About ABA

This week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that, on April 19, 1929, John Howell of San Francisco submitted a resolution to the Western division convention of the ABA advocating the establishment of a permanent library in the White House with an original gift of 500 books. Howell noted that, on the night of President Herbert Hoover's inauguration, there was no White House library and his own books had not yet arrived, so the President had to borrow a book from one of the guards there, the Chronicle wrote.

Six new bookseller volunteers are joining the American Booksellers Association's Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC) this June, and one will join the council in January 2005. The BAC is designed to provide the ABA Board of Directors with a broad cross-section of views from within the community of independent booksellers. The council is composed of 25 members, each of whom will serve an average two-year term.

BAC members joining the council in June are:

Approximately 20 booksellers attended an ABA Booksellers Forum, held in conjunction with the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) on Wednesday, April 14, at ABA's offices in Tarrytown, New York. ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher hosted the forum, with ABA Board member John Bennett of Bennett Books in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and other ABA staff members in attendance.

The American Booksellers Association wants to remind booksellers that they are invited to attend a Booksellers Forum to be held in conjunction with the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) in Amherst, Massachusetts, on Thursday, April 22. The second ABA/NEBA forum of the season will be held at the National Yiddish Book Center on the grounds of Hampshire College and will begin at approximately 3:15 p.m., at the conclusion of NEBA meetings.

Book Sense -- the campaign that embodies the passion, personality, character, community, and knowledge of independent bookstores -- has announced the Best Books: The Best of Book Sense From the First Five Years. The list is the result of voting by independent booksellers across the country, who cast ballots for the titles they most enjoyed handselling over the past five years.

ABA wants to remind booksellers that they are invited to an open forum at the association's offices in Tarrytown, New York, on Wednesday, April 14. The day's program runs from 11:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. and is being held in conjunction with the New Atlantic Booksellers Association. On the agenda are a Book Sense gift card demonstration, the open forum, and one-to-one ABACUS tutorials with ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz.

This week, ABA bookstore members should have received an envelope containing ballots to vote for the 2004 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards and to approve officers and elect directors to the ABA Board. The ballots were mailed out on April 1.

As part of ABA's educational programming at this year's BookExpo America (BEA), ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz will lead a financial seminar, "The 2% Solution," presenting practical solutions that all independent booksellers can use to draw a road map to profitability. The session will be held at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center from 10:00 a.m. - noon on Saturday, June 5.

At the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association's (NAIBA) Spring Workshop, to be held in Philadelphia on Sunday, April 25, ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz will lead a session about the 2003 ABACUS study results and how they can be used by bookstore owners and managers to make better operational decisions. The session, from 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., will begin a full day of NAIBA programming at the Sheraton Society Hill.

Last week, ABA announced that phase one of the Campaign for Reader Privacy (www.readerprivacy.com/) petition drive would culminate with a CRP presentation during BookExpo America, which will be held from June 2 - 6 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. ABA has asked booksellers to continue collecting signatures (and periodically to mail them to ABA) through the weekend of May 15, and on May 17 to mail all remaining petitions to ABA.

In May, Book Sense will initiate a new monthly, time-sensitive mailing to benefit both booksellers and publishers: the "Red" Box Mailing. The Red Box will offer publishers a new and faster way to get materials into the hands of Book Sense booksellers and will serve as a monthly "In-Store Marketing Action Kit" for bookstores.

ABA bookstore members should be on the lookout for an envelope containing ballots to vote for the 2004 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards and to approve officers and elect directors to the ABA Board.

By early next week, stores will receive the mailing, which also includes a cover letter from ABA Nominating Committee Chair Neal Coonerty of Bookshop Santa Cruz, biographical data on the Board candidates, information on ABA programming at this year's BookExpo America, and a special postage-paid envelope for return of the ballots to ABA's accountant, KPMG.

ABA announced today that phase one of the Campaign for Reader Privacy (www.readerprivacy.com/) petition drive would culminate and conclude with a CRP presentation sometime during BookExpo America, which will be held from June 2 - 6 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. Booksellers are urged to continue to collect signatures (and periodically mail them to ABA) through the weekend of May 15, and on May 17 mail all remaining petitions to ABA.

More than 20 people attended an ABA Booksellers Forum, held in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) on Tuesday, March 30, at Emmis Books in Cincinnati, Ohio. The forum -- the second to be held in the Great Lakes region this season (the first was on January 15 in Chicago) -- was conducted by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher, with ABA President Ann Christophersen of Women & Children First in Chicago and Board member Karl Pohrt of Shaman Drum in Ann Arbor, Michigan.