About ABA

Last week, booksellers and publishers met in New York City for the second in a series of focus groups organized by the American Booksellers Association on behalf of the participating publishers. The sessions enabled publishers to meet with a diverse array of ABA member booksellers to test new ideas and to garner feedback about existing programs.

The American Booksellers Association is inviting booksellers to a Booksellers Forum and Education Program to be held in conjunction with the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association Spring Show (MPIBA), which runs from Thursday, March 29, through Saturday, March 31, at the Doubletree Hotel in Austin, Texas.

American Booksellers Association staff is hoping to see as many booksellers as possible at a Booksellers Forum and Education Program to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Saturday, March 10, and in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, March 15.

Under the American Booksellers Association's bylaws in addition to candidates put forth by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Board of Directors, any ABA bookstore member may submit a petition for a director candidate for the 2007 elections.

BookSense.com, the American Booksellers Association's turnkey e-commerce product for member bookstores, has launched functionality to allow consumers to view book content from two leading publishers.

Of the 500 booksellers who attended ABA's second annual Winter Institute in Portland, Oregon, in early February, 30 were prospective booksellers. They came to take advantage of some of the 16 educational seminars, to gather resources, and to network with seasoned booksellers. Several prospective booksellers who are planning to open stores this year also participated in a mentorship program that paired each with an ABA Board member. Bookselling This Week recently had the opportunity to speak with a few of them about their experiences.

On Thursday, February 22, about a dozen booksellers attended an American Booksellers Association Booksellers Forum and Education Program at Alabama Booksmith in Birmingham, Alabama. The event was held in conjunction with the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA).

The American Booksellers Association is inviting booksellers to a Booksellers Forum and Education Program to be held in conjunction with the New England Independent Booksellers Association in Amherst, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, March 27. The program will run from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the National Yiddish Book Center on the grounds of Hampshire College.

On Thursday, February 15, the American Booksellers Association announced the names of booksellers approved by the Board of Directors as candidates for the 2007 director elections. They are Steve Bercu of BookPeople in Austin, Texas; Tom Campbell of The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, North Carolina; and Cathy Langer of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver. Langer is currently a member of the ABA Board and is eligible for an additional three-year term.

The American Booksellers Association is inviting booksellers to a Booksellers Forum and Education Program to be held in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association in Aurora, Illinois, on March 20. The program, hosted by ABA Board member Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshops, will run from 9:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. at the Anderson's Book Fairs warehouse in Aurora.

The American Booksellers Association's 2007 Winter/Spring Booksellers Forum tour will travel to Portland, Oregon, in March.

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors, senior staff, and representatives from the regional booksellers associations held meetings from Saturday, February 3, to Monday, February 5, immediately following the Winter Institute at Oregon's Portland Doubletree at Lloyd's Center.

Among its activities during the three days of meetings, the Board:

At its February meeting, the American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors approved the report of the ABA Nominating Committee, chaired by Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis. The Committee presented the Board with the names of three director candidates for three-year terms (2007 - 2010) on the Board.

The American Booksellers Association is inviting booksellers to a forum and education program in Wisconsin on Saturday, March 10.

For the hundreds of booksellers at the American Booksellers Association's Second Annual Winter Institute, which ran from February 1 - 2 in Portland, Oregon, the days were jam-packed with education, networking, and socializing. A daily overview tells one story (here and here, and a bookseller's firsthand account tells another.