GLBA Offers Political Action at Web Cafe

The Great Lakes Booksellers Association's (GLBA) Grass Roots Cafe, which debuted at the association's October 2003 fall trade show, has been developed into a permanent feature of GLBA's Web site, offering a menu of hyperlinks to elected officials in the four main states from which the association draws its membership.

Increasing bookseller participation in political issues, including efforts to amend the USA Patriot Act and to fight for e-fairness, is the goal, said GLBA Executive Director Jim Dana.

The GLBA Board of Directors came up with the idea of the Grass Roots Cafe as a way to bring access to elected officials to the floor of the GLBA's October show in Dearborn, Michigan. The staff set up a fax machine and laptop in the cafe area of the show in the Hyatt Regency. They came prepared with the e-mail addresses and fax numbers of governors, senators, and congressional representatives, along with sample letters.

"It was a way to encourage booksellers to contact their elected officials when we had their attention," Dana told BTW. "We made it as easy as possible for people. Everything was right there. We recommended faxes since we've heard they are more effective than e-mails. About 200 faxes went out that day."

"Since we transferred the cafe to the GLBA Web site, we have tweaked it a bit -- giving more information about state representatives. We include information about the four states we cover -- Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio."

Dana sees a number of possibilities for future use. "Our members may have other issues to comment on aside from our common ones," he said. "And we now have an easy way to mobilize our membership quickly. Our newsletter links to the Grass Roots Cafe page so our members can be notified and act immediately."

The GLBA Grass Roots Cafe can be found at www.books-glba.org/grass-roots-cafe.php. --Nomi Schwartz