IBF Announces ABA Member Stores for Calendar

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.

Nine out of the 50 bookstore photos in the calendar will be ABA member stores:

• A Room of One's Own Feminist Bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin
• City Lights Booksellers and Publishers in San Francisco, California
• Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• McLean & Eakin, Booksellers in Petoskey, Michigan
• Snowbound Books in Marquette, Michigan
• The Spotty Dog Books & Ale in Hudson, New York
• Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado
• Titcomb's Book Shop in East Sandwich, Massachusetts
• University Book Store in Mill Creek, Washington

ABA President Russ Lawrence, who was a member of IBF's "50 Unique Bookshops" Selection Committee, said that the group began with 734 photos submitted by stores from around the world, including all over the U.S., South Africa, Moscow, and Beijing. "However, before trying to winnow them systematically, I just put them on the screen to enjoy as a slideshow, and gasped at about every fourth one," said Lawrence. "Some rustic, some slick and ultra-modern, some just flat-out gorgeous -- all dedicated in their own way to connecting a community of readers with the books they want. It reminded me of how many 'right' ways there are to go about this wonderful business."

Judges could not vote on stores from their own country; however, Lawrence noted, "The rules didn't say anything about appreciative murmurs." He continued, "Our goal was to feature 50 stores to celebrate the IBF's 50th Anniversary, while representing every country that submitted a store photo -- and we succeeded, without having to call in the U.N. Our negotiations were conducted in English, but the underlying language was a love of this profession, and all that it stands for. The result will please any booklover, with shops of all kinds, interiors, exteriors, and books, books, books. I hope the end product serves to connect people to the larger community of the book, worldwide. That's certainly the effect it had on me."

Other members of the Selection Committee were Doris Stockmann, European Booksellers Federation (EBF) past president and former member of the IBF Council; John Hitchin, EBF past president; Yvonne Steinberger, IBF past president; Jochen Gronke, former member of the EBF Executive Committee and IBF Council; Eric Hardin, IBF president; and John McNamee, EBF president.

ABA member store photos considered by the committee were collected via the Bookstore Photo Gallery on BookWeb's Idea Exchange or via CDs sent by bookstores to ABA.

The entire list of bookstores will be revealed on the IBF website, www.ibf-booksellers.org, within the next two weeks. --Karen Schechner