West Virginia Collects $19 million in Sales Tax From Online Retailers

West Virginia collected more than $19.6 million in sales taxes from online retailers for the just-completed 2013-14 budget year, according to the state’s deputy revenue secretary, Mark Muchow. That figure is up considerably from past years, thanks to legislation passed in 2013 that requires online retailers with a brick-and-mortar presence in the state to collect six percent sales tax on orders shipped to state residents, the West Virginia Gazette [11] reported.

Under the law, companies that operate retail outlets, warehouses, distribution centers, or other places of business in West Virginia are required to collect and remit state sales taxes on online orders to state residents. Amazon.com has a distribution center near Huntington and Macy’s has a $150 million distribution center outside of Martinsburg.

Muchow also said that a number of large retailers are voluntarily collecting and remitting sales taxes for states participating in the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement. West Virginia is one of 24 states participating in the agreement, designed to simplify sales tax collections for online and catalog sales.

NAIBA Seeks Independent Bookstore Day Logo

The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association [12] (NAIBA) has started planning for Independent Bookstore Day, to be celebrated on May 2, 2015. In its most recent newsletter, NAIBA asked readers to show their creativity by designing a logo to represent the spirit of the event. The chosen logo will appear on all promotions, products, and merchandising in conjunction with Independent Bookstore Day on the East Coast and may also be considered for future National Bookstore Day celebrations, NAIBA said.

Following the success of this past May’s California Bookstore Day [13], the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association [14] announced plans for the second annual celebration to take place on May 2, 2015, and said that it would help facilitate Bookstore Day efforts with other regional associations.

Logo designs for NAIBA’s celebration of Independent Bookstore Day should be sent by October 1 in JPEG format to [email protected] [15].

Cape Henlopen Board Does Away With Reading List

On July 24, Delaware’s Cape Henlopen school board voted 6-1 to withdraw a recommended reading list for incoming freshmen, but not before reinstating Emily Danforth’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post (HarperCollins), which had been removed from the list in June, the Cape Gazette [16] reported.

In place of the list, the school board decided that students should be allowed to read any book they choose to complete assignments for honors and college prep programs. Honors students were required to read two books from the recommended list before entering ninth grade; college prep students were required to read one.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is on the Blue Hen List of contemporary, young adult literature compiled by Delaware’s librarians to keep students reading throughout the summer months. The Henlopen school had adopted the list for summer reading assignments.

In June, when the book was removed from the high school reading list, Browseabout Books [17] in Rehoboth Beach, began giving free copies of the book to inquiring teens. The store’s efforts received strong support [18] from the local community, the pop culture website AfterEllen, and the Kids’ Right to Read Project [19], among others.

Macmillan Expands Public Library E-Lending Pilot Program

Macmillan Publishers announced this week that it will be making its full collection of e-books published in the last 12 months available to lending libraries. Until now, the pilot program, which launched in March 2013, included all Macmillan e-books published 12 or more months ago. With the addition of its frontlist, Macmillan will have approximately 15,000 books available in its public library lending program and will continue to add new books weekly. Frontlist e-book titles will be made available on the same day they go on sale in the retail market.

Macmillan’s frontlist titles will be offered to libraries under the 2 year/52 lend model currently in place for backlist. Frontlist titles will be available to order in early August.