News - Regional

The American Booksellers Association will be holding a Booksellers Forum in conjunction with the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association (UMBA) Spring Meeting, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, March 8. The UMBA Spring Meeting runs from March 8 - 9.

On Thursday, February 6, approximately 30 booksellers attended an ABA Booksellers Forum, held in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA), at Weber's Inn in Ann Arbor, Michigan. According to a number of attendees, ABA's sales tax fairness initiative was the hot topic of the discussion.

The American Booksellers Association will be holding Booksellers Forums on Friday, March 14, in conjunction with the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) Spring Show, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and in conjunction with the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA) Spring Meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA) has announced the winners of its annual Regional Book Awards, which are presented to outstanding books published in 2002 that are set in the Mountains and Plains region.

The Regional Book Award Winners are:

ABA, in conjunction with the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA), will be holding a Booksellers Forum and an ABACUS Sneak Preview at the Westford Regency Inn & Conference Center in Westford, Massachusetts, on Thursday afternoon, February 20. [The first February forum and ABACUS preview, as well as a Budgeting and Monitoring Workshop, will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on February 6.

In December 2002, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Bestseller List marked its fifth anniversary. Beginning next week, the list will take a new step, becoming the NCIBA/Book Sense Bestseller List. NCIBA Executive Director Hut Landon told BTW that "as the NCIBA list enters its sixth year of weekly publication, we're delighted that we have become a Book Sense regional partner."

The first two ABA Booksellers Forums of the year were recently held in California. The first was held in Santa Monica on January 14 and the second in San Francisco on January 15.

On February 6, 2003, the American Booksellers Association, in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA), will be holding a Booksellers Forum at Weber's Inn in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The American Booksellers Association begins its series of 2003 Booksellers Forums this month, with two forums in California.

The 2003 American Booksellers Association Booksellers Forum schedule kicks off with two forums and ABACUS Sneak Preview sessions to be held in California prior to ABA's January Board meeting. The first forum and ABACUS session will be held in cooperation with the Southern California Booksellers Association on Tuesday, January 14, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the DoubleTree Guest Suites -- Santa Monica, 1707 Fourth Street, Santa Monica.

The first New Atlantic Independent Bestseller List, published in a cooperative effort between Book Sense and the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA), debuted last week. The NAIBA list is the fifth regional Book Sense bestseller list, joining lists published in conjunction with the New England Booksellers Association, the Great Lakes Booksellers Association and the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, and the Southeast Booksellers Association.

In a letter to Vermont's congressional delegation, Vermont booksellers and librarians contend that the USA Patriot Act contains provisions that "undermine" Americans' constitutionally protected right to read and to access information without government interference. The letter, which is being distributed to Vermont-based bookstore members of the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) for signature, urges Senators Patrick Leahy and Jim Jeffords and Congressman Bernard Sanders to introduce legislation to eliminate these provisions.

Spurred by reports from regional trade shows regarding an increase in new independent bookstore openings, Bookselling This Week decided to survey each regional booksellers association to see if it was true. Was there an increase in newly opened bookstores joining regional associations in 2002?

High school students in Vermont and Wisconsin are taking the idea of working after school in the local bookstore to a new level. These students are doing more than just stocking bookshelves part-time -- they are helping to open and to manage new bookstores. It's all a part of two separate high school initiatives to teach literacy-loving students the ins and outs of small business administration and the rewards of bookselling.

The 2002 Southern California Booksellers Association (SCBA) Annual Authors Feast and Fall Seminars took place on Saturday, October 26, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Pasadena, California. The day included a full agenda of educational workshops and seminars and was capped by the 10th Annual Authors Feast -- an event that earned rave reviews from attendees. "We had a stellar, stellar list of authors [for the Feast]," said Jennifer Bigelow, executive director for SCBA.