Simon & Schuster has become the newest Publisher Sponsor of the American Booksellers Association's Second Annual Winter Institute [5], which will be held in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday and Friday, February 1 and 2, 2007. Simon & Schuster is providing financial support for the institute and is sponsoring a scholarship that will be awarded randomly to an ABA member bookseller who has an account with the publisher.

Shelf Awareness [6], a free e-mail newsletter offering "daily enlightenment for the book trade," will be providing badge-holders for institute attendees. Five days a week, Shelf-Awareness provides a look at what's happening in the book trade, books in the media, and more.

The two companies join a growing list of sponsors [7] whose support is making it affordable for booksellers to attend the two-day education event.

Registration for the Winter Institute is currently nearing the event cap of 500, and ABA is encouraging booksellers interested in attending to register [8] as soon as possible via the association's trade website, BookWeb.org [9].

The institute will be held at the Doubletree Portland-Lloyd Center, where ABA has negotiated a special rate of $99 per night for attendees. All hotel reservations must be made through ABA. The hotel will not take direct reservations for this event. Booking is through an online form [10] on the ABA site.

Education sessions and special events fill the two days, so ABA is encouraging booksellers to arrive in Portland on Wednesday, January 31.

Questions about the Winter Institute program should be addressed to ABA Education Director Len Vlahos [11]. Questions about hotel reservations should be sent to ABA's Margaret Petrie [12].