Effective June 30, the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued actions declaring that charging and receiving interchange fees is a federally authorized banking power and that Illinois' swipe fee law cannot be enforced against federally chartered banks.

These actions have created legal uncertainty around state swipe fee reform efforts and reinforce the need for a federal solution and highlight Congress' central role in addressing swipe fees nationwide. 

Act now! Email your senators today and urge them to support the Credit Card Competition Act!

Join us in welcoming these booksellers to ABA’s Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC): AJ Bell (Leather & Bound), Miriam Chotiner-Gardner (Three Lives & Company), Ryan Elizabeth Clark (Gibson’s Bookstore), Jackie Davison (The Lynx), Jordan Felkey (Three Avenues Bookshop), Maris Herrington (McLean & Eakin), John Muste (Oblong Books), Carolyn Pallof (White Whale Bookstore), Emily Peterson (Page 42), Marianne Reiner (Roseville Books), Halley Vincent (Seven Stories), and Courtney Woods (Da Book Joint)!

You can visit BookWeb to learn more about the BAC and see the full list of members. 

Don’t forget to participate in this year’s ABACUS!

This annual financial benchmarking survey is a valuable tool for ABA members — participating stores receive individual “report cards” with key performance indicators that can help you with financial decision-making.

The deadline to submit your survey is July 3.

Have questions? Join one of our ABACUS Office Hours sessions!

• June 16, at 5:00 pm ET
• June 18, at 12:00 pm ET

You can also email ABA CFO Lauren Ciborski and Greg Manns from Industry Insights with questions!

It’s time to order your free Banned Books Week 2026 kit!

This year, Banned Books Week will be held October 4–10, 2026. The 2026 theme is “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.”

Banned Books Week kits are sent annually to participating stores and include materials to decorate your store and educate customers about the freedom to read. Supplies are limited and will be fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis.

The deadline to sign up is June 25!

At ABA's May Community Forum, there was a brief discussion specifically about small bookstores. To follow up on this, we sat down with ABA Board member Talia Whyte from Rozzie Bound Co-op in Roslindale, MA. 

Whyte shared some of the advantages of running a small store, some of the resources Rozzie Bound has found most helpful, and her advice for other small bookstores!

In Appleton, WI, The Tardigrade’s Bookshelf has become a delightful and inclusive haven for readers. The science-focused bookbar has coffee options that are available all day, specializes in low-alcohol drinks, and aims to create a comfortable environment where deeper conversations can flourish. It is also an explicitly neurodiverse-friendly space.

We sat down with owner Katherine Freund to learn more about this amazing store.

Edelweiss is offering an ABA member special on their new platform, Omnibus.

Bookstores can sign up between June 10 and June 24 and get 50% off with the code BTW-JUNE.

Edelweiss Omnibus handles inventory, ordering, receiving, special orders, customer engagement, and store analytics — all in one platform. It's currently available for stores that use Square, with additional POS integrations on the way.

BookWeb is home to hundreds of incredible educational resources for booksellers, and the ABA Education team has handpicked your next listen!

As you prepare for summer, you may be looking to hire some seasonal staff. Check out this session by ZingTrain on Tools for Hiring to help you hire the perfect booksellers for your store!

(ZingTrain also partners with ABA to offer discounts to member stores. You can visit the BookWeb Business Services page to learn more.)

The Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation has been supporting booksellers in moments of crisis for 30 years! 

To help them continue their work for another 30, Binc has launched a celebratory campaign to grow their number of monthly donors.

Here is a preview of the titles on the July/August 2026 Kids’ Indie Next List flier, arriving at stores in the upcoming Kids’ Box mailing. 

This month’s top pick? The Skeleton and the Cat by Brandon James Scott.

ABA’s health coverage partner, Gallagher, has created a short introduction to the Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) for employers who are looking at different options during this period of rising healthcare costs. 

Visit BookWeb to learn what an ICHRA is and why employers may choose to offer them.

The Association of University Presses is already preparing for this year’s University Press Week celebration.

University Press Week 2026 will be held November 9–13! If you want to start planning your store’s celebration, check out the University Press Week assets as well as the Toolkit.