About ABA

The American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors held its summer meeting in Missoula, Montana, from Thursday, July 21, through Sunday, July 24. The meetings began in the late afternoon on Thursday with an orientation to introduce new Board members Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus Books for Young Readers in Minneapolis and Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco to the association's policies and procedures.

Over the course of the following three days, the Board:

The American Booksellers Association was recently invited to offer comments before a committee appointed by Congress to look at U.S. federal antitrust law with the view of updating it. The Antitrust Modernization Commission Robinson-Patman Act Panel asked ABA to offer comments because of the association's past lawsuits against major publishers and bookstore chains Barnes & Noble and Borders, which were filed under provisions of the act.

Sunday, July 31, is the deadline for ABA member booksellers to submit their 2004 financial data to the 2005 ABACUS study. Participating booksellers receive an invaluable analysis of their own business and are helping to establish a benchmark for the entire industry. As an added benefit, this year participating stores are receiving a coupon for $50 off their next ABA dues renewal.

Completing the survey takes approximately an hour and in return ABA member booksellers receive:

The American Booksellers Association is seeking to determine how many bookstore members are interested in ordering a print edition of a 2005 ABA Book Buyer's Handbook. Booksellers are asked to respond by July 31 via an online form or by sending an e-mail with Book Buyer's Handbook in the subject line and including store name, address, phone number, ABA ID number, and number of copies desired to [email protected].

Based on the results of the 2005 Education Survey distributed to bookseller members last fall, ABA developed a rich and thorough series of educational offerings presented in an all-day education program on Thursday, June 2, at BookExpo America. Currently, ABA is working to bring many of these sessions to the Web in robust audio/video presentations to meet the needs of all ABA member booksellers.

Until those presentations are ready, ABA has made available on BookWeb PowerPoint presentations of five of the Thursday morning education sessions:

On Tuesday, July 5, the American Booksellers Association officially opened its new offices at 200 White Plains Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591. Although the association's address has changed, its phone and fax numbers remain unchanged: (914) 591-2665 (phone); (914) 591-2720 (fax).

What has changed, however, are staff phone extensions. Below, organized by department are new ABA staff extensions. This list can also be downloaded in PDF format.

The deadline for ABA member booksellers to submit their 2004 financial data to the 2005 ABACUS study is now July 31 (the deadline was extended at the end of June to accommodate ABA's move to new offices). It should be noted, however, that ABA's special projects manager, David Walker, has assured booksellers that they will still receive their customized reports by the end of the summer.

The final countdown has begun for Scholastic's July 16 release of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. BTW would like to vicariously attend as many Potter-related celebrations as possible: Please keep digital cameras handy during your store's midnight, dawn, or noon events. We would like to run an array of photographs in future issues of BTW.

As a helpful reminder, here is a "Three-Month Bookseller Action List" highlighting important dates and deadlines related to ABA and Book Sense activities and events for the period July - September 2005. The list may also be downloaded in pdf format.

On Friday, June 24, ABA will begin its move to new offices and will be closed from Friday, June 24, through Monday, July 4. ABA offices will re-open on Tuesday, July 5. As ABA makes its transition to its new space, association members should take note of some important information:

ABA's New Address

Effective Monday, June 27, the American Booksellers Association's new address will be:

200 White Plains Road
Tarrytown, NY 10591

Just a week after Rep. Bernie Sanders' Freedom to Read Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations Bill passed a House vote, Jack Buckley of Ninth Street Book Store in Wilmington, Delaware, recalled first speaking to his congressional representative, Mike Castle (R-DE), about amending Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

Booksellers should note that -- with ABA's offices closed from Friday, June 24, through Monday, July 4 (re-opening Tuesday, July 5), while the association moves to its new address at 200 White Plains Rd., Tarrytown, NY 10591 -- the deadline for submission to the ABACUS survey is extended from June 30 to July 31. As an added incentive, booksellers who submit completed surveys by July 31 will receive a $50 coupon good toward their next ABA dues renewal.

The American Bookseller Association is seeking to determine how many bookstore members are interested in ordering a print edition of a 2005 ABA Book Buyer's Handbook. Booksellers are asked to respond by July 1 via an online form or by sending an e-mail with Book Buyer's Handbook in the subject line and including store name, address, phone number, ABA ID number, and number of copies desired to [email protected].

On Wednesday, June 15, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Rep. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) Freedom to Read Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations Bill by a vote of 238 - 187, sending a clear message to the Bush administration that Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act needs to be amended to protect Americans' right to privacy. The amendment, which was co-sponsored by Reps.

Effective Monday, June 27, the American Booksellers Association's new address will be:

200 White Plains Road
Tarrytown, NY 10591

The association's general phone [(800) 637-0037; (914) 591-2665] and fax [(914) 591-2720] numbers will remain unchanged.