About ABA

ABA has announced that the successful Prescription for Reading program will be expanding to include a number of other organizations providing services for children. These include daycare centers, preschools, nursery schools, independent pharmacies, local Y's, day camps, senior citizen centers, or any organization that serves parents or grandparents of young children.

A majority of independent bookstores have shown sales increases during the first six months of 2002, as compared to the same period in 2001. The finding, the result of a recent ABA survey, continues a three-year trend, which has seen a majority of independent bookstores realizing increases over a comparable prior sales period.

Win a color inkjet printer at the upcoming fall regional trade shows. At the upcoming fall regional trade shows, ABA is offering independent booksellers programming that includes sessions on financial operations and succession planning.

A panel has been added to the program at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Fall Trade Show, which will run from September 13 - 15 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. On Friday, September 13, from 10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m., show goers can attend a combined session of "What's New at Book Sense" and "How to Use the New Electronic Book Buyer's Handbook."

This fall, when ABA joins independent booksellers attending the regional trade associations' shows, there will be a special emphasis on education and on showcasing two major ABA initiatives, the online ABA Book Buyer's Handbook and the enhanced options for reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller List. The educational programming that will be offered by ABA at regionals this fall features:

On July 25, First Lady Laura Bush and Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced that the second National Book Festival would be held in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, October 12, 2002. "America was transformed three days after the first National Book Festival was held September 8, 2001," Mrs. Bush said in a statement. "But one thing that did not change was our love of spending time with friends and family -- especially our children.

This past May, the American Bookseller Association's insurance program, LIBRIS, launched its new publisher's liability insurance program at BookExpo America in New York City. According to Publishers Program Manager Patrick Haller, LIBRIS offers a competitively priced and comprehensive policy that is underwritten by Philadelphia Insurance Companies. "Just as we did for independent booksellers, we have created a package of coverage based on the specific needs of independent publishers," said Haller.

The ABA Board held its summer meeting at the association's headquarters in Tarrytown, New York, from July 12-14. In addition, the ABA Strategic Planning Committee met in Tarrytown on Friday, July 12. Together with the members of the ABA Board, the committee includes two non-Board members, currently Timothy Huggins of Newtonville Books in Newton, Massachusetts, and Fran Keilty of Atticus Bookstore in Middletown and New Haven, Connecticut.

ABA member booksellers recently received a letter with full details of the recent launch of the Book Buyer’s Handbook Online, the fully searchable electronic edition of the Book Buyer’s Handbook. The new online edition of the Handbook is available to all ABA bookstore and associate members at BookWeb.org, the association member Web site. Note that the handbook icon is now on the main navigation bar on the left-hand side of BookWeb.org’s home page.

This week, comments from booksellers on print versus online publishing of BTW. Please send us your comments, suggestions, and queries. In addition, we are pleased to consider all letters to the editor for publication. Contact BTW Editor Dan Cullen at dan@bookweb.org or (800) 637-0037, ext. 1250.