Booksellers Advisory Council Offers Guidance to ABA

ABA's Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC), which offers the association's Board of Directors guidance on issues important to independent booksellers, met with representatives of the ABA Board and senior staff on January 9 - 10 in Salt Lake City. Among the topics on the BAC's agenda were ABA's educational programming at BookExpo America 2005, the growing importance of the sale of gift and other non-book items in independent bookstores, Book Sense gift cards, new bookseller education modules, and a presentation by Ingram Publisher Services on their plans to grow distribution services offered to publishers.

The BAC is composed of approximately 25 booksellers representing a broad cross-section of views from within the independent bookstore community. Current members are Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois; Susan Avery of Ariel Booksellers in New Paltz, New York; Steve Bercu of Book People in Austin, Texas; Betsy Burton of The King's English in Salt Lake City; Dan Chartrand of Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, New Hampshire; Carol Chittenden of Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Massachusetts; Scott Foley of Grass Roots Books & Music in Corvallis, Oregon; Sue Griepentrog of The Little Read Book in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin; Dana Harper of Brystone Children's Books in Fort Worth, Texas; Maryelizabeth Hart of Mysterious Galaxy Books in San Diego; Allison Hill of Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, California; Vivien Jennings of Rainy Day Books in Kansas City, Kansas; Kelly Justice of Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia; Valerie Koehler of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston; Howard Mandel of Transitions Bookplace in Chicago; Gwen Marcum of Capitola Book Cafe in Capitola, California; Mary McCarthy of Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee; Julie Norcross of McLean & Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Michigan; Philip Rafshoon of Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse in Atlanta; Lyn Roberts of Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi; Kevin Ryan of Green Apple Books in San Francisco; Leslie Ryan of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore in Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Brother Simba Sana of Karibu Books in Hyattsville, Maryland; Robert Sindelar of Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Washington; Diane Smith of The Gothic Bookshop in Durham, North Carolina; Dale Szczeblowski of Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts; DeDe Teeters of Armchair Bookstore in Port Orchard, Washington. (For Bookseller Advisory Council members' contact information, visit www.bookweb.org/read/2130.)

The Advisory Council was formed as a result of changes to ABA's Bylaws in 1999, which reduced the number of ABA Board members from 20 to nine, and authorized the creation of the BAC, to help ensure that the ABA Board received a full complement of facts, analysis, and viewpoints for its decision-making process.