Industry News

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

This week, BTW shines the spotlight on three bookstores in Albuquerque, New Mexico: Bookworks, Bound to Be Read, and Page One. Each has created a niche in the state of enchantment with its own style of community involvement. And one common practice they share is working with other local independent businesses to build their consumer base, share advertising costs, and contribute to the independent tenor of Albuquerque.

Lawrence, Kansas, Resolution Condemns Patriot Act

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.

After Betsy Burton of the Kings English in Salt Lake City wrote the following opinion piece, which appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune, the store was swamped with customers who wanted to sign the Campaign for Reader Privacy petition calling for an amendment of Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

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:

Michael Levinson does not own a business in St. Louis, but he firmly believes he has a stake in the well-being of local independent businesses. Today, he is doing all he can to help call attention to the value they bring to the community. The 24-year-old Levinson -- a self-described "regular Joe" -- grew up in St.

Here, BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos provides an update on the latest improvements and enhancements to BookSense.com.

Greetings BookSense.com Bookseller! There is a lot of BookSense.com news in this edition of On the Move:

By Robin Whitten

Yikes! The dreaded Summer Reading List is almost upon us. Teachers want to keep building their students' skills and parents want their children to excel, so the list arrives like clockwork every June. Kids, however, wish it would just disappear. But savvy booksellers make plans now to help out.

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.

On April 14, Senator Orrin Hatch's Senate Judiciary Committee field hearing on the USA Patriot Act in Salt Lake City made for strange bedfellows, as liberals, libertarians, and conservatives joined together to voice their concerns over a half-dozen provisions in the Patriot Act, as reported in the Salt Lake Tribune. One such provision is Section 215, which gives law enforcement officials broad authority to demand that libraries or bookstores turn over books, records, papers, and documents.

Here's a reminder that the deadline to participate in the 2004 ABACUS study is Friday, April 30.

Booksellers who join the new ABACUS survey will receive valuable information that can help improve their bookstore's operations and will also help their fellow independent booksellers assess their store's operations. It could not be easier -- there are only three steps with the simplified, online version of ABACUS. For more information, click here.

The Book Sense team sends a very big thank-you to hundreds of booksellers who have shared their nominations for all the Book Sense lists that have recently gone into production. Currently, we are completing the Audiobooks Top Ten, the D-Day/World War II History Top Ten, and the June Book Sense Picks list, and we will soon go into high gear on the Children's Picks list. All will be very strong lists, based on the enthusiasm and insight from independent booksellers nationwide.