Advocacy

On Thursday, September 12, the California Board of Equalization (BOE) issued a Memorandum Opinion stating that Barnesandnoble.com was obligated to pay California back use taxes for a period of four-plus months -- from November 15, 1999, to March 31, 2000. BOE ruled that, because the bricks-and-mortar Barnes & Noble stores were offering customers coupons that discounted purchases made at its online store, Barnesandnoble.com had established a physical presence, or nexus, in the state of California.

Throughout the U.S. this month and next, the importance of reading is taking center stage as 22 State Centers for the Book help to promote the upcoming National Book Festival, to be held in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, October 12, 2002. In Arkansas and Minnesota, state Centers for the Book are doing this with help from independent booksellers.

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.

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.

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Established in 1966, Washington, D.C.-based Reading Is Fundamental is the nation’s oldest and largest children’s literacy organization. In May, it capped its 35th anniversary with a "National Reading Celebration," which featured special events at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington during RIF’s annual Reading Is Fun Week, which ran from May 5-12.

Big crowds were moving through the trade show floor all day Saturday collecting galleys, autographs, and totebags.

Booksellers around the country have more reasons than ever to sign on to the 2002 Prescription for Reading marketing program. This year, Prescription for Reading is sponsored by a partnership of ABA, Book Sense, Chronicle Books, Baker & Taylor, and the Pizza Hut® BOOK IT!® Program. All of these partners have a strong interest in improving literacy and the general well-being of children.

Bookselling This Week is pleased to report that, after our Citywide Book Club list went online March 13, we received many e-mails from both libraries and booksellers detailing their own particular community book-reading efforts. Additionally, the Library of Congress (LOC), www.loc.gov/cfbook/, now has a listing of Citywide Book Clubs, and some community efforts were added or updated using information from LOC’s Web site. The result has seen the list expand from 45 different community-reading initiatives to 65.

It’s doubtful that either Nancy Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library (WCB), or Chris Higashi, associate director for WCB, realized just how influential an idea they had conceived when they launched "If All of Seattle Reads the Same Book" in 1996. Today, over 50 cities, counties, or states have begun programs that encourage communities to read the same book at the same time and then to discuss it in numerous venues.