eBay Auction & FREADOM Gift Cards to Aid ABFFE

Booksellers can now support the First Amendment work of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression in two novel ways: through Friday, June 29, by bidding in an eBay auction featuring many book-related items; and through Wednesday, June 27, by ordering FREADOM Book Sense gift cards.

The 2007 Summer Online Auction on eBay includes Mets tickets, a bookstore appearance by Naomi Wolf, trade show packages, rare books, and more than 80 other lots. Anyone who wants to support ABFFE's free expression work can take part in the auction.

Additionally, book industry professionals who are interested in supporting ABFFE through the donation of rare books or other book-related items for the auction should send an e-mail to ABFFE at [email protected].

Booksellers participating in the Book Sense Gift Card program can order FREADOM gift cards and matching presenters, featuring an illustration by Roger Roth from American Story: 100 True Tales from American History (Knopf). ABFFE will cover the cost of the card, the presenter, and the 50-cents transaction fee -- in return for a donation of 10 percent of the gift card sale.

FREADOM gift cards are popular year-round, but they are especially relevant during the weeks leading up to Banned Books Week (this year, September 29 - October 6). They also make great gifts for students, teachers, librarians, and all those concerned about censorship and threats to reader privacy.

To ensure that cards are delivered in time for Banned Books Week, booksellers must contact Book Sense by the close of business Wednesday, June 27. An order form may be downloaded from the ABFFE website, abffe.com, or cards may be reserved by sending an e-mail ABA Marketing Director Jill Perlstein at [email protected].

"We rely on the generosity of our community to protect free expression in our business," said ABFFE President Chris Finan. "With this support, we are fighting to restore protections of reader privacy that were eliminated by the USA Patriot Act, fending off challenges to books in schools and libraries around the country, and educating the public about the need for a reporter's shield law to protect confidential news sources."