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On March 1, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) condemned the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Stephen J. Murphy III, for asking the FBI to investigate a complaint that books used in the public schools of Howell, Michigan, are obscene.
 The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) has condemned a lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States that seeks to force Amazon.com to halt the sale of subscriptions to magazines about cockfighting.
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) have joined with other free speech advocates to oppose the removal of novels by Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, and Kurt Vonnegut from the public high school in Howell, Michigan.
 After the Dover-Sherborn (Massachusetts) Schools book review committee's decision to remove So Far From the Bamboo Grove from the school curriculum was met by a wave of protests from free speech groups and area residents, a Dover-Sherborn Regional School Committee voted on Tuesday to reinstate the controversial novel. According to the Boston Globe, the committee plans to restructure the English curriculum to more clearly show the story's historical context.
On December 19, the sponsors of the Campaign for Reader Privacy (CRP) -- the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center -- lauded Sen. Patrick Leahy's (D-VT) call for the "restoration, repair, and renewal" of civil liberties in the U.S., including new legislation to repair the "erosion of privacy."
Although the national elections are over, there is one more vote of importance to the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) this year. Working Assets, the San Francisco-based company that offers long distance, credit card, and wireless services, is currently polling its customers to determine how to distribute the money that it gives every year to 50 nonprofit organizations that work for social change. ABFFE is one of the groups on this year's ballot, and its share of the money will be determined by the number of votes it receives.
The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association feels strongly about First Amendment rights. Now, to demonstrate that commitment, it is printing the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression's (ABFFE) new statement proclaiming a bookstore's support for free speech and reader privacy in color on card stock and sending it to the 92 NCIBA member booksellers who are also members of ABFFE.
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) recently welcomed three new members to its board of directors: ABA Vice President Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona; Jack Buckley of Ninth Street Book Shop in Wilmington, Delaware; and Cecile Fehsenfeld of Schuler Books & Music in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
 The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is urging booksellers to display an updated and newly redesigned statement proclaiming the bookstore's support for free speech and reader privacy. The statement, which is titled "To Our Customers," explains why booksellers believe it is important to carry a wide diversity of books, including works that some people may find offensive.
Last week, the fight to restore safeguards for reader privacy eliminated by the USA Patriot Act returned to court when a federal judge was asked to again strike down a section of the law that authorizes the FBI to issue National Security Letters (NSLs) to bookstores, libraries, and Internet service providers (ISPs).
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About ABA
The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.
Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.
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Jon Bon Jovi and Amy Grant will headline this year's Book Industry Foundation Benefit at Town Hall in Manhattan during BookExpo America. Both performers will take the stage "unplugged," to entertain BEA's audience of booksellers and book industry professionals in an exclusive performance on Saturday, June 2.