Advocacy Tools

All

 

  • Browse our stores with your family, friends, and dogs.
  • Buy your books at our stores or on our website. Pre-order in advance of release dates or request obscure, in-print titles. We ship all over the world.
  • Consider a financial gift of any size.
  • Ask our incredibly knowledgeable staff to gift card instead, if they are just that inscrutable.
  • Encourage your friends, family, colleagues, dogs, and other community members to check out our world-class selection of books.
  • Subscribe to our podcast, Open Stacks, and recommend that your communities do the same.
  • Follow us, tag us, and check in with us on facebook, twitter, and instagram.
  • Contribute reading lists to our blog – share your foundational texts or striking new discoveries.
  • Dive into our past blog posts or share recent favorites with friends.
  • Attend events at our stores and encourage your friends to do so as well.
  • Urge your family and friends to consider the cultural and scholarly value of a well-stocked and well-staffed Co-op.
  • Share your stories about and memories of the Co-op with us. Email info@semcoop.com.
  • Build a wishlist of coveted titles on our website so your family is never again at a loss for gift ideas.

 

 

University of Chicago Faculty

 

  • Encourage students and colleagues to shop here.
  • Notify us about your new publication so that we can be sure to add it to our already impressive faculty section.
  • Inquire about ordering books for conferences, talks, and other department functions.
  • Invite us to department meetings to present on the importance of the Co-op and to discuss ways in which your department can collaborate with and support us.
  • Serve as an interlocutor at events. Email events@semcoop.com if you are interested.
  • Talk to your department about using your research funds for Co-op purchases.

 

 

University of Chicago Students

 

  • Browse our shelves.
  • Consider partnering with us for your RSO’s author events.
  • Bring your family when they visit (they might even pick up the tab!).

 

 

University of Chicago Staff

 

  • Consider gift cards as a thank-you for your team.
  • Direct campus visitors to the store so they can explore the latest in faculty releases and scholarly inquiry.
  • If you work directly with faculty, urge them to consider the Co-op’s faculty advocacy tools (above).
  • Consider placing our bookmarks or gift guides in your building.
  • Inquire about ordering books for conferences, talks, and other department functions, or about hosting your event in our store.
  • If your building or department has a library, consider having us curate it.

 

 

University of Chicago Alumni

 

  • Find your favorite professor’s book on our faculty shelves or browse our Front Table for the latest scholarship out of the University of Chicago and from the leading university presses.
  • Guide your family through our stacks. They may be a bit less tangled than at our former location, but we guarantee the finds will be just as fortuitous.
  • Hunt down your Core reading list or that seminal book that changed the course of your dissertation.

 

 

Educators

 

  • Collaborate with us on author visits, book fairs, on-site storytimes, writing workshops, and other tailored events.
  • If your institution allows it, communicate reading lists to us, and point parents to our store or webpage for purchases.
  • Ask your students to submit book recommendations or reviews to us.
  • Review our full suite of services, and ask after additional partnership opportunities.

 

 

Parents

 

  • Consider gift cards as a thank-you for teachers.
  • Send along required reading lists for your child’s class.
  • Bring your child to storytime and let them browse the store afterward.
  • Support us when we hold a book fair at your child’s school.
  • Recommend that your child’s teachers reach out to us for their classroom needs.

 

 

Authors

 

  • Let your publisher know that you’d like to hold your event with us.
  • Encourage followers and fans to purchase books from us, especially at your in-store event, and from independent bookstores in general.
  • Contribute reading lists, reviews, and other material to our podcast, Open Stacks, or blog.
  • Promote your own episode of our podcast or share one featuring a favorite author.

 

 

Non-local Academics

 

  • Browse our Front Table for recent notable publications in your field.
  • Encourage your colleagues to purchase books from the Co-op.
  • Talk to your administration about the possibility of the Co-op fulfilling their course book needs.

 

 

Locals (Hyde Parkers, Chicagoans, and Chicagoland residents alike)

 

  • Connect your community group, school, place of worship, or employer to our stores. From co-hosting events and book clubs to helping curate libraries, we love finding ways to blend our work with that of other organizations.
  • Have a favorite coffee shop or bar with a space for flyers? Tack up or pile up our bookmarks or postcards for neighbors to grab.
  • Bring visitors to our stores after your tour of the Robie House or an exhibition at the Oriental Institute. 
  • Plan a full day in Hyde Park. Combine a visit to the stores with a stop at the Museum of Science and Industry, the Court Theatre, or a carillon recital at Rockefeller Chapel.