At the meeting of the BookSense.com Users Group on Friday, June 1, at BookExpo America, BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos and other members of the BookSense.com team discussed some of the e-commerce site's newest features, as well as several planned enhancements.

The "Next Big Thing," said Vlahos, is the site's eventual migration to Plone, an open source software that will allow for a much more nimble and dynamic BookSense.com.

On Tuesday, May 22, BookSense.com officially launched a functionality that provides consumers with the option of purchasing eBooks through participating stores' websites. The eBooks, which are downloaded to the consumer's computer and/or handheld device, are accessible through all BookSense.com templated websites. Ingram Digital Ventures will fulfill eBook orders in three formats -- Palm OS, Adobe, and Microsoft Reader.

A reported 20 federal lawsuits filed in the Pittsburgh region over the past month are indicative of a growing trend that could cost small retailers big time. Consumers are filing class-action suits against retailers and businesses for violating a new credit card security law. Retailers who electronically print receipts that include more than the last five digits of the cardholder's card number are in violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), which was signed into law in December 2003 (with a three-year grace period for merchants to comply).

On Tuesday, April 17, the American Booksellers Association held an education program and ABA Booksellers Forum & Strategic Planning Session in conjunction with the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association (SCIBA)'s Spring Meeting at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel in Long Beach, California. The free program was facilitated by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher.

On Tuesday, April 10, the American Booksellers Association held a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) and the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) at the Louisville Marriott Downtown, home of ABA's 2008 Winter Institute) in Louisville, Kentucky.

This week, The Caravan Project announced the addition of five nonprofit publishers to the unique partnership offering serious nonfiction readers a menu of formats, both print and digital, from which to choose how they read a book. The five -- Columbia University Press, Harvard University Press, Kent State Press, University of Michigan Press, and the University of Minnesota Press -- will join the seven founding publishers in contributing books to Caravan's fall 2007 list.

All retailers, regardless of their product mix, share many of the same challenges -- not the least of which is driving traffic to their stores. As more consumers begin to use the Web via wireless connections, booksellers are hoping to attract more customers by offering wireless Internet access -- aka "WiFi hotspots" -- in their stores. And based on reports from a number of booksellers, the strategy is working.

With a new, Democrat-controlled Congress in session, two Senators are hoping that their "net neutrality" bill will now gain some traction. Earlier this month, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, legislation that looks to ensure that companies using the Internet to connect to consumers can compete on a level playing field.