New Sessions Added to Winter Institute Program

Two new sessions were recently added to the schedule of educational programming at the American Booksellers Association's inaugural Winter Institute to be held in Long Beach, California, on Thursday, January 26, and on Friday, January 27. The event, which will be attended by more than 300 ABA member booksellers, features 25 education sessions, presented by a roster of notable independent booksellers, as well as ABA staff and representatives from Book Sense Publisher Partners.

At 11:00 a.m. on Friday, ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz will present "Improving Efficiency to Increase Sales," an examination of how booksellers can use their time more effectively, make staff more productive, and implement efficiencies throughout the bookstore. Intended for the owners and senior staff of stores of all sizes, this session will demonstrate ways to streamline routine functions so that more time and energy can be devoted to achieving the bookstore's larger goals.

Also added to the schedule on Friday is a session at 2:45 p.m. featuring Above the Treeline (ATL), an online software product designed to help bookstores improve finances by optimizing inventory selection. ATL founder John Rubin, ABA COO Oren Teicher, and Domnitz will present a demonstration of the product and information about the special discount for ABA member booksellers who subscribe to ATL under the new partnership arrangement recently announced in Bookselling This Week.

Booksellers can still register for the Winter Institute, which is free and open to the owners and staff of ABA member bookstores. At www.bookweb.org/education/institute/, booksellers will find an electronic registration form and complete program information.

Booksellers are coming from 44 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, and Bermuda, and they include members of nine regional associations: Great Lakes, Midwest, Mountains & Plains, New Atlantic Independent, New England, Northern California Independent, Pacific Northwest, Southeast, and Southern California booksellers associations.