About ABA

American Booksellers Association staff and representatives of the Board of Directors will be in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain & Plains regions this weekend for a Booksellers Forum and Education Program. All ABA and regional members -- storeowners and staff -- are invited to attend.

The American Booksellers Association will hold a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) on Wednesday, March 29, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Dublin, Ohio. All members of ABA and GLBA -- owners and staff -- are invited to attend.

Booksellers are encouraged to check out the American Booksellers Association Booksellers Resource Directory (BRD), a listing of vendors of non-book products and services, open to ABA bookstore, provisional, and publisher members. Launched in mid-November, new listings are added or updated on a regular basis.

Under the American Booksellers Association's bylaws, in addition to Board of Director candidates put forth by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Board, any bookstore member may submit a petition for a director candidate. Upon receipt of a valid petition, the Nominating Committee will add the candidate's name to the director ballot. The deadline for receipt of petitions this year is Friday, March 3.

Last week, ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz sent letters to Steve Riggio, the CEO of Barnes & Noble, Inc., and Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, in which he encouraged them to join the American Booksellers Association and other retailers in the fight for e-fairness.

American Booksellers Association staff and representatives of the Board will be in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain & Plains regions next weekend for a Booksellers Forum and Education Program. All ABA and regional members -- store owners and staff -- are invited to attend.

Here's a quick look at what's planned.

On Monday, February 13, at the Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia, the American Booksellers Association presented a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in conjunction with the Southern Independence Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). Approximately 30 booksellers attended the event, which featured a SIBA membership session, the Booksellers Forum, and the ABA session "Creating a 'Buy Local' Campaign."

The American Booksellers Association's Booksellers Forum Tour will return to the Pacific Northwest with a forum and educational programming, held in conjunction with the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) Spring Show, which runs from March 16 to 18 at the Hilton Hotel, Seattle Airport. All members of PNBA and ABA -- owners and staff -- are welcome to participate in the free program.

The American Booksellers Association will hold two Booksellers Forums in the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) region in March. On Tuesday, March 14, there will be an ABA Booksellers Forum in New Orleans at Galatoire's restaurant on Bourbon Street, and on Friday, March 17, ABA will hold a forum and present educational programs at the Omni Hotel at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

ABA member booksellers can now take advantage of an upload (and download) function in two of BookWeb's Idea Exchange forums. The enhancement is enabled in the Education Forum to allow booksellers to share ideas, best business practices, forms, lists, and other resource materials that may exist in different formats.

Last week, the American Booksellers Association announced the names of booksellers approved by the Board of Directors as candidates for the 2006 director elections. They are Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona; Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville and Downers Grove, Illinois; and Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City. Shanks is currently a member of the ABA Board and is eligible for one additional three-year term.

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors, senior staff, and representatives from the regional booksellers associations held meetings from Saturday, January 28, to Monday, January 30, immediately following the Winter Institute at the Long Beach Hilton in Long Beach, California.

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

At the recent meeting of the American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors, held in conjunction with the Winter Institute in Long Beach, California, the Board approved the report of the ABA Nominating Committee, chaired by Cathy Langer of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado. The Committee presented the Board with the names of three candidates for three-year terms (2006 - 2009) as directors on the Board.

The American Booksellers Association's 2006 Forum tour comes to the Southeast on Monday, February 13.

The American Booksellers Association is inviting bookstore owners and staff in the Midwest to a Booksellers Forum on Saturday, March 11, at the Clarion Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota. The event, which features an education component, is being held in conjunction with the Midwest Booksellers Association (MBA) Spring Meeting. All members of MBA and ABA are welcome to participate in the free program.