BookSense.com recently announced that it has created the BookSense.com User's Council (BUC). The council was established, in part, as a result of the suggestions of numerous booksellers, and, while it is not a governance body, it will provide valuable feedback and will play a key role in helping ABA staff determine the future direction of BookSense.com. "We do seek a lot of bookseller feedback, but we thought it would be nice to formalize the process," said Len Vlahos, BookSense.com director.

Bookseller response to the new online ABACUS reporting system continues to grow -- and has been extremely positive.

Recently, booksellers touted the new ABACUS on BookWeb.org's Booksellers General Forum and on the e-mail listserve of the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA).

The American Booksellers Association recently introduced its new Auxiliary membership category. This membership class, meant for businesses or individuals who want to support independent bookselling, was created, in large part, at the suggestion of booksellers at ABA's Town Hall Meeting at BookExpo America (BEA) this past May. The Auxiliary category replaces the individual, institutional, and international categories.

This week the American Booksellers Association officially launched the Publisher Editing Tools feature of the Book Buyer's Handbook online at http://handbook.bookweb.org/. The editing tools allow publishers, wholesalers, and distributors listed in the Handbook database to view and update their company information online at any time. In addition, a new enhancement provides for the display of a company's special offers and short-term discounts at the end of its standard Handbook listing.

In September, ABA began work to reintroduce the ABACUS industry study, a proven financial research tool for independent booksellers that offers a wide range of bookselling-specific financial breakdowns and analyses. By integrating the ABACUS data into their business planning, independent booksellers can compare their store's financial performance against detailed industry composites.

When the ABA Board presented a gift of books for the White House Library to First Lady Laura Bush on October 9, the Board members and senior staff each gave her titles to represent the more than 260 titles in the collection. The 17 titles presented were the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year (BSBY) winners and honor books for fiction and nonfiction, the BSBY winners for Children's Literature and Children's Illustrated titles, and the BSBY winner and honor books in the Rediscovery category.

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors held its fall meeting in Washington, D.C., from October 8-10. In addition to discussing a range of association-related issues, the Board also presented a gift of books for the White House Library to First Lady Laura Bush on October 9. (For full story, click here.) While in Washington, some members of the Board also helped staff the ABA exhibit at the second annual National Book Festival, which was held on October 12.

Both the American Booksellers Association and the Book Sense program, including BookSense.com, receive prominent mention in an article published in the October 21, 2002, and current online issue of Time magazine. The article, "Plucky Little Competitors," by Daren Fonda, details how independent stores in several industries -- including bookstores, the pet business, coffee shops, and hardware stores -- are prospering, "sometimes literally in the shadow of popular national chains."

On Wednesday, October 9, the American Booksellers Association presented over 260 books to the White House Library, continuing a tradition that began during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Independent booksellers to benefit from data swap

As Bookselling This Week went to press, ABA and Ingram Customer Systems announced an agreement through which the two entities will exchange data for use in their respective trade and consumer products.