About ABA

Today the American Booksellers Association provides a first look at programming for its seventh annual Day of Education, to be held on Thursday, May 28, at BookExpo America. This year, the Day of Education, sponsored by Ingram Book Group/Ingram Publisher Services, returns to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center as part of a series of innovations designed to invigorate the convention and to give booksellers and other industry professionals more networking opportunities.

At its meeting last week in Naperville, Illinois, the American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors approved amendments to the ABA Bylaws that will be presented to the membership for a vote at the Annual Membership Meeting in conjunction with BookExpo America this May.

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors and senior staff met in Naperville, Illinois, on Thursday and Friday, March 5 and 6, 2009.

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

Presented to the ABA Board of Directors at its March 2009 Meeting

By Len Vlahos, ABA Chief Program Officer

History

In 1978 Douglas Adams envisioned a slim electronic folio that contained all the useful knowledge of all the people on all the planets in the universe. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as Adams imagined it, would let you carry in your pocket a device that functioned like an amalgam of Google and an e-book. And while he was trying to be funny, Adams, it turns out, was prescient.

In an effort to streamline the voting and tabulation process, reduce costs, and preserve the environment, the American Booksellers Association is asking all regular member bookstores to opt in to vote via an e-mail ballot for this year's Board of Directors elections.

Candidates for the American Booksellers Association's 2009 Board of Directors elections, as recommended by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Board, are Betsy Burton of The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah; Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Illinois; and Beth Puffer of

The American Booksellers Association has been named to the 2009 Associations Advance America Honor Roll, a national awards competition sponsored by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the Center for Association Leadership in Washington, D.C. ABA was honored for IndieBound, the community-oriented movement, launched in May 2008, which brings together booksellers, readers, indie retailers, local business alliances, and anyone else with a passionate belief that healthy local economies help communities thrive.

Earlier this month, in a letter from President Gayle Shanks, the American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors announced cuts to organizational operating expenses and a 50 percent reduction in 2009 bookstore membership dues to help booksellers during these difficult economic times.

This week, the American Booksellers Association announced that beginning April 1 Paz & Associates will manage co-op for booksellers participating in the ABA E-Commerce Solution. ABA E-Commerce staff currently solicits publisher co-op funds to offset the monthly maintenance fee paid by booksellers and handles all administration of the program on behalf of participating stores.

New categories, new selection process highlight successor to Book Sense Book of the Year Awards

Candidates for the American Booksellers Association's 2009 Board of Directors elections, as recommended by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Board and announced last week, are Betsy Burton of The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah; Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Illinois; and Beth Puffer of

Dear Fellow Booksellers,

Last week at our meeting in Salt Lake City, the ABA Board spent two days discussing ways to help and support booksellers in these extraordinarily difficult economic times.

We agreed that two courses of action would best serve our members: more services and lower costs. So that was the conundrum: How to provide more services while relying less on financial support from booksellers.

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors and senior staff held meetings on Sunday and Monday, February 1 and 2, immediately following the Fourth Annual Winter Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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

Petition Process to Place Additional Candidates on the Ballot Open

A new initiative announced by the American Booksellers Association and BookExpo America last month entitles all regular ABA bookstore and provisional members to free admission to this year's trade show. The number of free badges a bookstore will receive is based on a store's sales volume as well as participation in the recently concluded Winter Institute.