About ABA

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors and senior staff held meetings from Sunday, January 27, to Tuesday, January 29, immediately following the Winter Institute at the Louisville Marriott Downtown.

Among its activities during the three days of meetings, the Board:

At its January meeting, the American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors approved the report of the ABA Nominating Committee, chaired by ABA Board member Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City. The Committee presented the Board with the names of three director candidates for three-year terms (2008 - 2011) on the Board. (Under ABA's bylaws, each year three members of the nine-member Board come to the end of their terms.)

The host city of the 2002 Winter Olympics will now be the location for ABA's 2009 Annual Winter Institute. Wi4 will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, from Thursday, January 29, through Sunday, February 1, at the Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown.

The Winter Institute is a two-and-a-half day education symposium, with classes on a wide range of topics crucial to the ever-changing business of bookselling. The event also includes plenty of face time with great authors.

The American Booksellers Association will be holding nine Booksellers Forums in locations across the country this spring. Each will provide an opportunity for members, and prospective members, to meet with ABA senior staff and representatives of the Board of Directors to learn about ABA's programs and initiatives, to voice concerns, and to offer input on the association's future direction. Each forum will also feature an educational component.

As major chains report weak holiday sales, a nationwide survey of 1,382 independent retailers, including members of the American Booksellers Association, has found that a desire to support locally owned businesses is emerging as a factor in people's shopping choices.

The survey, which included retailers in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., found that, even in a difficult economic climate, many independent retailers are holding their own and even seeing sales gains by emphasizing their local ownership and community roots.

The American Booksellers Association has updated its list of notable titles about the importance of building and strengthening vibrant local economies. First compiled in September 2006, the new list features 26 titles, 12 accompanied by recommendations from independent booksellers nationwide.

In an effort to assess how independent businesses fared this holiday season, the American Booksellers Association has teamed up with several other organizations representing independent businesses to conduct an Independent Business Holiday Sales Trends Survey. ABA is asking its bookseller-members to take a few moments now to complete the survey, which features just four simple questions and should take no longer than two minutes to complete.

This spring, American Booksellers Association senior staff and representatives of the Board of Directors will meet with booksellers at nine forums across the country. Held in conjunction with the regional booksellers associations, the Booksellers Forums are an opportunity for members, and prospective members, to hear the latest news about ABA's programs and initiatives, to voice concerns, and to offer input on the association's future direction.

Bookselling This Week's informal poll of bookstores across the country found holiday sales up at some and down or flat at others. But if there was one trend among those reporting an increase in sales, it was customers' heightened awareness regarding the importance of shopping locally.

By Oren J. Teicher, ABA Chief Operating Officer

With the new year just days away, the American Booksellers Association reminds its bookstore members that each year they are entitled to place up to four free two-week classified ad insertions in Bookselling This Week. BTW Classifieds are the perfect place for booksellers to place help wanted ads and advertise fixtures or stores for sale.

Seven independent trade groups joined together this week to call for the equitable collection of sales tax on online purchases. In a letter to each of the governors in the 45 states that collect sales tax, the organizations urged states to enforce existing tax laws by requiring out-of-state online businesses with nexus in their states to collect sales tax.

The American Booksellers Association welcomed 15 new bookstore members that opened for business in November. In addition, Berning Books, which opened in October, joined the association this month, bringing October's openings up to 14.