About ABA

By Oren Teicher, ABA CEO, and Len Vlahos, ABA COO

After two months of steady travel during ABA's latest series of Spring Forums, in the end, we discovered that you absolutely can get there from here.

The First 24, plus a little more

Monday, May 24

3:00 p.m.: Arrive at The Park Central, and check-in with your discounted ABA-member rate. After unpacking, mosey down to the hotel lobby bar, and reconnect with bookseller friends. Then, grab a bite to fortify for the self-guided NYC bookstore open house tour.

The National Association of College Stores (NACS) will be holding its Xtreme! 2010 retail education program in Boston from July 23 to 27. All ABA members are invited to attend at the NACS member rate. Booksellers at ABA member stores can also enter a drawing for a scholarship covering the registration fee.

With last month's launch of the American Booksellers Association's new Member Relations Department, two member relations managers now serve as the main contacts for all bookstore and provisional members. Each manager has primary responsibility for members in different regions of the country. Booksellers with questions and ideas they'd like to share with ABA are encouraged to reach out to their member relations manager at any time. 

The American Booksellers Association is inviting prospective booksellers to a free, one-day "Introduction to Retail Bookselling" Seminar, on Monday, May 24, at New York's Javits Convention Center, just prior to the Day of Education, sponsored by Ingram, and BookExpo America.

All ABA Bookstore Members in good standing are entitled to four free two-week Classified Ad insertions in Bookselling This Week each year. BTW Classifieds are the perfect place for booksellers to place help wanted ads, advertise fixtures or stores for sale, and more.

The results of balloting by ABA bookstore members to elect three board directors and to ratify the board's selection for president and vice president are now official. Elected to serve three-year terms as directors beginning June 2010 are Sarah Bagby of Watermark Books in Wichita, Kansas; Steve Bercu of BookPeople in Austin, Texas; and Tom Campbell of The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, North Carolina.

BookExpo America and the American Booksellers Association are joining forces for the Opening Plenary session at next month's trade show to create a major event of interest to all convention goers. The plenary will feature seven of the book industry's leading executives in a timely discussion about the "value of a book," an issue of concern to the entire industry.

 This week has been a busy one for ABA senior staff. They've crossed the country to host four Booksellers Forum programs in conjunction with regional associations, participated in the American Independent Business Alliance's International Conference, and have two more forum programs and a Digital Task Force meeting upcoming this weekend.

Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Illinois, is up for approval by membership for a second one-year term as ABA vice president/secretary. This year's board ballots must be submitted electronically by midnight on April 26.

This week, ABA President Michael Tucker, of Books Inc. in San Francisco, and ABA CEO Oren Teicher traveled to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with Karen Gordon Mills, head of the Small Business Administration, to discuss issues of importance to independent booksellers. Joining them at the meeting was SBA Chief of Staff Ana M. Ma.

The American Booksellers Association has announced that it will produce the 2010 ABACUS Survey through a new partnership with the National Association of College Stores (NACS).

"NACS has a robust research department, along with years of experience running similar surveys for college bookstores," said ABA COO Len Vlahos. "With NACS collecting and compiling the data for us, we'll be able to offer a stronger product to our members."