Terms of 14 Members of ABA's Booksellers Advisory Council End

The terms of 14 members of the ABA Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC) recently ended at this year's BookExpo America, May 28 - June 1, and the terms of new volunteer booksellers began. The BAC is designed to provide the ABA Board of Directors with a broad cross-section of views from within the community of independent booksellers. The council is composed of 25 members, each of whom serve an average two-year term.

Booksellers whose terms on the BAC ended this June are Dana Brigham of Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Massachusetts; Tom Campbell of The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, North Carolina; Ellen Davis of Dragonwings Bookstore in Waupaca, Wisconsin; Robin Green-Cary of Sibanye, Inc. in Baltimore, Maryland; Luanne Kreutzer of St. Helens Book Shop in St. Helens, Oregon; Michelle Lewis of The Afro-American Book Stop in New Orleans, Louisiana; Susan Novotny of Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, New York; Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City; Roberta Rubin of The Book Stall at Chestnut Court in Winnetka, Illinois; Meg Sherman of Chinook Bookshop in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Sandra Torkildson of A Room of One's Own Bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin; Michael Tucker of Books, Inc. in San Francisco, California; Donna Urey of White Birch Books in North Conway, New Hampshire; and Karen Watkins of Vroman's Book Store in Pasadena, California.

ABA President Ann Christophersen of Women & Children First in Chicago recently expressed the association's gratitude to the departing BAC members: "My thanks to the outgoing members of the BAC. Speaking on behalf of the ABA Board, staff, and our association as a whole, we are truly indebted to you for your lively and thoughtful discussions, creativity, and recommendations on how to best to serve our members. Your contributions have been, in a word, invaluable. Speaking simply on my own behalf, it has been a great pleasure working with you. I have appreciated not only the substance of your contributions but also the spirit, sensibility, and collegiality in which they were offered."

The Regulator Bookshop's Tom Campbell said he enjoyed his experience on the council. "I always feel that I get more value from doing these things than I contribute," he said. "[BAC] helps to gather ideas, concerns, and problems from all over the country and relay this information to the ABA Board and staff in a very unfiltered way, which I think is very healthy. I've enjoyed it, it's been valuable for me and for booksellers everywhere."

New members joining the Council in June are Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois; David Cockcroft of Wordsworth Books in Little Rock, Arkansas; Scott Foley of Grass Roots Books & Music in Corvallis, Oregon; Sue Griepentrog of The Little Read Book in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin; Vivien Jennings of Rainy Day Books in Kansas City, Kansas; Gwen Marcum of Capitola Book Café in Capitola, California; Linda Ramsdell of Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont; Lyn Roberts of Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi; Leslie Ryan of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore in Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Brother Simba Sana of Karibu Books in Hyattsville, Maryland; and Dale Szczeblowski of The Concord Bookshop in Concord, Massachusetts.

In January, the booksellers joining the BAC are Susan Avery of Ariel Booksellers in New Paltz, New York; and Carol Chittenden of Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

For a complete list of the current BAC members, click here. -- Karen Schechner