People

Since 2002, ABA Board member Linda Ramsdell of Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont, has been instrumental in rallying booksellers and librarians in the effort to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

Perspectives of an independent, English language bookseller

By Dennis O. Evans

The American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute, which was held in Long Beach, California, in January, drew hundreds of booksellers, as well as other industry professionals, from across the country and from as far away as Canada, Bermuda, and the U.K. Among the attendees was Paul McNally, president of the Canadian Booksellers Association and co-owner of the four McNally Robinson Booksellers in Canada.

By Peter Osnos, Senior Fellow for Media at The Century Foundation

The book is an eternal artifact of civilization. Sacred texts. Classics by a crackling fire; a great story; a library lined with the handsome bindings of favorites; a bookstore where browsing is a joy of reminiscence and discovery.

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors, senior staff, and representatives from the regional booksellers associations held meetings from Saturday, January 28, to Monday, January 30, immediately following the Winter Institute at the Long Beach Hilton in Long Beach, California.

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

At the recent meeting of the American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors, held in conjunction with the Winter Institute in Long Beach, California, the Board approved the report of the ABA Nominating Committee, chaired by Cathy Langer of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado. The Committee presented the Board with the names of three candidates for three-year terms (2006 - 2009) as directors on the Board.

In response to the continuing controversy surrounding the veracity of the memoir A Million Little Pieces, James Frey has written an author's note, now available on the Random House website.

When the American Booksellers Association's Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC) convenes prior to the Winter Institute, in Long Beach at the end of this month, the 25-member council will welcome nine new volunteers to its ranks. Appointed for two-year terms by ABA's president, currently Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books in Miami, with input from ABA staff and the regional booksellers associations, BAC members provide ABA's Board of Directors with input reflecting a broad cross-section of views on issues of concern to independent booksellers.

Katharine Thalberg, owner of Explore Booksellers in Aspen, Colorado, wife of former Aspen Mayor Bill Stirling, and daughter of Hollywood's Irving Thalberg and Norma Shearer, died on January 6. She was 70 years old.

Thalberg and her three daughters from a previous marriage moved to Aspen in 1973. In 1975, she opened Explore Booksellers. Through the years, the Main Street store, located in a Victorian-era house, became one of the town's best-loved and well-known businesses. She later opened Explore Bistro, Aspen's first vegan restaurant, above the store.

If you're among the many who hark back to high school physics classes with a visceral shudder or with a smug "I was right; in 'real life,' I never did use what I learned" -- Jennifer Ouellette wants to talk to you.

By Oren Teicher, ABA COO

From December 16 to December 18, ABA COO Oren Teicher joined the booksellers at The King's English in Salt Lake City, Utah, for a three-day stint as a frontline bookseller. This is his account of the final, hectic holiday sales days at one of the country's leading independent stores.