Industry News

The FBI's expanded authority under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act allowing it to secretly request and serve a subpoena for bookstore and library records has spurred a small number of booksellers to ask their point-of-sale (POS) systems vendors to purge their databases of customers' title-specific purchase records, according to vendors who spoke to BTW.

Book Sense and The Minute Maid division of The Coca-Cola Company have teamed up to create an in-store Book Club Sweepstakes that aims to drive consumers participating in reading groups to independent bookstores with Book Sense. The national sweepstakes promotion, the BACARDI® Mixers & Book Sense Book Club Sweepstakes, will start in July and run for four months. It is expected that the promotions will drive traffic to Book Sense stores and raise awareness of the Book Sense brand.

Book lovers are not always film lovers, nor are film lovers always book lovers. But what of a film about the love of books -- in particular, the love of one special book…. This is where book people and film people must overlap. Filmmaker Mark Moskowitz turned his quest for information about a long-forgotten novel, purchased in his college days, into a paean to authors, books, and those who love them.

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, independents are putting into practice the adage "There's power in numbers." Local independent retailers, community organizations, and businesses have joined together to form the Santa Fe Independent Business Community Alliance (SFIBCA) -- a nonprofit coalition that aims to improve the local economy by driving consumers to local, independent retailers.

Where people purchase the hundreds of thousands of copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on June 21 may ultimately be more memorable than the book itself. Based on correspondence from independent booksellers around the country, customers should be prepared for anything at midnight -- documented bookstore ghosts, abandoned owl adoptions, homemade chocolate frogs, slug canapés, and vault tours of an actual bank.

Support for H.R. 1157, the Freedom to Read Protection Act, continues to build. Ten additional members of Congress have recently become co-sponsors of the bill, which would remove a threat created by the USA Patriot Act to the privacy of bookstore and library records. The members join Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and 65 other members of Congress.

The Children's Booksellers and Publishers Committee, sponsored by the American Booksellers Association (ABA), Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC), and Children's Book Council (CBC), has published Awards & Honors: A Guide to Selected Children's Books. The 48-page book has been produced in conjunction with an exhibition of award-winning children's books from 1997 - 2002, assembled for the 2003 BookExpo America trade show, beginning May 30 i

Book Sense is pleased to welcome Peachtree Publishers, Ltd. as a Publisher Partner.

Peachtree Publishers is an independently owned trade book publisher, specializing in quality children's books, from picture books to young adult fiction and nonfiction; consumer references in health, education, and parenting; and regional guide books about the American South, where the company is based.

In rural areas where the local mega-mall isn't an option, independent bookstores sometimes do double or triple duty in their community. Owners Rita Moran and Eric Robbins, along with their 13-year-old daughter Branwen, have certainly taken on that role at Apple Valley Books in Maine. Aside from new and used books, they sell jewelry, music, art, incense, tarot cards, imported and local pottery, stuffed animals, sculpture, cards, handmade soaps, Maine buoy bells, puzzles, candles, Pokemon cards…. The list goes on.

ABA is once again offering an all-day educational program for booksellers attending BookExpo America (BEA). Thursday, May 29, at BEA, which runs from May 28 - June 1 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, will feature panels and seminars designed specifically to meet the needs and interests of independent booksellers. The program will run from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. and is open to ABA members and non-members.

LIBRIS, ABA's insurance subsidiary, is inviting bookstore members who are not currently LIBRIS policyholders to meet with a representative during BookExpo America (May 28 - June 1 in Los Angeles). Qualifying booksellers will be sent an e-mail including a request form for an appointment at BEA to discuss a no-obligation quote. Every bookseller who meets with a LIBRIS representative at BEA will receive two tickets for one of the trade show's author breakfasts.

Attorney Theresa Chmara, a partner with the law firm of Jenner & Block in Washington, D.C., has been named the recipient of the 2003 Freedom to Read Foundation Roll of Honor Award. Chmara is general counsel of the Freedom to Read Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. Chmara was also part of the legal team representing ABA in its lawsuit against Barnes & Noble and Borders.

A number of new volunteer booksellers are joining the American Booksellers Association's Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC), with 12 booksellers starting this June and two starting in January 2004. 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:

On Thursday, April 25, two days after a federal judge in Arkansas ordered the Cedarville School District to put the Harry Potter series back on school library shelves, the Cedarville School Board voted not to appeal the federal court order, as reported by the Associated Press. Last July, two Cedarville parents filed a federal lawsuit challenging the school board's decision to restrict access to the Potter series.

On April 24, Book Sense and Levenger, Inc., a catalog and Internet company that provides high-quality tools for reading and writing, announced that the two companies had formed a marketing partnership to cross-promote their Web sites and merchandise. Starting in May, all BookSense.com Web sites will feature a Levenger link, and sales resulting from these links will earn participating booksellers an affiliate commission. Additionally, Levenger.com will have an affiliate link to BookSense.com.