shutdown.

Magazines and databases

Across town at the Advanced Learning Library, the Wichita Public Library system’s main branch, staff have also found ways to satisfy those who have always loved reading and those who are looking for things to do.

With library branch locations closed to the public, the library system started issuing e-cards over the phone to give new patrons access to the library’s digital resources, said Sean Jones, the library’s communications specialists. A physical card will be mailed to the new patron. Staff have signed up more than 575 new users with e-cards since the shutdown, Jones said.

If someone wants access to the State Library of Kansas, Wichita library staff can issue an e-card for that system too, Jones said.

Staff are providing phone service at 316-261-8500 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, Jones said. Besides issuing e-cards, staff can help answer technology questions and even make book recommendations.

Between March 17-30, the library averaged about 774 checkouts of e-materials per day, Jones said.

If you already have a Wichita library card, you have access to the library’s e-services. The number printed below the barcode on the card’s back is your username and the pin is the last four digits of your phone number.

Wichita library cardholders also can download the mobile app called Libby, by Overdrive, to get access to the library’s e-services.

With the shutdown, the library is expanding e-services to stuck-at-home readers. This week it started offering access to Flipster, a digital magazine newsstand that gives access to magazines such as Vogue, People, The Atlantic and National Geographic.

During the closure, several databases that used to be accessible only if you were in the library can now be accessed from home, such as Ancestry’s library edition and a foundation directory for anyone looking for grants.

For more information about the Wichita public library’s e-resources during the COVID-19 shutdown, visit wichitalibrary.org/covid-19.