Domnitz Scholarship to Winter Institute 12 Open to ABACUS Reporting Stores

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version

The American Booksellers Association will award the Avin Mark Domnitz Scholarship to attend the upcoming Winter Institute to the owner or an employee of a bookstore that submits its 2015 financial data to the ABACUS-15 Survey before the July 1 deadline.

Winter Institute 12 (Wi12) will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and will open with a reception on Friday, January 27, followed by three days of education and programming, from Saturday, January 28, through Monday, January 30, 2017.

As both a longtime bookseller and as CEO of ABA, Domnitz worked hard to ensure that booksellers at all stages of their professional experience had access to the best educational tools possible, especially those focused on bookstore finances and profitability.

To be eligible to apply for the scholarship, ABA member bookstores should look for the e-mail sent on May 26 from Martha Love of the National Association of College Stores’ (NACS) OnCampus Research with the subject line “Ready, Set, ABACUS — Survey Now Open.” The e-mail includes a link to the secure, online ABACUS submission form; introductory information from ABA Senior Strategy Officer Dan Cullen; and instructions and FAQs.

The ABACUS-15 Survey deadline is July 1, 2016.

Once stores submit their 2015 financial data — which should take approximately 30 minutes — they can apply for the scholarship by sending an e-mail with “Domnitz Scholarship” in the subject line to ABA Education Manager Lisa Winn. The e-mail should include the applicant’s name, staff title, store name, and store contact information.

By submitting their store data for ABACUS-15 via a secure and confidential electronic form, stores will receive both the ABACUS executive summary and a customized report that analyzes their financial results, including comparisons with other stores based on multiple criteria (such as sales level, store size, and profitability). Along with a summary and graphs of the aggregate data, the ABACUS report puts a store’s finances within a fully intelligible industry framework, providing owners and managers with context, insight, and essential benchmarking guidelines to improve the bookstore’s performance.

Booksellers with questions about submitting data to the survey can contact Love at OnCampus Research via e-mail at [email protected] or call (800) 622-7498, ext. 2448. Booksellers who have general questions about ABACUS can contact Winn via e-mail or at (800) 637-0037, ext. 7557.