Northern California Forum Reflects 'Spirit of Partnership'

Well-attended ABA/NCIBA Booksellers Forum.

On Wednesday, February 18, approximately 45 booksellers attended an ABA Booksellers Forum, held in conjunction with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA), at the regional's office in The Presidio in San Francisco. The forum was conducted by COO Oren Teicher, with ABA Board member Neal Coonerty of Bookshop Santa Cruz. Among the key topics discussed at the forum was the Book Sense Gift Card Program, Book Sense marketing program, Book Sense at Five, sales tax fairness, and the petition drive to amend the USA Patriot Act.

"I thought the forum was extremely well attended," said NCIBA Executive Director Hut Landon. "There were several booksellers new to this meeting. The fact that people are interested in what's going on is definitely a good sign."

The forum began with a Book Sense gift card demonstration. "Showing how [the Book Sense gift card] works was helpful," Landon noted. "Everyone who saw it said it was easy…. The gift card [demonstration] was useful and productive."

Forum attendee Lilla Weinberger of Readers' Books in Sonoma, California, said, "There was a lot of interest in the gift card and how people did over the holidays." She said of her own experience with the gift cards over the holidays: "They worked great. I was just amazed at how it went. We just had to figure out a few little mechanical things … but staff training took a total of maybe 10 minutes."

Chris Dunnbier of Toyon Books in Healdsburg, California, said that he "appreciated how far [ABA] has taken the gift card program."

Following the gift card demonstration, there was an open forum where booksellers discussed a number of issues. "I think the thing that got the most attention was Book Sense," said Weinberger. "[There was] talk about new ideas to make the program even more exciting," including plans for Book Sense at Five.

Ken White of the San Francisco State University Bookstore said there was an interesting discussion regarding how the Book Sense program is a framework that booksellers can use to do their marketing. "Book Sense is what you make of it," White said. "The onus is on the bookseller to report to the bestseller list [for example] -- the bookseller has to participate. There is a national component that ABA manages, but regionally, the store has to do that."

ABA's ongoing effort to ensure Internet sales tax fairness was also a topic of discussion. Toyon's Dunnbier said that Teicher reported on how Amazon.com is now collecting sales tax in Kansas, where the online retailing giant has an automated distribution center.

Another topic was the Campaign for Reader Privacy (CRP), a nationwide grassroots effort to restore safeguards for the privacy of bookstore and library records eliminated by Section 215 o f the USA Patriot Act. The centerpiece of CRP, which is sponsored by ABA, the American Library Association, and PEN American Center, is a petition drive that is being conducted in bookstores, libraries, and via the Web at www.readerprivacy.org.

"Many of the [booksellers in attendance] had the petitions and said they were really thrilled with the response," said Nick Petrulakis of Books, Inc. in San Franscisco. "Some people had the petition in their window and said people were coming in off the street to sign. I picked up a bunch of [petitions]" at the forum.

Overall, the Booksellers Forum had a "real collegial feeling about it," Weinberger told BTW. "All the discussions were in the spirit of partnership. It reaffirmed that the best thing is being all together."

Dunnbier echoed Weinberger's sentiments. "It's nice to see that there are others that do this with the same passion," he said. --David Grogan