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 The International Booksellers Federation (IBF) has announced the American Booksellers Association member bookstores to be featured in the two-year calendar "50 Unique Bookshops -- 2007 & 2008." IBF, a non-governmental organization of booksellers associations and booksellers from around the world, is publishing the calendar featuring 50 bookstores representing all IBF member countries to celebrate its 50th anniversary. It will be unveiled at the 2006 Frankfurt Book Fair.
As the popularity of ABA's educational seminar "Creating Killer Events" at last month's BookExpo America demonstrated, successful independent booksellers are always looking for ways to strengthen their position as community centers through events with, and without, authors (see related story). At Manhattan's Rizzoli Bookstore, the challenge was recently met with a series of free Italian lessons that successfully reinforced the store's objective of serving as a cultural center for the neighborhood.
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Booksellers attending the panel on "Creating Killer Events" on Thursday, May 18, at BookExpo America heard from experienced booksellers about the importance of making an independent bookstore the community center for great author (and "authorless") events, to sell books, to garner free publicity, and to strengthen ties with customers and other key community institutions.
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 When Don Muller first landed in Sitka in the mid-1970s, he worked as a chemist at the local pulp mill. When he could no longer tolerate the mill's effects on the surrounding Tongass Forest, he left. Muller and his wife, Mary Stensvold, then formed a partnership with two other couples to create Old Harbor Books, a store with a special focus on environmental and other progressive causes.
Two iconic booksellers are altering San Francisco's literary landscape as one closes a store and the other puts a business up for sale and opens another. Andy Ross, owner of Cody's Books, Inc., with three stores in the Bay Area, has announced the closing of the Telegraph Avenue location in Berkeley on July 10.
 Over the course of Millrace Books' 35 years on the banks of the Farmington River in Farmington, Connecticut, owner Jan Owens has always "made use of what we've got," that is, she often incorporates the river in book events and even displays -- there's a large picture window that overlooks the water and an island. For the store's 35th anniversary, however, Owens involved her entire community.
 This year's winners of the Lucile Micheels Pannell Award for Excellence in Children's Bookselling, announced by the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) on May 8, are Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont, in the general bookstore category and A Likely Story Children's Bookstore in Alexandria, Virginia, in the children's specialty category.
Olsson's Books & Records, which has five stores in the Washington, D.C. area, has special events planned for BookExpo America attendees. At the Lansburgh/Penn Quarter store, just a few short blocks from the Washington Convention Center, Olsson's, The Perseus Books Group, and Capital Books will host a reception with light refreshments and drinks on Thursday, May 18, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
 On May 2, the administration of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, announced that the Brown University Bookstore would remain independent.
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NeverEnding Story's exterior in February 2006, pre-opening.
The welcoming interior.
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 In response to Barnes & Noble's plans to move from its present location in Greenbrae, California, to a much larger space a block from Book Passage in Corte Madera, the bookstore is holding an onsite community meeting on Sunday, April 30. The gathering will serve as a forum to discuss municipal policies that would require a review of any proposed big box retailer to determine its potential effects on the community.
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About ABA
The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.
Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.
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The six-year-old I Love A Mystery specialty bookstore in Mission, Kansas, tripled its square footage when owner Karen Spengler purchased a building on a main street and relocated the store earlier this year. The store's move to the new, 2,700-square-foot location on a more traveled street, which was executed without a hitch, has been a positive step for all -- customers, staff, and other local businesses.
