Industry News

This month, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (UWW) released a new study, "America's Most Literate Cities," which provides a literacy ranking of America's 64 largest cities. Topping the list was Minneapolis, with Seattle, Denver, Atlanta, and San Francisco rounding out the top five.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) is urging members of the book and library communities to contact their congressional representatives this week in support of an amendment that cuts off Justice Department funding for searches of bookstore and library records under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will offer the measure as an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations Bill of 2004. The bill, which has no number yet, is co-sponsored by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and C.L.

The ABA Board held its summer meeting at the association's headquarters in Tarrytown, New York, from July 10 - 13.

At its meeting, the ABA Board:

The Book Sense Gift Card program will launch with five distinctive gift card designs. Based on the input of a number of booksellers, the card designs are appropriate for any occasion and for general and children's bookstores alike. To see the five gift card designs, click here (PDF format).

On Thursday, July 17, ABA wrote the producers of The Early Show regarding its Early Readers Club and offered possible ways that the association and independent booksellers might work together with CBS, which broadcasts the show. The Early Readers Club debuted on June 25 with the goal of promoting children's literacy. Guests on the show have included First Lady Laura Bush and American Library Association President Carla Hayden, executive director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore.

A "perfect fit" is how John Cross, co-owner of Foul Play Mystery Bookshop in Westerville, Ohio, described the store's sponsorship of Mystery! on WOSU, the local PBS station. "People have always come in looking for the books on Mystery!" he explained.

Colleagues and friends of Milwaukee bookseller A. David Schwartz, owner of Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee, have created a special way to celebrate the bookseller's 65th birthday and to show their support as Schwartz recovers from recent cancer surgery. They are collecting new books that will be donated to three local Milwaukee charities: COA Youth and Family Centers, The JCC Parenting Center and Library, and Milwaukee Women's Center.

TIA Program DOA

The Senate's $368 billion version of the 2004 defense appropriations bill includes a provision that would deny all funds to the Terrorism Information Awareness program, formerly known as the Total Information Awareness program, as reported by Wired News. Next week, the Senate bill will be reconciled with the House version, which contains no explicit provision to refuse funds to TIA. If denied funds, the TIA program would effectively be dead. --DG

Online Sales Soar

In late February, Rubin Venture Consulting rolled out a new online software product, Above the Treeline, a tool meant to help bookstores improve finances by controlling inventory costs and increasing staffing efficiency. At the time, four booksellers were using the software; today, that number has grown to 12. The company's founder, John Rubin, told BTW that he has improved his product and is seeking to add as many new booksellers as he can. "[Above the Treeline] is going to improve your financial performance," he said.

Barbara's Bookstores, the 40-year-old, Chicago-based chain of nine independents, will soon open its 10th store. The new store will be inside the nation's second-largest department store, the Marshall Field's on State Street in downtown Chicago. An 11th store, on the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois, is not far behind.

Book Sense is pleased to welcome three new Publisher Partners: Fordham University Press, Yorkville Press, and Cumberland House Publishing.

Founded in 1907, Fordham University Press publishes in the humanities and social sciences with strengths in philosophy, theology, American history, and literature. Fordham also publishes general interest books on New York and the Hudson Valley.

This week, BookSense.com announced that publishers Grove Atlantic and John Wiley & Sons have joined the BookSense.com Co-op Reimbursement Program. Other publishers participating in the program are AOL Time Warner, Harcourt, and HarperCollins.

The co-op program is designed to help publishers both promote and increase the sales of their books. Furthermore, it gives booksellers a way to claim unused newsletter co-op -- which can then be used to offset a significant portion the monthly cost of their BookSense.com Web sites.

Children's titles will be the feature of the next Book Sense New Yorker insert, which will appear in the October 6 issue, on sale September 29. To complement the story, the magazine is seeking photographs, especially good exterior shots, of children's bookstores with Book Sense.

Public radio listeners are among the heaviest book buyers (according to a recent analysis by Mediamark Research), so when notable public radio personality Susan Stamberg hosts a segment devoted to bookseller picks for summer reading, stores can expect a significant response. Stamberg, who serves as a National Public Radio (NPR) special correspondent, periodically devotes segments on news programs to brief interviews with independent booksellers around the country.

On Thursday, July 10, Good Morning America announced that A Vineyard Killing (Scribner) by Philip R. Craig was the latest book chosen by the show's "Read This!" book club. The mystery yarn follows retired policeman and part-time private detective J.W. Jackson's investigation of the attempted murder of a real-estate tycoon who had been trying to pressure locals into selling their island homes for much less than they are worth.