About ABA

The ABA/Book Sense Lounge, Room 151 at the Washington Convention Center, will be the place for American Booksellers Association members attending this month's BookExpo America to learn about ABA products and services, as well as to meet with colleagues and check e-mail (courtesy of Booklog). Continuing the success of past years, the Lounge will also feature Book Sense Autographing sessions with some of independent booksellers' favorite authors.

The "American Booksellers Association, Inc. and Subsidiaries Consolidated Financial Statements and Schedules -- September 30, 2005 and 2004 (With Independent Auditors' Report Thereon)" are available to ABA bookstore members in PDF format on the association's trade site, BookWeb.org.

On Thursday, April 20, about 20 booksellers attended an American Booksellers Association Booksellers Forum and Education Program, held at the Holiday Inn Carrier Circle in Syracuse, New York. The event was held in conjunction with the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association's NAIBAhood Gathering and Shoptalk.

American Booksellers Association bookstore members are currently casting ballots to elect 2006 - 2007 ABA Board directors and to ratify the ABA Nominating Committee's choice of Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana, for a first term as ABA president, and of Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, for a one-year term as vice president.

Ballots for the 2006 ABA Board of Directors elections must be postmarked by Monday, April 17, 2006, and returned in the postage-paid envelope addressed to the association's accountant, KPMG. Ballots received by KPMG after April 24 will not be counted.

On April 3, a partnership of six nonprofit publishers, the nation's largest book wholesaler, and a group of independent and chain bookstores, announced a plan to provide book lovers with an on-demand choice in format, similar to those available to consumers of music, film, and television.

American Booksellers Association Board of Directors ballots must be postmarked by April 17 and returned in a special postage-paid envelope to accountant KPMG by April 24.

Ballots for the 2006 ABA Board of Directors elections must be postmarked by Monday, April 17, 2006, and returned in the postage-paid envelope sent to ABA member booksellers in a mailing on March 20. Ballots received by the association's accountant, KPMG, after April 24 will not be counted.

The American Booksellers Association will honor longtime South Carolina independent booksellers and community leaders Betty and Rhett Jackson with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Celebration of Bookselling at this year's BookExpo America. The award will be presented to the Jacksons by fellow South Carolinian, and longtime friend, author Pat Conroy. The Jacksons opened their bookstore, The Happy Bookseller, in 1975 in Columbia, South Carolina.

California booksellers are invited to an ABA Booksellers Forum and Education Program in San Francisco and Huntington Beach on Sunday, April 2, and Tuesday, April 4, respectively. The programs are being held in conjunction with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association's (NCIBA) Spring Gathering and the Southern California Booksellers Association (SCBA) Spring Meeting.

Becky Anderson

American Booksellers Association Board of Directors ballots must be postmarked by April 17 and returned in a special postage-paid envelope to accountant KPMG by April 24.

The American Booksellers Association has announced the creation of an Emerging Leaders Scholarship, covering the cost of registration and a five-night hotel stay at this year's BookExpo America in Washington, D.C. Booksellers at ABA member stores who have been in the business for less than two years and who are committed to furthering the success of independent bookselling are encouraged to apply.

American Booksellers Association staff will be in Dublin, Ohio, next week to present a Booksellers Forum and Education Program. The event, on Wednesday, March 29, at the Hilton Garden Inn, is being held in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) and is free and open to the owners and staff of ABA and GLBA member stores.