Evolving old Boxes into Book Haven
Librarian:
Summer of 2012 working at a library as a bookkeeper, it was my first job as a freshmen and I got introduced into it by my mother who previously used to work here. She had entrusted me with the responsibility of keeping the entire place neat, clean and organized. Even though kids from school were hard to handle and at times would cause quite a ruckus. I would start off by coming into work and signing off the attendance sheet, than I would put my things away behind the counter also making sure that the system of the central library is connected and working.
Afterwards I would sweep the entire library to look for any scattered books, items or even garbage before opening it for the public. This process could take up to an hour; other helpers were not much of help really. They were just there to finish their allotted times and get out as quick as possible with the least amount of responsibilities.
The Idea:
As I grew older I had gotten bored taking care of the library as over the weekends I would have to be indoors and not outside with my friends enjoying the summer time, I was frustrated and had asked my mom to either let me leave the job completely or give me the weekends off, unfortunately because the other workers could not work over the weekend she had no choice but to say no. She did advise me to find a new hobby in order to keep me busy throughout the days during the weekend, something lucrative as that would keep me entertained and paid. I did really like the idea that was given so I started working on it over the next couple of days.
At first I could not think the slightest of what I could possibly do at a library that would be lucrative unless I was illegally selling its books. One early morning a new shipment of books came and while I was offloading I noticed that the boxes in which the books were coming in were usually just wasted not even recycled. The bulb on top of my head lightened up, I knew this was it, both lucrative and entertaining.
Action Plan:
I started off simply by collecting all the book boxes I could around the given allowance of the library or waste. I than sat down and came up with a design where I would mold them into storage for books so consumers could easily carry the books in and out. Beyond that make them so sturdy that consumers could preserve their special books that are dear to them at home. I had to make sure my product would allow valuable books not to collect dust, dirt and be safe from moisture & insects. With possible dividers in them with alphabets or numbers to help anyone trying to stay organized. With a front opening which would easily allow you to see the contents inside the box and large enough for hardcover books for longevity. It would only be capable of keeping a small portion of your collection but it would be organized and eye catching.
As I mastered the art slowly but surely about after 15 trials I managed to make the 16th one hit the right spot. This allowed enough space was lightweight and great to look it. It worked as storage or a carrier as it was wide enough and strong enough to withhold almost 25 books. To my surprise even my mother was highly impressed and now wanted me to take this job very seriously.
Putting it out there:
Once I and my mother put a long week hard at work collecting, designing and putting it all together we had managed to make 150 book storage boxes. We had a gala that weekend at the library and managed to impress every person at the event that day. Including the director of the library who was so impressed he had us working the rest of our time with a marketing team to strategize and perfect this idea. 150 boxes were all sold to the Library itself as the director did not want this idea escaping the lace it was created.
He wanted to go international with this and I don’t think my mother would have been more proud than that very moment. After everything was planned and worked out we came to a deal of a substantial amount and putting a patent on our recycled book storage.