ABA Offices Will Be Site of Booksellers Forum in April

The American Booksellers Association is extending an invitation to booksellers in the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) region, as well as to booksellers in Connecticut, for a Booksellers Forum to be held at ABA's offices in Tarrytown, New York, on Wednesday, April 14. The gathering, held in conjunction with NAIBA, will be hosted by ABA Board member John Bennett of Wyckoff, New Jersey's Bennett Books, ABA's CEO Avin Mark Domnitz and COO Oren Teicher, as well as other association staff.

The day's program will begin with a Book Sense gift card demonstration at 11:00 a.m., where staff will explain how the gift card works and how easy it is to get started. The presentation will include specific case studies of bookstores' experiences this past holiday season.

The gift card demonstration will be followed by the Booksellers Forum at noon. Booksellers at the forum will hear updates on ABA programs and services including the sales tax initiative, efforts to amend the USA Patriot Act, programming for BookExpo America, Book Sense and plans for its fifth birthday celebration, and the 2004 ABACUS study. Open discussion and questions are encouraged at the forum to help ABA formulate future initiatives. Lunch will be provided.

Immediately following the forum, Domnitz will be available for one-on-one meetings with booksellers to demonstrate how easy it is to submit financial data to the 2004 ABACUS study. (To set up an appointment, booksellers should send an e-mail to avin@bookweb.org. For more information about ABACUS, click here.)

Booksellers planning to attend the Tarrytown forum are asked to RSVP to ABA's Kristen Gilligan at (800) 637-0037, ext. 1286 or at kristen@bookweb.org.

All booksellers attending the forum will be entered into a drawing to win a Grand Prize of hotel accommodations and admission to BookExpo America for the next five years.

Here's a recap of the schedule for the upcoming ABA/NAIBA forum:

Wednesday, April 14, 2004
11:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
ABA Offices, 828 S. Broadway, Tarrytown, New York
(914) 591-2665; (800) 637-0037
Web: www.bookweb.org

• 11:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. -- Book Sense Gift Card Demonstration
  
• Noon - 1:45 p.m. -- ABA/NAIBA Open Forum
  
• 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. -- One-on-One ABACUS Tutorials
  

For the complete Winter/Spring 2004 ABA Booksellers Forum schedule, click here. To read about the February forum held in conjunction with NAIBA in Washington, D.C., click here.