ABA & BEA Gift Presidential Library in Little Rock

From left to right: Emily Robison, deputy director of the Clinton Presidential Library; Shannon Butler, assistant to the executive director of the Clinton Foundation; Mary Gay Shipley; and David Alsobrook, the library director.

On behalf of the American Booksellers Association and BookExpo America, Arkansas bookseller Mary Gay Shipley recently traveled to the state capital in Little Rock to present the William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum with a large poster promoting President Clinton's autobiography, My Life (Knopf). The poster, which measures about eight-feet high, was created by BEA to promote President Clinton's keynote address on the opening night of the 2004 trade show at Chicago's McCormick Place.

Shipley, who is owner of That Bookstore in Blytheville, made the presentation to the library's director, David Alsobrook; library deputy director, Emily Robison; and Shannon Butler, assistant to the executive director of the Clinton Foundation.

Another of the Clinton posters was auctioned off at BEA as part of a fundraiser for the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. Shipley recalls that the winning bid was close to $5,000.

Shipley, who is a former ABA Board member, has hosted several book signings for both the President and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) at her popular store in rural Arkansas. She has also previously been invited to the presidential library and was a guest at the library's dedication ceremony in November 2004.