Advocacy

A Booktalking Kit, created by We Need Diverse Books and School Library Journal, was shipped to ABA member stores in the Summer Kids’ White Box mailing.

The American Booksellers for Free Expression’s online auction of more than 50 works of art created by children’s book illustrators is open on eBay through Monday, June 8.

The U.S. Senate is deadlocked over proposed changes in the USA PATRIOT Act. It must pass legislation extending several sections of the law before midnight on Sunday, May 31, or they will expire, forcing the government to shut down surveillance programs that it says it needs to protect the country from terrorism.

Hazel Roos, a prospective bookseller and provisional ABA member, is the owner of Paint Away, a pottery painting and glass fusing studio in Redmond, Washington. This op-ed on the minimum wage is adapted from an e-mail she recently sent to ABA.

Booksellers expressing concerns on a range of issues during the Small Business Majority’s first-ever Small Business Leadership Summit last week included incoming ABA President Betsy Burton of The King’s English Bookshop, Bradley Graham of Politics & Prose, Christin Evans of The Booksmith and Kepler’s Books, and Kris Kleindienst of Left Bank Books.

With a Senate vote on the FREEDOM Act expected soon, ABFE Director Chris Finan takes the opportunity to look back at how the fight for reader privacy began 17 years ago, when subpoenas for a customer’s records were issued to two Washington, D.C., bookstores.

Booksellers attending BEA are invited to schedule a time to talk to ABA Senior Public Policy Analyst David Grogan at the show about any advocacy issues of concern — whether it’s minimum wage, access to capital, e-fairness, healthcare, or other public policy issues impacting their business.

Key sections of the USA PATRIOT Act are set to expire on June 1. The U.S. House has overwhelmingly approved the FREEDOM Act, which extends the expiring sections but includes protections for the privacy of personal information. However, there may not be enough votes to pass this new legislation in the Senate.

For St. Louis, Missouri’s Left Bank Books, the past year was the most successful — as well as one of the most eventful — in the store’s 46-year history.

Booksellers talk small business needs in Washington; Moravian Book Shop to add second location; Browseabout Books marks 40 years; New co-owners join Brookline Booksmith

The House has passed the USA FREEDOM Act, a bill that creates important safeguards for the privacy of personal information of Americans, including their bookstore and library records. A vote in the Senate is expected next week, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is promising to defeat the bill.

Artwork by more than 125 artists and illustrators will be up for bidding at the May 26 ABFE Art Auction to Benefit Free Speech in Children’s Books. Tickets for the event are on sale now, and ABFE is seeking volunteers from the bookselling and publishing world to help out at the auction.

In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, Stacy Mitchell and Fred Clements of Advocates for Independent Business took the U.S. Congress to task for favoring the interests of big corporations at the expense of Main Street retailers and small businesses.

ABA members are invited to schedule a time to talk to Senior Public Policy Analyst David Grogan at BEA about any public policy issues impacting their businesses.

In a letter sent on May 8, ABA called on its members to contact their representatives in the U.S. House to show their support for the USA FREEDOM Act, which limits the scope of data collected under the Patriot Act. The letter also urged booksellers to contact their senators to voice their opposition to S. 1035, a bill that reauthorizes Section 215 without any changes.