News - Regional

The American Booksellers Association is inviting booksellers to attend a forum to be held in conjunction with the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) in Amherst, Massachusetts, on April 22. The second ABA/NEBA forum of the season will be held at the National Yiddish Book Center on the grounds of Hampshire College, from approximately 3:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., at the conclusion of NEBA meetings.

On Friday, March 26, the Colorado Senate voted by a count of 21 to 14 to strike down House Bill 1078, a "minors' access" bill that would have made it illegal to allow a minor access to, and would have banned the display of, materials considered "harmful to minors." The bill had members of the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA) up in arms because, they said, it was vague, would have been impossible to uphold, and could have placed severe restrictions on the availability of constitutionally protected materials.

ABA will be holding a Booksellers Forum in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA), on Tuesday, March 30, at Emmis Books in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Members of the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA) attending the regional's Spring Meeting at the Denver Marriott Tech Center on Friday, March 19, and Saturday, March 20, also had the opportunity to take part in an ABA Booksellers Forum and to meet with ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz to learn how easy it is to report financial data to the 2004 ABACUS study.

On Thursday, March 18, ABA held a Booksellers Forum in Seattle in conjunction with the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) Spring Show, which ran from March 18 - 20, at the Hilton Hotel/Seattle Airport. Among the topics discussed at the forum were efforts to amend the USA Patriot Act, changes to the Book Sense 76, and bestseller reporting through Nielsen BookScan. ABA's CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher moderated the forum with the help of ABA Board member Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, Montana.

The American Booksellers Association is extending an invitation to booksellers in the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) region, as well as to booksellers in Connecticut, for a Booksellers Forum to be held at ABA's offices in Tarrytown, New York, on Wednesday, April 14. The gathering, held in conjunction with NAIBA, will be hosted by ABA Board member John Bennett of Wyckoff, New Jersey's Bennett Books, ABA's CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher, as well as other association staff.

The American Booksellers Association continued its 2004 Booksellers Forum tour on Tuesday, March 16, with a program in conjunction with the Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association (MSIBA), at Brystone Children's Books in Fort Worth, Texas. The forum, conducted by ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher, gave booksellers the chance to ask questions and to discuss key issues, including the USA Patriot Act, Book Sense Gift Cards, the 2004 ABACUS study, and more.

On Monday, March 15, the Colorado Senate State Affairs Committee restored to a "minors' access" bill a measure to ban the display of materials considered harmful to minors -- a move that booksellers hope will ultimately backfire because, they contend, it renders the "harmful to minors" bill blatantly unconstitutional. Colorado's House of Representatives had eliminated the display provision from the bill over a month ago.

ABA hopes to see booksellers at open forums held in conjunction with the Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association (MSIBA), the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA), and the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association (MPBA) next week. Additional ABA programming at each includes demonstrations of the Book Sense Gift Card Program and one-to-one ABACUS tutorials with ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz.

On Wednesday, March 10, approximately 40 booksellers attended an ABA Booksellers Forum, held in conjunction with the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) at the Massachusetts' Brookline Booksmith. ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher conducted the forum, and among the key topics were the Book Sense Gift Card program, changes to the Book Sense 76, store security, and efforts to amend Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

The American Booksellers Association continued its 2004 Booksellers Forum schedule on Saturday, March 6, in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, where ABA staff met with upper Midwest booksellers. The ABA Booksellers Forum, co-sponsored by the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association (UMBA), was held at the Comfort Inn-Airport.

ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz, COO Oren Teicher, and ABA Board member Karl Pohrt of Shaman Drum in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will be conducting an ABA Booksellers Forum, in conjunction with the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) on Tuesday, March 30, at Emmis Books in Cincinnati, Ohio. The second forum in the Great Lakes region this season (the first was on January 15 in Chicago) offers booksellers the opportunity to ask questions, express opinions, and hear about ABA's activities and plans for the future.

The Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA) recently announced its second annual Get Caught Reading Photo Contest. A variation of the Get Caught Reading campaign sponsored by the Association of American Publishers and the Magazine Publishers of America, which features posters and magazine ads of famous people reading, the GLBA contest calls for regular (non-famous) people to shoot pictures of other regular people reading.

ABA hopes to see booksellers in the upper Midwest and New England regions at Booksellers Forums to be held on Saturday, March 6, at the Comfort Inn Airport in Bloomington, Minnesota, and on Wednesday, March 10, at Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Massachusetts, respectively.

The list of newspapers, magazines, and Web sites carrying regional, national, and category Book Sense Bestseller Lists grows each month. Recently, these newspapers began featuring a regional list: Scranton, Pennsylvania's Scranton Times-Tribune (New England list); Fernandina Beach, Florida's News Leader (Southeast list); Ogden, Utah's Standard-Examiner (Mountains & Plains list); and Bandera, Texas' Bandera Bulletin (Mid-South list). The Scranton newspaper will also be featuring a category list, the Book Sense Business Bestseller List.