People

Keeping Customer Records in the Age of the USA Patriot Act

By Chuck Robinson

In early March, Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R. 1157), federal legislation that would remove a threat to the privacy of bookstore and library records posed by Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. Though the bill has 58 co-sponsors thus far, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), one of the sponsors of the bill, urged booksellers to rally behind H.R. 1157 so that more members of the House would support the bill.

At present, 58 fellow members of Congress have joined Rep. Bernie Sanders in introducing federal legislation that would remove a threat created by the USA Patriot Act to the privacy of bookstore and library records. The bill, H.R. 1157, the Freedom to Read Protection Act, would prevent the FBI from seeking "personally identifiable information concerning a patron of a bookseller or library." However, the government could still attempt to subpoena this information if it can make sufficient legal showing.

Booksellers should not be surprised if they sense a special rapport with their new Perseus Books Group sales reps. After all, four of the six reps in the new Perseus in-house sales force are former independent booksellers. "In these times of chains, online stores, and lost market share, we wanted to make sure that people knew [independent bookstores] are important to us," said John Hughes, vice president, associate publisher and marketing director of Perseus Books Group.

ABA announced this week two promotions within its Information Department.

Rosemary Hawkins, senior editor for print & digital media, will be assuming new responsibilities as the department's executive editor. In addition, David Grogan, currently the department's associate editor, has become the department's senior editor.

Oliver Holmes Gilliland, the national field sales manager for W.W. Norton & Company, died of liver cancer on March 1. He was 54.

"There was no one more devoted to this firm, its people, its independence, and most of all its books, than Oliver Gilliland," said W. Drake McFeely, Norton president and chairman. "His was the face of Norton at bookstores all across this country."

In 1960, signs above the Woolworth's lunch counter in Tallahassee, Florida, advertised a roast turkey dinner for 65 cents and sundaes for a quarter. But on February 13, when 10 black Florida A&M University students and two high school students tried ordering slices of cake, a waitress refused to serve them. Undaunted, they remained at the counter, quietly reading from their books, and were soon surrounded by angry hecklers.

In February 2000, when Irish poet, writer, and musician Ciaran Carson was asked to translate Canto XXXI of Dante's The Inferno, Carson had yet to read the epic poem in its entirety. Now, a scant three years later, Carson's energetic translation (The Inferno of Dante Alighieri, Granta) is garnering strong praise from critics and readers.

ABA President Ann Christophersen this week writes a special open letter of appreciation and gratitude to Carl Lennertz, who is moving to HarperCollins as vice president, marketing for the HarperCollins imprint.

Dear Carl,

Gabriel Brownstein, author of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. 3W (Norton), has been awarded the 2003 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, as reported by the Boston Globe. The sponsors of the award -- PEN/New England and the John F.

Ellen DeGeneres to Appear at Benefit Performance

BookExpo America (BEA) has announced speakers for its special events at this year's trade show, including its annual Book & Author Breakfasts. BEA will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, May 28 - June 1, 2003.

Erik Larson estimates he spent "about two solid years" researching The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America (Crown), his new nonfiction work telling the parallel stories of Daniel Hudson Burnham, the man responsible for the construction of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and Dr. H.H.

Change is in the wind!

The American Booksellers Association is delighted to announce the promotions of Mark Nichols as Director of Book Sense Marketing; Dan Cullen as the Editor-in-Chief of the Book Sense 76 lists; Jill Perlstein as Director of Marketing; and Meg Zelickson Smith as Deputy Director of Book Sense Marketing. These changes came about as a result of the impending departure of Carl Lennertz, who is moving to HarperCollins as Vice President, Marketing for the HarperCollins imprint.

When Barbara Freese was an assistant attorney general for Minnesota, she represented the state's pollution control agency. In that capacity, she regulated industries that burn coal; eventually, she got involved in a proceeding that focused on the effects of coal burning on climate change.