About ABA

The American Booksellers Association will be hosting a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in conjunction with two regional booksellers associations -- the Midwest Booksellers Association (MBA) and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) -- on Saturday, March 12, and Monday, March 14, respectively.

At the end of February, ABA published a first look at the presenters for its Thursday, June 2, "Day of Education" at BookExpo America 2005 (June 2 - 5, at New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center).

The American Booksellers Association, in conjunction with the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA), held a Booksellers Forum and Education Program on a snowy Tuesday, March 8, from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at new member bookstore Center Stage on Center Street: Books, Beans, and Broadway, in Shelton, Connecticut.

The American Booksellers Association will be holding a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in conjunction with the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association's (MPBA) Spring Meeting in Denver on Friday, April 1, and on Tuesday, April 5, in conjunction with the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) in Huntington, New York. All ABA and regional association members (owners and staff) are invited to attend the events, which include an educational component and an update on ABA programs and initiatives.

On Wednesday, March 9, Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is expected to hold a press conference in Washington, D.C., to announce that he is reintroducing the Freedom to Read Protection Act, legislation to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act to protect the privacy of bookstore and library patrons. Representing independent booksellers at the press conference will be Linda Ramsdell of The Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont, and ABA COO Oren Teicher.

ABA will be holding a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in Kingston, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, March 6; in Shelton, Connecticut, on Tuesday, March 8; and in Bloomington, Minnesota, on Saturday, March 12. All area bookstore owners and staff are encouraged to attend the events, which include a substantive educational component and an update on ABA programs and initiatives, as well as an opportunity to meet with association senior staff to ask questions and to offer comments.

The American Booksellers Association will offer a Bookseller Forum and Education Program as part of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association's (PNBA) Spring Trade Show, which runs from Monday, March 14 - Wednesday, March 16, at the Seattle Airport Hilton. ABA programming will be featured as part of the Education Workshops on Monday.

On Friday, February 25, in Atlanta's Renaissance Concourse Hotel, ABA presented a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in conjunction with the Southeast Booksellers Association (SEBA) and Bargain Books News' Spring Book Show, which was held from Friday through Sunday at the Georgia International Convention Center.

Under the American Booksellers Association's bylaws, in addition to Board of Directors candidates put forth by ABA's Nominating Committee and approved by the Board (this year, Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana; Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis; and Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco), any bookstore member may submit a petition for a director candidate. Upon receipt of a valid petition, the Nominating Committee will add the petitioned candidate's name to the director ballot to be mailed to bookstores in early April.

ABA member booksellers can still take advantage of the special free subscription offer to VNU's The Book Standard (www.thebookstandard.com), the new online, book-industry trade publication, which launched at the end of January. This special membership offer is for a free one-year subscription and is open to all ABA member bookstore owners and their employees.

As a helpful reminder, here is a "Three-Month Bookseller Action List," highlighting important dates and deadlines related to ABA and Book Sense activities and events, for the period March - May 2005. The list, which is included in the March Red Box mailing to stores with Book Sense, may also be downloaded in pdf format.

The American Booksellers Association held a Booksellers Forum and Education Program, in conjunction with the Southern California Booksellers Association (SCBA), at the Long Beach Hilton in Long Beach on Wednesday, February 16. "The format was excellent," said SCBA Executive Director Jennifer Bigelow. "I love the way the ABA forum offers an educational opportunity, a chance to network with other booksellers, voice concerns, and learn firsthand what the ABA is doing."

At this month's meeting of the American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors, the Board approved the report of the ABA Nominating Committee, chaired by ABA Board member Suzanne Staubach of UConn Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut. The Committee presented the Board with the names of three candidates for three-year terms (2005 - 2008) as directors on the Board. (Under the current ABA bylaws, each year three members of the nine-member Board come to the end of their terms.)

Next Friday, February 25, the American Booksellers Association will hold a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in conjunction with the Southeast Booksellers Association (SEBA) and Bargain Books News' Spring Book Show in Atlanta. ABA/SEBA programming will be held in the Da Vinci Room of Atlanta's Renaissance Concourse Hotel.

ABA will be holding a Booksellers Forum and Education Program in conjunction with the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) at the Tudor Bookshop in Kingston, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, March 6. All area bookstore owners and staff are encouraged to attend the event, which includes a substantive educational component and an update on ABA programs and initiatives, as well as an opportunity to meet with association senior staff to ask questions and to offer comments.