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Frequently Asked Questions You are always welcome to call, email us or stop by with your questions, but here, for your reference, are a few with answers you might have been seeking: *About the Bookstore and Building - General information; also check About Us. *Sections in the Bookstore - The sections we have are covered in our Tour, but here is further information about where we keep certain types of books. *Store Policies - Some information for our in-store visitors. Check our Terms of Sale for information like forms of payment accepted. *About Our Services - The quick information on selling books, services offered, etc. Please refer to Other Services for additional information. |
| Is the shop really haunted? |
We're named after The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley. |
| What are the cats' names? | The short-haired, grey-and-gold cat is Nierme; the long-haired, grey-and-white one is Logan. |
| How long have you been here? | The Haunted Bookshop opened in 1978 and moved to this location in the early 1980's. The present owner purchased the store in 2004. |
| Are you hiring? | Thank you for asking, but no, we are not presently hiring. In general, we offer available positions to regular visitors first. |
| How old is this building? | This house was built in 1890. Originally, it was a family home; then the credit union operated in the building during the 1970's. In the 1980's, the house was moved from the corner of Iowa and Van Buren to its present location. |
| What's upstairs? | The office of our friend Pierce King, Architect. |
| I came by once, and you were closed. | We used to take Thursdays off - we were rebuilding several bookcases, rearranging, and developing our inventory - but we are now open every day, except January 1, Thanksgiving, and December 25 (and we'll also close May 17, 2008, for Kurt's graduation). |
| I haven't been here for a while. What's changed? | This could end up being a long answer. If you tell us when you were here last, we'll do our best to sum up, but in short, in the last two and half years: we have dramatically expanded our Children's, Philosophy, Iowa, Travel, Poetry, History, and Science Fiction / Fantasy sections, we've moved some sections around a bit, we've started working with several community-oriented organisations, we added a piano and more seating, and two cats came and completely took over everything. |
| Do you have a biography section? | We have separate sections for biographies of literary figures, political figures, and musicians; a section of diaries, journals and letters; and three sections containing mostly memoirs (Travelogues, Biologues and Americana). Other biographies haunt sections appropriate to the subjects (e.g., Margaret Mead in Anthropology, Albert Einstein in Science, Frederick Douglass in African American Studies, etc.) If you need help finding someone, ask - we'll show you where to look. |
| Do you have a romance section? | Our fiction selection (6,000+ titles) includes many books that may be of interest, but we do not have a separate section for romance novels. |
| Do you have a computer section? | We don't currently carry technical books about computers or software, but we do have some books about the impact of computers on society (see Sociology) and some on computers in the history of technology (see Science). |
| Do you carry music? | We carry sheet music, but we do not presently carry music recordings. Do visit our friends at Real Records! |
| How about small press books? | Books from Iowan presses are often collected in the Iowa section, and any Roycrofters tend to be at the counter, but poetry and fiction may be in Stephen's and Claire's rooms. Do you have a particular press in mind? Just ask. |
| Where did my favourite section go? | We try to remember to let people know if we have moved a section they like to browse, but if you can't find your favourites, we'll be happy to show you their new homes. Sections do move around whenever one outgrows its space; we do work hard to keep thematically-related sections together. |
| How much are the books? | Nearly all our books have a price pencilled on the first light-colored page, in the upper right corner. (If you can't find the price, just ask.) In general, recent, in-print books are half the original price. |
| Do you sell gift certificates? | Indeed we do. Click here for more information. |
| Do I need to leave my bag at the counter? | If you have food in your bag or are allergic to cats, we recommend that you leave your things in the foyer; otherwise, please leave bags and backpacks near the hatstand, piano, or chairs in the front room. We will keep an eye on them for you. Thank you. |
| Can I study / hold my book group meeting / play board or card games here? | We have seating in several rooms and a desk in Stephen's Room; there is a table with six chairs in the dining room; we welcome you (and your group) to make use of this space. (We do ask that you respect the comfort of our customers. Also, if you have a large or regularly meeting group, please call to schedule your meeting so that we don't promise the space and time to someone else.) |
| How does store credit work? | When you bring books in to sell, we can issue store credit (which is usually a better deal than cash). The credit does not expire and can be used toward the purchase of any book in the store. Store credit can also be converted to gift certificates, but we're sorry, it cannot later be converted to cash. |
| Do you buy books? |
We do, and we offer a book trade program, too. For more information, see Sell Your Books. We also gratefully accept donations of books for our annual Benefit Sale. |
| Can I leave my books for sale and have you call me when you're done looking at them? | We're sorry, but no. We would have to issue you a receipt for any books left with us, and that could take quite some time, while an offer for a box of books seldom takes more than ten minutes. We do recommend that you call in advance before bringing large numbers of boxes, or if you are selling books in August or December, to avoid waiting in line. We would be happy to view your books in situ if you are selling a collection, and special arrangements may be available on request; please call or email us for more information. |
| Do you search for books? | Yes, and the initial search is always free. A small fee may apply if we do not locate the book on our initial search and you wish us to continue the search through phone calls, letters, etc. A small fee does apply when we place a book order on your behalf, and a deposit may be required if the order is quite valuable or substantial. See Other Services for more information. |
| Do you keep a list of books people want? | We're sorry, no. We're happy to help you search for the book you want or to refer you to the other bookstores in Iowa City, but we do not keep a list of people to notify if particular titles come in. That said - we do like to know our regulars' tastes, and we have been known to point out new arrivals that our visitors have been seeking. |
| How much is my book worth? | We appraise books by appointment. See Other Services for more information. |
| Do you repair or bind books? | We don't, at present, but we know several talented people who do. We do carry archivally safe, clear wrappers for dust jackets and can cover the jacket on your book for you while you wait. |
| Do you sell bookcases? | Not presently, but we may begin doing so in the near future, since Kurt bought Nialle a circular saw (yay). |