By Maria Bustillos, Julie Fauble and Greg Williams On April 27th and 28th, UCLA hosted the 7th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. As in previous years, the event featured scores of authors (noteworthy and otherwise), signing their works and just strolling around UCLA’s beautiful campus. Attendees could drop in on dozens of lectures, workshops and readings. The festival also featured hundreds of booths, with exhibitors from every aspect of the book industry, new and used bookstores, large and small publishers, well-known and obscure authors, comic books and literary magazines. Virtually any enterprise associated with the printed word had a presence at the Festival, and the IOBA was no exception. The IOBA shared a booth with Popula, and spent a busy weekend passing out flyers, answering questions, recruiting new members and spreading the word to the thousands of people who passed by. Below are the recollections and reminiscences of three IOBA members who volunteered their time and energy to help get the word out. The Festival of Books was such an overwhelmingly positive experience that the IOBA has already scheduled a second outreach event. The IOBA will be exhibiting May 18th and 19th at the Glendale International Book, Print and Paper Fair, (url: http://www.americanbookfairs.com/glendalem02.html ). All members are invited to come out, help the IOBA spread the word to our colleagues in the profession, and meet your fellow IOBA members in person. It’s bound to be a great time, and we’re looking forward to seeing you there. MARIA BUSTILLOS (Popula) We met and chatted with many, many booksellers and interesting (and sometimes bizarre!) collectors. We were offered soup. We met our IOBA colleagues and entirely heroic and worthy fellow volunteers Mary Watanabe and Greg Williams (who looks like one of those really handsome young movie stars, Jason Lee maybe). We had our hands kissed, and later we were all hugged by this other and far weirder guy. We gave out tons of IOBA literature, and signed up new members. We saw George Plimpton. And, (sit down if not seated already)… We met the incomparable Regards, Jeff. I am Not Kidding. Having given little thought to the possibility of meeting inhabitants of heaven until sometime later, I had formed no idea of the physiognomy of my hero. Suffice it to say that Regards, Jeff, in the flesh, had much the same effect on your humble servant as David Bowie did in 1974. My shrieks of sheer unbounded rapture and amazement woke not only the dead, but nearly everyone in the Valley as well. Mary Watanabe had to give me a time out, and later somewhat dryly remarked that I had made the place sound like a Chuck E. Cheese’s (sorry, Mary.) JULIE FAUBLE (Century Books) I can’t believe the size of the event — tons of booths and people. Our booth is sort of out in the hinterlands, but the streams of people going by are constant. It’s a little bit chilly Saturday, with a small threat of rain. I’m frankly appalled. This is L.A. after all, where the sun is supposed to shine nonstop. Besides which, I forgot to pack an appropriate sweater. The weather deters no one from the event, and the people come by in waves. Mary Watanabe is early on the scene, and we arm her with flyers (one designed for dealers, another for consumers called the “Book Buyers Bill of Rights”). Almost no one gets by her without taking one. It takes us a little while to get our patter down, but eventually it starts to flow. We begin by asking people if they buy books on the Internet. A few look at us with horror in their eyes, as if we’d just asked if they eat babies raw. They skitter away from us as quickly as they can. A few answer with a quiet “not yet” and a wary look in their eyes. They’re obviously just waiting for an excuse to be tempted, and we try our best to oblige. We sing the praises of the Internet and assure them that if they go to IOBA member dealers, they’ll have wonderful book-buying experiences. Most, however, answer that they buy online now and then, mentioning Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and a few brave souls answer with a hearty “all the time.” We cheer these folks for their good sense and then quickly tell them all about IOBA, why they should buy from IOBA dealers and mention some of the many ways in which they can deal with sellers directly. A handful of people tell us they sell online, too, and we make certain they know about IOBA and direct them to check out our description definitions and other online resources. Sunday morning, I remembered to bring my business cards. Armed with those and a handful of IOBA brochures, I made some rounds through the booths. My first stop was Roger Gozdecki at The Book Shop. Yowch! What a way to start the day! Roger politely raked me over the coals with some excellent questions, such as “Why should an ABAA member join the IOBA?” Why indeed? Here¹s the answer I gave him (minus all the errs, ums, stutters and stumblings): ABAA members have a vested interest in IOBA’s mission of education for dealers and creating a safer, more stable online marketplace for consumers, which creates a better marketplace for all dealers. All of us have experienced fallout from the influx of dealers who either don’t know or don’t care about professional standards of description or customer service. Bad experiences scare customers out of the marketplace, and even those who buy again are wary, creating more work for the rest of us, in order to overcome their concerns. For the dealers who don’t know better, we can educate them. We can help them be better sellers and in the process make the marketplace better for everyone. We can’t do much about the dealers who don’t care, but we can give consumers the tools to recognize the bad apples, so they can patronize the dealers who will give them the best book-buying experience. That was the most interesting bit of the conversation, or at least the interesting bit that I remember well enough to repeat. Suffice it to say, I survived my grilling, and we parted on a congenial note. After that I visited a few more booths, chatted up a couple more people, looked at lots of books (bought one — an admirable show of restraint, IMO) and wished that I could just attend as a regular consumer and spend as many hours as I wanted wandering about. But no such luck! It was back to the booth and the hordes of people, all eager for more information about buying online (some responded a little too enthusiastically – Maria acquired some interesting admirers!. It was exhausting, but a great experience. GREG WILLIAMS (Greg Williams, Bookseller) I walked to the Festival from my humble Westwood abode, leaving our cat to entertain herself with her paranoid hallucinations and psychotic episodes (our cat is a disturbed individual). It was a cooler, overcast day, the kind about which most Angelenos gripe incessantly, but for which my North Dakota relatives would give their frostbitten right arms. I decided to enter campus from the South, so I could stroll through as much of the Festival grounds as possible on my way to the IOBA booth (a fateful decision, as it turned out…). Entering campus, the Parking Services folks were out in force, performing their daily miracle of directing hundreds of cars into the campus’s 14 or so available parking spaces. I passed the Student Store where people were already lining up for former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden’s appearance several hours hence. I entered the festival grounds proper and traipsed my way through the Dance Building courtyard, up the Janss steps into the famous Royce Hall quad (trust me, you’ve seen it in dozens of movies, TV shows and commercials). Even at this early hour, the Festival was hopping, throngs of people already laden with armfuls of biblio-swag, and lining up to get their books signed by a wide spectrum of authors and personalities (within the space of 5 minutes, I passed booths featuring Ray Bradbury, Michael Connelly and Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek). I crossed over to Schoenberg Plaza, a section where most of the children-oriented booths were located. I shuddered a bit, as the sight of the kids’ area brought up long-repressed memories; one year, Festival organizers had invited the Oscar Mayer weinermobile, and the friendly frankfurter folks had handed out free plastic hot dog-shaped whistles to all the tots in attendance. The resulting, constant high-pitched whistling cacophony was the soundtrack to my nightmares for many months afterwards. Thankfully, however, this year there would be nothing more offensive than Barney singing his innocuous purple-dinosaur claptrap. I had enjoyed my little stroll, but when I finally arrived at the IOBA booth, I learned I had paid a high price indeed; I had missed Regards, Jeff’s descent from Olympus by mere moments. Maria Bustillos was still overcome with the glory of His presence, and Julie Fauble was only now starting to ventilate normally. Alternatively reverent and hysteric, they recounted the visitation, struggling to describe the glory of the divine using our woefully inadequate mortal vocabulary. A sense of calm finally prevailed, and formal introductions were made. I’d corresponded with Maria and Julie previously, and was very happy to finally meet them in person. I was also quite pleased to meet Mary Watanabe of Affordable Books & Collectibles, another IOBA member who had volunteered to help staff the booth. We all quickly fell into a comfortable and enjoyable chattiness, swapping stories and comparing opinions on everything under the sun. I quickly picked up on the hooks Julie, Mary and Maria were employing to lure people to our booth, and in no time, I was out in the thick of it, intercepting folks as they passed by, and herding ’em into the tent. We had a really eclectic mix of people interested in the IOBA. Soon after I arrived, a professor from the UCLA English Department stopped by and started to chat. As it turned out he, taught a class at UCLA on the history of the book, which covered everything from the development of the bookbinders’ craft, to the history of the publishing companies to modern-day bookselling practices. He was particularly interested in used booksellers (both online and B&M), and was extremely keen on checking out the IOBA. As the day progressed, we entertained and enlightened numerous other people. We encountered several booksellers who were glad to learn about us, and were quite excited about joining the organization. There were also many people who seemed excited to meet us for other, although less wholesome reasons; one gentleman extracted several hugs from the ladies present, and even got me to engage in a lingering embrace (the tease…I’m sure he’ll never call). We also got to meet a couple of our colleagues and friends from the Bibliophile list, including Ken Fermoyle (bookseller and writer), who stopped by for a nice chat, and was gracious enough to pose for a photo. As I talked to more and more people, it really struck me that even amongst a crowd of people who had gathered to celebrate their love and appreciation of books, a very large number of them had *never* purchased a book (new or used) online. Even amongst the minority who had, many bought primarily through Amazon or B&N, and hadn’t ever worked directly with the bookseller on the other end of the transaction. As I heard the same responses over and over, I realized that there’s a *huge* untapped customer-base out there, people who love books, people who love to read, but who just need a *little* bit of nudging before they’ll jump into the world of online book buying. It was a real eye-opener for me, and I’m more thankful than ever to be a part of the IOBA, an organization that is actively trying to reach out to these people, to educate, assure and cultivate these potential customers. It was a very pleasant afternoon, and the time passed very quickly. We passed out numerous flyers and talked to a lot of people, and by the time I departed, I felt really good about our efforts to get the word out about the IOBA. Most of all, however, I was very happy to have met Maria, Julie and Mary in person, and I hope that at future IOBA events, I’ll have the opportunity to meet even more of my fellow members.

Email: leemillerbooks@twcny.rr.com By Shirley Bryant I became interested in the Lost Colony when I was living on Roanoke Island working on a completely separate project about the history of the Secotan Indian people. Especially during the winter when the island is deserted except for locals, there used to be a great, lonely, almost bleak feel that made the tragedies that occurred there that much more vivid. I liked that – it’s harder to get that feel there lately with so much development. I realized that most of the people who had worked on the problem were British historians/scholars of British history and not Indian experts – yet Roanoke became an Indian story once the colonists left the island and entered the territory of various nations. My expertise is the Indian southeast, so I wanted to tackle the problem to see if I could understand it differently by looking at it from a new angle. What I discovered was shocking! Which is that there was not one mystery, but two and that to claim to solve the mystery of the Lost Colony, fully three questions had to be answered: 1) Why were the colonists lost? 2) Why were they neverfound? 3) Where were they? Question number one was never answered by historians, other than to brush the question away with illogical arguments that were too easily refuted.Yet the evidence was there…the colonists (116 men, women, and children) were in trouble from the moment they left England. What had gone wrong? We also know that Jamestown search parties were sent looking for them years later and found them. Jamestown officials and officials in England knew exactly where they were – yet no rescue was undertaken and instead there was a cover-up.Yet despite this evidence, for over sixty years, historians have preferred to tell us that the Powhatan nation of the Chesapeake Bay killed the colonists. It simply didn’t happen. So why have 85% of the original documents – the evidence, the clues – been discarded? Maybe that’s another mystery. The third and final question took a bit of ethnohistorical detective work and really brings out a very complex picture of the Indian southeast – an area that generally gets skipped over in most history books or, at best, is portrayed in a flat, simplistic manner. But this was a vibrant, multi-layered region with very strong mercantile nations within it with their own systems of power and politics and agendas that were every bit as much a reckoning force as England. I’ve since received a whole lot of fan mail from lawyers – and even a comment from someone in the FBI – that Roanoke is a great piece of detective work and were it presented as a case at the bar…would probably win. The praise has been great. But the Lost Colony has never before been approached like the detective story it is: it is America’s oldest mystery! It is a missing persons case on a colossal scale and primary evidence (primary documentation) cannot be ignored. From this point forward, solutions can no longer be offered that do not answer all three questions or ‘make sense’ only by throwing out most of the data. I believe that you wrote another book called ” From The Heart” which was a companion book to the Kevin Costner CBS documentary “500 Nations”. How did you get involved in that project? Can you tell us about that book? I was an Indian consultant and had been consulting for the Library of Congress in Washington and was hired by Kevin’s director for 500 Nations, Jack Leustig, to be the Head of Research for the show.I was, but I also helped shape and write it, and title the show. At first, the idea was to release two companion books. Mine was to be called ‘500 Nations, the Voices’ and the second was going to deal with our script minus the historical quotes. However, the publisher decided that both books should have quotes and history and so the project evolved quite differently. My part of the two resulting companion books was my “From the Heart”, which deals a powerful punch by looking at Indian heroes, those who gave their lives in the face of genocide so that others might live.A very inspiring book, and one I wrote for Indian kids especially to let them know that people in the past cared enough about them to give the ultimate gift so that they might live and be strong in their traditions.That’s why I called it “From the Heart”.Its greatest strength is that SO MANY nations are covered – about 350 – giving voice, in many cases, to nations long without one, and long regarded as extinct. I wanted them to come to life and to let people know that there were Indian nations in every spot of hallowed ground in this country. The second book, “500 Nations”, edited by Alvin Josephy, is a text drawn from 900 pages of our script for 500 Nations. It was a hefty project, researching and writing, which took us four years to complete. Have you written other books besides these two and, if so, have they always involved history and/or Native Americans, in one form or another? Have you written about native peoples from other countries? And, have you had other types of written works published? After writing “500 Nations”, I published my first book, “From the Heart”. Next, I wrote a special for Fox TV about Egypt and published my second book, “Roanoke”, which took three years to research and write. My third book will be released this fall by Arcade (a publishing house I really like), and I am currently at work on a fourth.No, my books are not all about Indian subjects, my third is not at all, but deals with South America and eventually I would like to write fiction. Have you always been interested in Native Americans and history? In other words, what interests, education, or happenings turned you in the direction of writing about this area? Have you always written non-fiction books? Are you at all interested in fiction, whether writing it or reading it? Yes, I have always written non-fiction. I am a voracious reader and read a strange assortment of the classics, mysteries, and some current fiction and non-fiction. As for writing it, I would love to and keep ‘threatening’ my publisher that when the next non-fiction is finished… then we’ll see. Do you have a Native American heritage, yourself? If so, what tribe, and are you active in tribal affairs or life? I am active with an adopted nation, but it’s difficult to do much beyond writing these days and I have an even larger commitment to environmental affairs. I’m creating a nature preserve, and working on reforestation projects, which keeps me too busy! How did you first decide to become an author? How difficult was it to get your first book published? Did you have an agent for that first book? I decided to become an author after my stint on Roanoke Island. I wanted very much to write what I knew about the Secotan, and not simply as a dry piece of scholarship. I decided I should try writing a historical novel, which I did. I knew nothing about writing then, and it was rejected but, as I laughingly say, the rejection was so encouraging that it motivated me instead of causing me to give up. I knew then that I wanted to keep writing.It is extremely difficult for first-time writers to get published. My expertise led to my work on 500 Nations. The director, Jack Leustig, gave me a wonderful gift by giving me a chance. They said, “Yes, but CAN you write?” And I said, ” Let me try, I’ll show you. “It’s hard to get that first opportunity. Jack’s kindness was my break and my writing carried me through. “From the Heart” was published in the U.K. by Random House and in 1997 when I began work on “Roanoke”, I flew to London and met with my editor. I pitched the idea and he said, “Brilliant! Write it” (or something to that effect), I did and they published it, which is why it came out in the U.K. first. I understand that you have become good friends with Andras Bereznay, historical mapmaker, who you are interviewing for us for this newsletter.Tell us a bit about how you and Andras became acquainted, and if you think the two of you will cooperate on future endeavors. Andras had worked on maps for Random House UK previously and they recommended him for “Roanoke”.We had to email quite a bit to talk about how we wanted the maps to look and Andras is one of those people whose personality can’t help bursting through even on the most mundane subjects -so while we’re discussing how far west to extend a swamp, he’s regaling me with ludicrous anecdotes about beating the Communist system in Hungary or people’s behaviors.He’s a great study of character, as well as a brilliant historical cartographer, so it’s been an enjoyable experience and anything but dull! Yes, I do think he will make maps for my books in the future. I much prefer his work to any others in his field who I know about. I understand that one of your favorite reading areas is books on trees? Now, how do you get from Native Americans to trees? :>) Have you ever written a book about trees? Tell us about this interest, please! I don’t read books on trees–I’m an experimental planter. I’ve been working with our own woods, which are quite diseased from heavy logging by the previous owner. I’ve been looking at traditional Indian forestry methods and applying them here to combat the many problems we see. It is, without a doubt, the single most fulfilling ‘hobby’ I’ve ever had and if I had my way, I’d be doing this full-time. I suppose most people feel like this about their hobbies.The proceeds from all of my books, however, go into land -ultimately to buy and preserve land from development and to reintroduce endangered species on it. This includes endangered trees as well as animals. I also have a small nursery, which I plan to expand over the next several years into something quite a bit larger and eventually into a full tree farm. Aside from being a voracious reader, what are some of your other interests and activities? I think I answered this above: trees and animals and land preservation. I’d like to get my wildlife rehabilitator’s license before very much more time goes by. I also have a foundation called the Native Learning Foundation whose purpose is to create culture emersion summer camps and schools for Indian kids. I work on all of these projects simultaneously…though the trees have been taking most of what little spare time I seem to have. I deem the environment critical and yes, I do plan a book about it. Any advice for aspiring authors? When I wanted to become an author, I got two pieces of advice.One was the ever optimistic – if you work hard enough, you can do it! And the other was the more jaded – make sure you have a great day job because it’s too hard to get published. I suppose that advice somewhere in between unbounded optimism and crippling pessimism is the right note because the truth is, it is very, very difficult to get published and once that has happened, there are whole new slews of worries which make it a very precarious career. We could use more patrons of the arts, as it can be a long, slow process.It is much like the Olympics – requiring long, hard hours, day after day, of putting nearly everything aside in a single-minded purpose to achieve, the knowledge that even having done all that, victory may not be realized. If that drive is still there (for the Olympic skater who wins the medal got there by falling hard many, many times), then write! To get published, get your name out, pursue a skill that gives you an ‘in’, and meet people. Have the optimism to push ahead and, like the athlete, be ready for the defeat. And then pick yourself back up. Lee, please tell us anything you wish about you, and thanks so much for allowing us to interview you! You’re welcome. My thanks go to you, too.

In the summer of 1977, I was taking classes in a writing program at Goddard College, a small school in the Vermont woods where Raymond Carver was teaching before he became famous and Richard Ford was one of Carver’s students. Young writers who visited that year included Tim O’Brien — who hadn’t yet published Going After Cacciato , his National Book Award winner — and Ann Beattie, whose first books had just recently been published. Trying to focus on writing makes one an appreciative reader: that summer I read John McPhee’s Coming Into the Country and it was the first time I recognized how much work must go into his writing which, to a reader, seems so effortless and transparent, lacking in artifact and affect. In this frame of mind I wandered into a small bookstore in Montpelier — Bear Pond Books (now in larger quarters across the street) — and spotted a book in the New Fiction section — Ceremony , by Leslie Marmon Silko. I’d never heard of the book or author, but the earth tones of the dust jacket were attractive to me, and Silko’s mixed-blood Indian heritage intriguing. Ceremony tells the story of a group of Indian World War II veterans in a way that both describes them and also expresses their own views of their situations. To accomplish this, Silko had to bridge a very considerable chasm: to use the form of the novel and the words that are its medium to reveal a world that arises out of an oral, not written, tradition — one in which signs and omens, and various non-verbal perceptions, feelings, intuitions and sensations carry a weight and meaning unknown to Euro-centric society. I was stunned by the book: Silko succeeded at something so subtle and so profound that most novelists, I felt, would not have even thought to attempt such a thing — let alone have been able to accomplish it. Ceremony did more than revive my faith in the novel: it expanded it. Years later, in an interview in which she was asked what the most difficult part of being a writer had been for her, Silko responded that she had found the effort to be faithful to the storytelling traditions of her grandparents and other forebears, while committing the words permanently to a page, had been much more arduous than she had expected. It was then that she realized, she said, how disparate the cultures were, and how much effort was required to pull them together — to get some of the content of one into the form of the other. Discovering Ceremony sparked for me the question of how much other writing there was like this, and had other Native American writers faced the same kinds of challenges and mastered them as convincingly as Silko had done? I quickly encountered N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn , which had won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1969, and James Welch’s novel, Winter in the Blood . After that, it got more difficult. The anthology The Man to Send Rain Clouds had been published in 1974 and contained short fiction by Silko as well as some writers I hadn’t heard of — Simon Ortiz, Anna Lee Walters, and others. Several anthologies of Native American poetry had also been published in the early 70s — Voices of the Rainbow , Carriers of the Dream Wheel and Come to Power . From these I encountered more writers, many of whom seemed to deal with the kinds of issues of identity — social, political, cultural and metaphysical — that Silko’s book raised. But there were not many Indian writers, or novels, to be found. Welch and Silko were among the first of a new wave of Indian writers after Momaday’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Since they began publishing to wide critical acclaim, the floodgates have been opened. There are dozens of Native American writers publishing fiction these days, and even more publishing poetry. Louise Erdrich’s novels are bestsellers upon publication. Joseph Bruchac has embarked on an ambitious project to create the first sequence of historical fiction depicting life in America prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Robert Conley has written numerous well-received Westerns. Paula Gunn Allen has become well-known for both her feminist poetry and her scholarly critiques, while Gerald Vizenor is famous for his postmodern fiction and his literary and cultural criticism. Thomas King has blended a comic sensibility with the tragic historical facts that permeate Native American history to create a modern analogue of the tribal storyteller — whose words remember and honor the past and also provide a means of healing from the injuries of it. Martin Cruz Smith is a bestselling thriller writer. And Sherman Alexie — poet, novelist, screenwriter — was named by both Granta magazine and The New Yorker as one of the 20 best young American novelists. As James Welch wrote, comparing the present day to the time when he and other young Indian writers like Silko and Ortiz were working in near-total isolation from each other, “now you can’t shake a tree without two or three Indian writers falling out. And the best part of this renaissance is that these writers are good.” Native American writers have become ubiquitous and important in a wide enough variety of fields and disciplines that it almost begs the question as to whether there really is a “Native American literature” any more, or if these writers deserve to be considered simply as “writers,” with no ethnic qualifier. There is no one answer to that question, I think, but the fact that Native American literature has the possibility of aspiring to, and sometimes even achieving, a kind of cultural transcendence that the mainstream literature cannot generally approach, because of its being rooted in the prevailing cultural assumptions, suggests that we would do well to remember the sources of this work, even when the form no longer requires that those roots be visible. Native American literature should be seen, I think, as not a subset of American literature but an expansion of it. The best writing by Native American authors has shown us a kind of transcendence we didn’t even know was possible, and a kind of redemption we didn’t even know we needed.

Current Trends in the Used Book Market By Susan Siegel Book Hunter Press Back in 1992 when David and I started Book Hunter Press, building a database of used book dealers was fairly straightforward. Dealers generally fit neatly into three categories: open shops, by appointment or chance dealers, and mail order only dealers. While there was some overlap between the categories, by and large, anyone interested in selling used books had three business models to choose from. Not anymore. The Internet has changed all that. For dealers, the Internet has opened up an array of new selling options and, at the same time, given dealers the ability to choose a business model that suits their personalities and meets their diverse lifestyle needs. These same changes have also presented Book Hunter Press with an ongoing challenge: to develop new systems for gathering information about a constantly changing marketplace and disseminating that information in a timely manner to book hunters throughout the world. Three e-mails in today’s inbox illustrate how we are meeting that challenge. In the first e-mail, a dealer informed us that after three years operating an open shop, she would be closing her store at the end of May, relocating to another state and reopening as an Internet only dealer. From the long list of reasons why shops close, this closing fit into the “good news” column: Romance. The owner was combining households with the person she has had a long distance relationship with. For this dealer, both the relocation and change in dealer status will be noted in the upcoming printed Supplement to the Used Book Lover’s Guide to the Pacific Coast States . Once the shop is officially closed, the changes will be uploaded to the online version of the Guide. The second e-mail came in the form of a “Dealer Information Form” from our web site and provided us with a new listing for a recently opened store in Nebraska. By next week, the information will be uploaded to the Used Book Lover’s Guide to the Central/Western States database and anyone searching for used bookstores in Nebraska will be able to add this shop to their visit list. Unfortunately, the third e-mail returned my earlier message as “undeliverable” and confirmed my suspicion that after the owner’s death a few months ago, the store was not likely to continue in business. If there’s no response to our follow up postcard, the store will be deleted from the database and listed as “closed” in the next printed Supplement to the Used Book Lover’s Guide to the South Atlantic States . (Before deleting a closed store from the database, we try to learn whether the dealer is continuing in business as either a by appointment or mail order/Internet only dealer.) Several other changes were made to the database that day, including a Pennsylvania store that moved within the same city, adding new listings for open shops in Indiana and Missouri, changing the addresses for two dealers who relocated out of state, adding a new area code in Michigan, updating several e-mail addresses, and changing the hours for an open shop.Current TrendsTaking into account all the additions, deletions and dealer category changes that have taken place over the past 10 years, the bottom line reflects a steadily increasing number of used book dealers, and perhaps even more important, a steady stream of new brick and mortar shops. As the figures in Table I show, between 1993-1996 and 1997-2000 there was an 18% increase in the total number of dealers and, over the same time period, a 13% in the number of open shops. Between 2000 and the first quarter of 2002, while the overall number of dealers has continued to increase, with the exception of New England which continues to show a net GAIN in open shops, there has been a slight (4%) decrease in the number of open shops. Of the 362 new open shop listings added to the Book Hunter Press database after the most recent edition of the regional Used Book Lover’s Guide was printed, 160 of the 362 opened after 1996 and many of the new shops were opened by dealers who, prior to 1996, sold books on a by appointment or mail order basis. The new owners range from enthusiastic and energetic young couples in their twenties to retirees who are realizing a life long dream of owning a bookstore. We’ve also spoken to many new owners in their 40’s and 50’s who were simply “burned-out” in their previous jobs and made a lifestyle choice to “do what I enjoy doing.” (Profiles of some of these new owners can be found on our web site. Follow the “Report on the Used Book Market” link.) Will all these new stores succeed? Probably not. But chances are many will. I still remember visiting an enthusiastic young man in 1992 only a few months after his store had opened. Today, three locations later, the same dealer is a member of the ABAA. Will more long established stores close? Probably yes. Sometimes we forget that many of these dealers are in their sixties and seventies and are looking forward to retirement, and in some cases, their second retirement. Thanks to the Internet, some will continue in the business as part time mail order dealers, spending the rest of their time traveling, on the golf course, enjoying their grandchildren and no doubt reading all the books they never had time to read. Will there be a shakeout of dealers — in all categories — and possibly a leveling off of growth? Probably. When and how much, that I can’t predict. However, based on past experience, I believe there will also be a healthy number of new dealers (including new open shops) starting up. I just hope that David and I can continue keeping track of everything and everybody. 1 Included in these figures are dealers who sell at least some used hardcover books and whose business has been verified by phone, snail mail, email or personal visit. They do not include paperback exchanges that are 100% paperback, dealers who sell only at book fairs, dealers who have not responded to our inquires and whose business operations could not be verified and relatively new Internet only dealers who did not inform us of their business. If you’re not currently listed in our database, we invite you to complete the online Dealer Electronic Form on our web site, www.bookhunterpress.com,and let us know about your business. The database includes open shops, by appointment and mail order/Internet dealers, as well as dealers who display in multi dealer antique malls. And — there’s NO CHARGE for the listing.

By: Lee Miller, author of Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony. Andras did the maps for this book, which can be seen on his site: http://www.historyonmaps.com/ The difference is roughly similar to that between a music composer and a performer. A historical cartographer is the composer (combined with a director) who has a proper appreciation of historical events, their significance, context, time and location, and who puts these details that he deems relevant to a specific theme, issue, or need on a map. The historical cartographer decides what is to be featured and the way to feature it, and then provides the cartographer/performer with instructions. The cartographer completes the map on the basis of these instructions. (I am an historical cartographer who happens to unite both roles in himself:that of the historian who devises/compiles the map, and that of the cartographer). What is your background? How did you get started in the mapmaking business? For hard to fathom reasons I became strongly drawn to maps at the age of 8. It had a near ecstatic effect on me when I soon discovered that frontiers between states were different in the past. I recall, for instance, sitting on the shore of Lake Balaton (recommended to all, a very nice place) when I was 10, torturing a 23 year old history teacher who appeared then in my eyes to be one who, of course, possessed all relevant knowledge, by demanding whether Saudi Arabia used to be part of the Ottoman Empire or not? Then a colleague in a bookshop where I was working, who was studying history at an evening course, made some critical remarks about a particular professor. Her comments made it clear to me that the professor in question had a higher than usual interest in historical geography. I sensed a soulmate. I just reached for the phone with much spontaneous naivety and asked to speak to him. I was switched on to him and began enthusing into the receiver. After some silence (the experience must have been highly unusual for him), he asked if I was able to see him at the university then and there. I was merely at work, so I did.The conversation ended by him stressing that my place was at the University, and at his suggestion that I put on paper some points I told him about concerning a Hungarian historical atlas. I did so. He forwarded it to the most academically prestigious historical magazine then in Hungary and they published it. That paved my way into the university. It DID matter that the magazine provided me with a written recommendation stressing that I was their contributor. After university and further publications in the field, it was relatively easy to find work as a free-lance historical map editor. It was a somewhat harder task years later, when I left Hungary for political reasons and settled in the UK, to translate my experiences into acceptance by British publishers. In time, however, I have slowly found my way into the system. How, specifically, did you learn the technique of historical mapmaking and illustration–what’s involved? To be able to do this, one needs to have some academic foundation, and also experience with maps, which need not be the result of formal training. Cartography is a very broad subject, and yet the main requirement in this case is an appreciation of how to translate thematic information into visual presentation. This is taught as part of the various courses that exist in cartography, but will never work well in practice without the cartographer being as at home with the subject as he is to mapping. What is desirable is to teach ways of mapping as part of history courses, and this to my knowledge is not yet satisfactorily done anywhere.Teaching historical geography is not unrelated, nor is it the same. How did you begin your business and increase your clientele? There I was, feeling lost. What was next? As it happened, I accidentally, thanks to former university contacts, secured a task involving the preparation of ethno-statistical maps, which was good for about a month’s worth of earnings. But after that, the future seemed to be frightening. The sole offer that came in, thanks to the compassion of an ex-university mate who knew about my predicament, was to teach ‘scientific socialism’ in a secondary school (remember, we were in Russian occupied Communist Hungary). One should not brag, but I am convinced that it is eternally to my credit that I managed (I am still not sure how) not to murder the person who made that offer. There I was at home later, sitting, weighing my circumstances, and being truly depressed. Then history unexpectedly repeated itself. My thoughts ran like this. “What do I know? – Historical maps. i.e.: nothing. – Who needs Nothing?”And then in a flash:“Got it! The Hungarian Scientific Academy does!” It may amount to a weakness, still I admit that it gave me much pleasure (that I managed not to show) in particular that on one occasion a publisher entrusted me with overhauling the accuracy of a series of maps prepared by the very company that I had been compelled to leave. I was sent there, and they had, not though without much reluctance, to replace ill-positioned frontier lines, etc., under my instructions. I failed to understand their (or any such) position. If something was factually incorrect, what was the need to personalize the issue and be annoyed with me, merely because I happened to be better informed about the case? Is it not giving accurate information to the reader that is of paramount or rather exclusive importance? So all was well from a work point of view, but I was unhappy living in a Communist country, and so years later I asked for asylum in Britain.There, new types of difficulties were in store for me. Publishers, I now realize, must have looked with an element of wonder at my letters in which I offered my services as an historical cartographer. That was not their approach to historical mapping. One of them, Cambridge University Press, must have thought (it seems to me, with hindsight) that I was an idiosyncratic cartographer, and replied by hiring me to draw two maps of an historical and Spanish theme. Until that point, I never prepared artwork ready for printing, barring one early and technically amateurish approach while still at university. Yet, I thought, why not? I knew what to expect from a map, and I was able to find out quickly about the simple technicalities involved. An English family I knew thanks to hitchhiking (one of them gave me a lift in France on my way to Britain) lent me money, which enabled me to buy a pen and materials, and the rest was a matter of concentration. That made me a cartographer. It is unusual, perhaps, in that I have not acquired formal training, but my background knowledge was already much higher than the average technician who attended college. It did help, though, that I soon got employed on a part-time basis by The Economist, where the chief cartographer, Richard Natkiel, who appreciated my general knowledge, did not mind teaching me useful technical tricks while I was working for them. All this, of course, is largely obsolete since one now prepares maps digitally. It took longer, though, to gain credit in my proper field, historical cartography. It was again the criticism that I was able to offer, that helped. I wrote to Martin Gilbert (official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill, Fellow of Merton College in Oxford, etc.) still from Hungary, about errors that I found in his atlases – which points he took extremely well. This did not lead directly to any major work, yet it may well be that his benevolent recommendation paved my way to some extent. (I also suspect that he had a hand in my receiving political asylum without difficulty.) More significantly, perhaps, I offered a long list of noted errors to Times Books that I identified in the first edition of their by now classic Atlas of World History. Although their immediate payment for this substantially changed my financial situation, it took much longer – 14 years precisely (such is the speed of too many things in Britain) – until the contact bore fruit in terms of work. When it did, however, it did suddenly and in a major way. Tell us about your most involved job? The biggest published piece of work that I have done was the conception and compilation of the entire map content of the Times Atlas of European History, but I had also a very significant role in the creation of the Times Atlas of the 20th Century, and Dorling Kindersley’s Atlas of World History. Currently I am working on an atlas for Times Books (Harper Collins) that deals with British history. Two of its maps are displayed with this interview. Do you have a region of the world, or any historical themes/creative interpretations you like best? It is historical mapping as such that I am interested in. From this angle, the exact theatre of mapping is of a lesser importance to me. It may be true that my immediate knowledge is higher when in comes to Europe (of any period) and the 17th-20th centuries (any part of the World), but this does not mean that I like this area/period more than others. If the task involves another area or period other than those I am most at home with, it merely means that I spend a little more time with research to prepare a map than otherwise. It could be said that I am more interested in the behavior of states, frontier changes, territorial disputes, civilizations as units and of ethnic/minority issues throughout history than other subjects. I have a range of ideas that have the potential, if recognized by those who control publication, to change the whole field of historical atlas creation. The tradition (in Britain this is particularly strong) to regard historical atlases as works of reference only makes it difficult to open the eyes of publishers to the enormous potential that the genre also offers for communicating issues and points of view. I have many ideas that, I am convinced, can revolutionize the field. What are difficult to change are ingrained attitudes. Nor am I strong in the know-how of selling myself, thanks in part to my background.If, however, I met an open-minded publisher not totally averse to something significantly novel and highly topical, I have very much to offer that undoubtedly would bring at least as much financial benefit to the publisher as any historical atlas may. Most likely more. I am working, for instance, on an exciting set of maps dealing with Islam that I actually began before 9/11.The concepts behind the maps are completely unique, as referred to above, and I’m looking forward to finishing this project and finding an interested publisher.The issues concerning that part of the world are fascinatingly complex. I understand that you own one of the largest private collections of historical atlases in the world. Tell us about it, how you began collecting (as a teenager – did your friends find this strange?), how you search the world for more atlases, specific editions, etc. Corresponding to my interest, I became a regular visitor of Budapest secondhand bookshops from the age of 10, torturing my parents for money whenever I found something. I am lucky that, though not well established financially (few people were then in Communist Hungary), they were, on the whole, understanding. People around me tended to be supportive. They accepted my unusual interest and it was not too rare for me to be given free maps and also atlases that they had at home from, say, grandparents, but did not need. Tell us how you use this vast collection for making your maps. Do you consult them and does this resource at your disposal often lend a complexity to your work that the people hiring you might not understand? Existing historical atlases can be very useful to speed up the process of creating new ones, but their content should be evaluated critically. This is not, however, the way they are frequently used. There is a tendency simply to copy the data from other atlases. That is dangerous and wrong. It is fascinating to see, for instance, how a particular gross error that first appeared in an atlas in the early part of the 19th century is repeated by other atlases all around the world to this day. Such things merit a serious analysis. There is, regrettably, as much authoritarianism, or snobbery, if you like, in this field as in others, and so people seem to feel that they can not go wrong by uncritically adapting data from an atlas that displays the name of reputable academics among its authors. As I referred to before, these academics frequently exercise only a very limited input to mapping. This is not to say that existing atlases should never be consulted. They could and should be, only one must handle them critically. Background knowledge is necessary to help discern their selection.It may be thought, and it is often true enough, that national historical atlases are better informed about issues of a particular country. Yet there are issues, especially those relating to nationalism in those countries, when these sources are the most dangerous. This is not the place to go into such detail, but I could name a few historical atlases that are little more than fiction – fiction, that is, of the most surreal kind. It does also help to know about the history of the countries in which the atlases were published, in the sense of being able to weigh the significance that particular dates of publications may have. The same Polish historical atlas, for example, published under communism and after its collapse, treats the situation of that country in 1939 entirely differently, simply because it was not allowed under communism to show the USSR attacking Poland in the back during the ongoing Nazi aggression. One really needs a feel to these things. Tell us a little about your own history, your defection, and did your decision to relocate to London have anything to do with your pursuit of this career?I find it both sad and ironic, that there you were, a historical cartographer whose mind encompassed the entire world, yet you were trapped in Communist Hungary behind a political boundary that prevented your own freedom. It was early in my life that I decided I did not want to live under Communism. The issue was not so much, or at all, personal hardship, but the falseness and lies of everything around me that made it difficult for me to live there. But it was not easy to get out. I had plans that for various reasons did not get off the ground. At the time of my first serious attempt to escape I was jailed for a few days in Yugoslavia, close to the Italian , i.e. the Free World, border, then thrown back into Hungary. It was only a moderate consolation that I managed, for the first time in my life, to throw at least a glance at the sea, symbol of Infinity, Freedom. This was, to be sure, through the window of a toilet in the jail and only if I tiptoed and, naturally, with a metal bar somewhat obscuring my view.I was able, much later, to travel as a tourist to Britain, where I then asked for asylum. Coming to London was the natural choice as most British publishers for whom I could work are concentrated here. When the Yugoslavs freed me after three days and a half in the jail, they delivered me in a police car to the Hungarian frontier. On the way, we stopped at a Zagreb jail where they took local criminals. I was sick from worry by then. This was due to having on me, sewn under the label of my blue jeans, ten dollars. That was to be my starting capital had I succeeded in getting to Italy. I expected to be interrogated by the Hungarians at the border and, if they were to find it, all could have become quite a problem. It was forbidden for Hungarian citizens to keep any Western currency, so it would have been double trouble in that they would have undoubtedly construed it as further proof that I wanted to escape to the west, with potentially serious consequences. I don’t think many people can boast what I can, i.e., flushing ten dollars down the toilet. It was the first thing I did when the opportunity arose before reaching Hungary, at that Zagreb jail. They duly questioned me at the border, but I had a perfect answer that was based on my knowledge of maps, situations and a so-called misunderstanding that arose as a result of a ‘peninsula’ of Italy being situated at a kind of crossing of Yugoslavian space near Trieste, which it seems did confuse them as to the reality of the situation and, at least for the time being, they let me go. (Later I learned that I was deprived of any chance to go abroad for five years even if abroad was only another communist country. They never specified why. This was rather lenient, however, and indeed after not much more than two years later they let me, on appeal, go to Warsaw pact countries again. I must say that all in all I escaped remarkably lightly). On my way to Budapest, though, from the border (one hitchhiked) then what happened? Incredibly I came across a Czech couple who were hell bent to cross the Hungarian-Austrian frontier to escape to the West! The irony of the situation was supreme. This coming after I met a fair number of other would-be escapees in jail from all over the Warsaw Pact. I spent the whole night trying to persuade them to change their plan. They were not informed and they did not know that the Hungarian-Austrian frontier was hermetically closed by an electric fence and in part probably still by stretches of minefields. (This was later abandoned, to be entirely replaced by the more ‘humane’ fence, that did not kill but merely gave signals to the border guards.) It was not without reason that I was trying to go around Yugoslavia.I was very concerned about them and eventually I managed with very great difficulties to persuade them to abandon their plan, and they too subsequently tried to escape through Yugoslavia. Unsuccessfully too, I learned later when they turned up at my place in Budapest. Being something of an iconoclast, were you ever able to beat the Communist system? I once somehow met a group of Westerners, mainly Italians and Spanish, who came to Hungary to a Summer University in the town of Veszprem (those who decided, on the merit of my recommendation to go to Lake Balaton, can visit it too, easily, as it is not far. It also is worthwhile to see.) Completely by accident, a so-called Summer Camp of the university I attended then was also in Veszprem. I would not have dreamt of participating in such things. That kind of voluntary work was not actually obligatory in Hungary by that time, it was only recommended career-wise. I did not care and did not go. But with my newly-found friends nearby, it became an attractive option to stay there, free. So I appeared on the scene and people I knew there were apologetic that they could not offer me any place to sleep other than in the girls’ tent, which I did not so terribly mind. Some of the girls were a little squeamish, if that is the right word, about my presence, but the majority informed them that they were foolish, and so they shut up and all went well. The camp was also international. There were groups from other Communist countries (all students), including the USSR. I met some of them, and mentioned this later to the Italians, who happened also to be all Communists. Nice people otherwise, but misguided in their politics. They were euphoric. Could I help them meet the Soviet comrades? The Soviet comrades were equally enthusiastic to meet their Italian comrades. Very unfortunately I caught a cold and, being ill, I returned to Budapest. It is an eternal loss that I missed being present. I later learned from the Italians that the way the historic encounter went was this: The Russians received them with great honor. One of them spoke Italian, so language was not a problem. They mutually congratulated each other over what good communists they all were and how great that was. I am not sure by now if it took only a quarter of an hour or a full half hour, but after some exchange of ideas they both started to scream at each other shouting “You fascists! You fascists!” then soon the whole meeting collapsed. I was laughing loudly when I heard that, and felt extremely contented as I saw that both were right. The Italians, at least, had a sense of humor and they were happy to see my point even if they did not quite share it. How are you contacted by publishers? How were you contacted, for example, to draw the map for ‘Roanoke’? [i.e., Lee Miller’s ‘Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony] I send out letters when the going gets tough, offering my services. This happens on average once every 18 months. Maybe just once every two years.And then if they need something they phone, write, or send an email. Sometimes there is an informal ongoing relationship, as in the case of Random House. I have done some other things for them before they let me loose on you. (See examples of the work Andras did for Lee at: http://www.historyonmaps.com (click on “A rare combination…”, and then on Black & White Samples in the menu on the left side of the screen, going to I27 and I28, when there). We know that history and maps are your hobbies as well as your career. What other sorts of things do you like to do? Hitchhiking, talking with people, exchanging ideas. You bill yourself as an iconoclast – and once told me that you grew up with a hedgehog living in your bathtub.Is this normal for cartographers, or does this come from your ready-for-anything escapades? You mean Jeremy? I named it after a character in the film ‘Yellow Submarine’, whom it seemed to resemble. I was hitching with a friend in the eastern part of the country, and when he left the roadside for a few minutes to hide in some bushes for a reason the discerning reader already suspects, he came back with a hedgehog, telling me that he had found it. I thought that this was an opportunity not to be missed and decided to take it home. (How many other hedgehogs can boast traveling via hitchhiking, I wonder?) It was late at night by the time I got home to Budapest. My parents were asleep by then, and I, not being sure what to do with a hedgehog at that hour, simply deposited it in the bath so as to leave a decision for the next day. My parents, I heard, were a bit surprised by finding it in the bath. Few hedgehogs normally made it to the center of that rather big town, I am sure, and to the third floor there, in the bath. There was no water in the tub, however. Later I let it roam freely in the flat and my parents not only did not mind, but my father even expressed contentment over seeing me showing affection at all, even if only to a hedgehog. (Have I really been such a horror?) It was more romantic, though, when I was sitting with a girl on my bed a week or two later, chatting, and Jeremy was walking up and down between us. Incidentally, she came to borrow one of my historical atlases to use as part of the preparation for her exams. Jeremy got transferred after a while, given his prickilyness, that might have caused complications. I am sure though that my father would have been contented again, had he been around. With the coming of winter, I thought it advisable to take Jeremy back to an area where nature was close, so that it could find a place to dig itself in to hibernate, as hedgehogs do. No news since. Tell me about some of the interesting people you’ve met in your travels.I understand that half the world comes to you in London, with great tales of journeys undertaken. I have many visitors.They are mostly Hungarians, whether from Hungary proper or Transylvania, but I also was host for months of an American girl from Ohio, and other people from the U.S. and Mexico, and some other places I don’t immediately recall. In Budapest, until I left it, I counted that people from 21 different countries from all over the world had stayed at my place. This meant, of course, many more people, as some countries offered a regular supply of friends and friends of friends. On one occasion I met in a youth hostel in Poland a guy from Honduras. He came later to stay at my place for a honeymoon with his recently wed Polish wife. My experience in honeymoons is limited, but I doubt that most are like theirs was. As I was showing them around in Budapest, once one of them pulled me aside, complaining bitterly about the other; then the other was doing exactly the same a few minutes later. Again and again. It was weird. Once, I met an Italian at Thessaloniki, as I was hitching from London to Istanbul to get over my disappointment in love. (Both girls abandoned me.) He intended to take pictures as a photojournalist of the Iraq-Iran war. I advised him not to, as he might well get killed. He did not listen, and was lucky to only be arrested by the Persians as soon as he crossed the Turkish frontier, as I learned from him at midnight four years later, when he rang my bell in London, announcing a stay for a week. He had been living with Turaegs in Africa for years, and had various adventures washing gold in South America, but that is not my story really. There were many other interesting situations, possibly more interesting ones. All kinds of people gave me lifts. In Hungary, I was taken on one occasion by a car belonging to the Communist Party’s Central Committee. True, it was only the driver who was in it, not the real bastards (if I am allowed to use the expression). Still, it would be something not too distinct as if in the US, Air Force One would give you a lift, though without the president on board. (No comparison of the quality of the people involved, only their power.) At another time that was truly unique, I was hitching with a friend who was paralytic, unable to use his legs. The way we were proceeding was that he was sitting somewhere and I was doing the actual work. When a car stopped he got on his crutches, got inside and off we went. On one occasion we were left near a railway line crossing point, where traffic stopped when the train was approaching. That gave me an opportunity to ask people, as cars had to wait, if they would take us. It was tempting to ask the most luxurious cars’ people. I explained the situation that it was the two of us who wanted a lift (my friend’s presence was not obvious), and why was he sitting just there. They said OK. We got in, the barrier went up and we were proceeding. During the ensuing conversation, one of the men said that they really took us on account of my friend, as he sympathized, himself having also difficulties with walking. Then something began to dawn on me. I said to him, “Look, I am sorry if I ask something really silly, but is it just conceivable that you happen to be a bishop?” (He was wearing everyday clothes, nothing priest-like.) He was and he was astonished, how did I know. Bishops in that then Communist country did not as a rule feature in the press or television. Completely by accident, I had been at a Catholic mass a few weeks before then merely because a friend of mine was playing the oboe there as part of some big event. I don’t recall what it was, but it was clearly a much bigger occasion than an ordinary mass. There was much ceremony, and my then girlfriend, also present, proved to be something of a rebel despite her own devoted Catholic faith. We all detested the overdone ceremony, not least the (as it seemed) affected behavior of a bishop present. His unnatural pretentious way of walking invited in particular our displeasure, so much so that my girlfriend, alone in the Church, refused to go down on her knees in front of him. Suddenly, in that car, everything fell into place. It was him, and I learned that his walking was not what it seemed to be. His damaged legs disobeyed him and what seemed to be some kind of stagey circus was in reality his illness. I felt humbled and it was confession time. Not in a religious sense, but I told him what we thought and why. He understood, and was impressed that a person such as myself went to his mass at all. It all ended cathartic and extremely friendly. Remaining with high rank priests, (how many of your readers are going to give me credit for this?) I was almost certainly riding once on the knees of the Pope. This was not through hitchhiking, and it was before he became Pope. I had been with a few other Hungarians in the Wowel in Cracow. It is a medieval fort-like building, in Church handling, frequented by tourists. A priest approached us, inquiring where we were from, then engaging in friendly conversation. We discussed, inevitably, politics too. I was fiercely critical of all communist regimes and he put it to me, how do I dare to speak so openly, what is my guarantee that he is not an informer? I said –“My guarantee? It is your cloths.”I could tell that he liked that. The church in Poland was very anti-regime those days. Later he invited us to his quarters. It was huge hall. A lady appeared, bringing tea and such. A long friendly conversation was then conducted in many languages (no one of us spoke Polish and he did not speak Hungarian, but we made all up as a combination of English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Russian, depending which of us was talking and in what language words came. Then before our departure, as an expression of Christian love, he embraced the four of us truly nicely, making in effect to sit on his knees for a moment, two one side, two on the other, and we departed. Two years later, when I learned that Karol Woytyla, Archbishop of Cracow, became the Pope, I recalled the event. My memory of faces is very bad, but his height, his languages, all fitted. I asked Polish friends, who were firm in their stating that if it was a high rank priest we met at the Wowel and he had his quarters there, then there was no chance that he was other than the Archbishop of Cracow, Woytyla. Wow. He had actually a special effect on me. As part of my general fooling around at the time, I was wearing an enamel badge then made for me by a friend artistically on order that read ‘No responsibility accepted for any extreme statement made by Andras Bereznay’. He saw it on me and asked what it was. I translated it. He did not laugh, rather put it to me simply: “Are you degrading yourself?” It was extremely apt. I was doing that precisely even if only as a joke, to serve as a form of self defense in the then political climate, to take away the edge, just in case. What he said, though, with that penetrating insight, touched me immediately and deeply, and I abandoned that bad joke soon. When you look into the future, what would you like to be doing in your career down the road? Directing projects more than following an author’s directions, etc? Yes, of course. I have done it, too, a lot already. Authors, others that is,enter the picture almost exclusively when it is only cartography that I do. When creating historical maps, I am the author, not only of the maps but at times of the attached text, too. It’s not unusual for authors to base their texts on the maps that I compiled. That was their task in the Times Atlas of European History, in particular. In my ideal world, I would concentrate on developing my own historical atlases, without wasting time by offering myself. I am convinced that this would be not only better for me, but it would be a more valuable contribution.

URL: http://www.gbmbooks.com What is your purpose in starting an online book database (i.e., to help online booksellers, to get a database that does what you think a book database should do, because it’s a good business to be in, all of the above, none of the above, or ????). Global Book Mart, in its new incarnation, is a continuation of our original philosophy and intent in launching Global Book Mart in 1999. We created a book database conceived by booksellers for the express purpose of maintaining an independent database that is not interested in creating a brand name for itself. GBM does not want to position itself between the bookseller and the customer, but instead to be a conduit for customers to find booksellers, and booksellers to attract customers. GBM has always taken the stand that we must remain independent in order to serve our customers. This philosophy was developed from our perspective as booksellers who experienced the early days of online bookselling on Interloc onward, watching the evolution of the book database, with both the good and not-so-good consequences. Is this a long-term commitment on your part? Where do you see yourself and your database in three years? 5 years? This has been a commitment of more than 3 years to date. GBM publicly launched in 1999 with 85 dealers. GBM grew to more than 940 dealers with more than 4.6 million book records by August, 2000. Our hiatus from the online book industry was not voluntary. In August of 2000, we learned that owning your equipment and owning your proprietary programming does not necessarily afford protection from unscrupulous parties. The computer programming firm retained to perform work on GBM demanded that we pay them approximately $187,000 which was not provided for in our contract, or in the alternative, to relinquish to them a controlling interest in GBM, or they would commandeer our equipment (which was physically housed in their facility to have a direct T1 connection), programming and data. These same programmers used our equipment to pirate the GBM database and bookseller data for use on a website they registered, http://www.bookcrawler.net which included the use of all of our proprietary code and copyrighted materials, with the exception of changing the name. We were even told by one of these parties that should GBM booksellers not be willing to contract with their new site, these programmers intended to purchase inventory and duplicate the efforts of booksellers. We consulted our attorney and notified all of our booksellers of these events on August 10, 2000. Within 2 hours of our notifying our booksellers, the programmers physically unplugged our servers and severed communications. We want to again thank our customers who emailed, phoned and faxed our former programmers with cease and desist demands. At this point, our world was turned upside down. In addition to withholding our property, these programmers managed to transfer registration of our URLs to a secondary registration company–which, while recognizing that Leon and I were listed as the owners of those URLs, would not release control of the URLs to us without the written permission of the party who transferred the registrations to them, our programmers, who, in turn, refused to do so. Appeals to Network Solutions failed to resolve the control of the registration. Litigation and 18 months were required before we regained control of our URLs in March 2002. Ultimately, Leon and I have personally lost tens of thousands of dollars, and in order to pursue litigation, and rebuild our personal lives, sold our home and liquidated our book inventory. We immediately commenced legal action against these parties. We are still engaged in that litigation. The defendants were ordered to return all of our property to us. The defendants failed to return our property and were held in contempt. However, the defendants have subsequently admitted in court hearings that they destroyed our equipment, code and other property upon receiving communications from our attorney. The court imposed sanctions upon the defendants, including striking a portion of their court pleadings. The case is awaiting a trial date on damages. We anticipate the trial to be scheduled for sometime this summer. We are rebuilding GBM for the long-term. Our goal is to continue to evolve to meet the needs and desires of booksellers and their customers as those needs and desires change over time. What lister book database inventory programs do you/will you support? GBM will support all book inventory programs. Additionally, as in the past, we will add new formats from individual booksellers on an as requested basis. What are your upload procedures? Deletion procedures? Are “wants” listings available? For sale matches? Are any additions/changes planned? Uploads will be available via FTP (and we will offer a downloadable FTP interface), as well as a custom, onsite upload interface. We will offer a wants listing/matching service for booksellers and customers. What customer service (for both sellers and buyers) do you/will you have? As always, booksellers and customers alike, will be able to contact GBM via email, fax or phone. When you contact customer service, you deal directly with Leon and myself, the owners. The buck stops here. We currently have a feedback option on our site, and will continue to do so. We encourage booksellers and customers to contact us. Will you/do you have any quality (i.e., descriptions, shipping, and/or customer service) standards for your listers? If so, what will be/are the consequences of violating those standards? We have always included bookseller guidelines as a condition of participation with GBM. Should customers experience unsatisfactory transactions, then we encourage them to contact us for investigation. Should a bookseller demonstrate an inability or unwillingness to perform to industry standards, then GBM has the choice of terminating our relationship with that dealer. By the same token, as long-term booksellers, we understand the realities of bookselling and customer relations. As such, we have a realistic understanding of such situations and are hopefully in a position to make reasonable conclusions based on the facts presented to us. What are your technical arrangements (in non-technical language, please) to ensure reliability of service? Future growth? Additional services? We have state-of-the-art equipment (light-years ahead of what we had previously), we have a direct DS3 line (the equivalent of 28 T1 lines) as well as satellite capabilities in the near future. Having direct access ensures the highest level of up-time–subject to the phone lines, and whether a backhoe cuts a line somewhere between here and a particular user. Our equipment is expandable for future growth. Our available capacity allows for nearly exponential growth rates. This also allows advanced services such as website hosting, image hosting, etc. Will you/do you have the capability of taking credit card info for orders? If so, what can you tell us about the safety procedures you have or will have in place to ensure the security of such info? GBM will provide a secure server for the storage of customer credit card information. As before, dealers will have to log on to the GBM secure server to retrieve that information in order to process their credit card sales transactions. Do you ever plan to process credit card orders through your database (rather than simply passing on the info to the lister) and, if so, will the lister or buyer bear the processing cost, and how long will it take to get payment to the lister? No. Do you have any plans for programs associated with your database which would involve anything other than direct contact between seller and buyer? No. Do you have or do you plan to have an “all word search” capability? Yes, it is called ‘exact’ match in our search parameters and works in multiple fields, as well as partial word(s), starting and ending search features as well. What search capabilities does your database have now? What is planned for the future? Search parameters include title, author, price, keywords, publisher, ISBN, (or any combination thereof) all of which can be sorted by those variables or in reverse order. On what will you base your listing fees? What fees do you have now or plan to have? We will have a flat monthly listing fee, without a restriction on the number of records. We will offer additional services, such as website hosting, image hosting, etc, which will be optional for booksellers. Do you plan to have or now have your database searched by Addall or Bookfinder or any other mega-search site? Yes. How do you plan to advertise your database (both to draw listers and buyers)? Our philosophy on advertising has not changed. You won’t see full-page ads for GBM in the New York Times. Our experience has been that advertising and networking that builds word-of-mouth is the most successful. As before, we will pursue online links, advertising and networking which successfully drives online buyers to a site. We will also focus on building word of mouth via sources that book buyers will encounter. Finally, networking with booksellers, and promotion of use of GBM for their customers will be pursued, including booksellers who are not online sellers. We will continue to offer bookmarks, mugs, shirts, etc. to our sellers and customers. What background or experience do you or other people involved with your database have that relates to the online book or online book database business? Leon and Lisa Martin have managed and owned open bookstores since 1991, and have been online booksellers since 1996. We made the jump to database owners in 1999. In other business and professional experience: Leon has previously worked in retail and service management, owned and operated a hazardous materials cleanup and excavation business, and owned a computer hardware business; Lisa is an attorney, having practiced in the area of employment law, as well as many years in public interest law. Do you or are you planning to have professional management, bookseller management, or???? We will continue to own and operate GBM. Leon and Lisa personally manage GBM operations. That will not change. Period. What markets (geographical and/or demographic) are you aiming at? As always, GBM is focused upon cultivation of a global clientele for our booksellers and to promote the globalization of the online book buying community, including our multi-lingual features. What services/features does your database have that you feel sets you apart and/or will ensure the success of your database? GBM has always been an innovative, independent book database. That attitude and forward-looking perspective continues today. We will offer the services we had before, but now with a faster site. Additionally, during our hiatus, we have had the opportunity to reflect upon the state of the online book database and new projects are in development.

People will gather in George Rogers Park, the lower level, around 11:30 the morning of Friday, May 10, 2002. The park is located on the western end of Lake Oswego, between the lake and the Williamette River, in the greater Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. I wish I could join them. These people will be family and friends of Dr. Leonard W. Lanfranco. The gathering will be to share memories, stories, and thoughts about, and to celebrate the life of Len Lanfranco. Like countless others, my own life is a little richer because I came into contact with this man. Leonard W. Lanfranco was born in Oakland, California, June 12, 1939. Len died from a brain aneurysm April 30, 2002. The important stuff happened between these two dates. It is difficult to sum up a persons life. How do you judge what is important? What are the things that count? I suspect the most important event in Lens life occurred in Vancouver, Washington, on May 1, 1965, when he married Mardell Flewelling. For Len and Mardell, their daughters and granddaughter this date was critical. The day following his death they would have celebrated 37 years of marriage. As important as Lens wedding date was to him and his family, the rest of us probably need to look a little farther. Most summations of a lifetime concentrate on the persons accomplishments. If this were the measure Len would indeed be worthy of praise and respect. His life was filled with important tasks attempted and achieved. Len’s professional, educational, and intellectual achievements were outstanding. His degrees were from leading universities in his field. His professional accomplishments were in responsible, difficult positions with respected institutions, and he succeeded wherever he went. This was a man who undertook important tasks, and completed them. You can often tell a lot about a person by looking at the investment they make of their time, outside of the office. Len came through in this arena also. He was willing to back his ideas and convictions with time and effort. I met Len when IOBAs former president Deb Graham, told me she had a great new member whom I needed to get involved with IOBA. I called him and we emailed back and forth for several days. I had recently been elected to succeed Deb, and was looking for intelligent, motivated people to fill a few slots on IOBAs board. I asked Len to take on the task of PR Committee Chair, and to sit on IOBA’s board. Len’s mother had died shortly before I contacted him and he was wrapping up her affairs. Len had a history of heart problems. When we met he had just gone through a change of medication that caused him difficulties and loss of energy. He battled the heart problems throughout our acquaintance, but very seldom complained. In addition to these personal challenges, Len was in the process of conducting his annual Oregon Book Fair. Most people would have told me their plate was full, and to find someone else for the job. Lens only request was that I give him two weeks to wrap up a few of his loose ends before taking on this new assignment. This was typical of the man. His life consistently reflected a high level of commitment. His efforts for IOBA more than met my expectations. He gave IOBA his energy, his intelligence, and his tremendous good will. Personally, I learned to consider him a friend, a trusted confidant, and advisor. Lens commitments were undertaken with purpose and resolve. He was a founder of the American Advertising Museum, and served as a member of its board of directors. His other involvements show a consistent pattern of thoughtful, compassionate commitment. When needed he was willing to battle for his causes. When the Oswego City Council moved in 1999 to change and reduce its commitment to the public library, Len Lanfranco was in front of the council. His recorded testimony is intelligent, insightful, and well organized. Although I wasnt in the council chambers, I am sure it was also presented clearly and confidently. In 1991 when the Oregon Senate Committee on the Judiciary considered changes to the states law on public access to legal documents, Len was there, testifying clearly on the potential effects of the law, and their consequences. On numerous other occasions, Len took stands to defend principles. He believed ideas were important, and he was willing to stand and be counted. These involvements are important parts of a persons life. Perhaps even more important are the other lives one touches, and how these touches affect others. Here again Len made a difference. I only knew him at the end of his journey. When I met Len he was a mature, considerate, gentle souled man. This was not a secret I alone discovered. I have contacted dozens of Lens acquaintances. Each has told me of his generosity of spirit, and the high value they placed on the friendship of this good man. These contacts go back more than forty years. Dr. G.T Hurley was Lens professor at Cal State in the early 1960s. Despite the thousands of faces that have come and gone since, Dr. Hurley still retains detailed, warm memories of a bright, motivated young man with the world in front of him. Len Lanfranco touched peoples lives wherever he went, and those people remember him with love, respect and admiration. So after all, what is important? What is the true measure of a man? We each decide upon our own set of values. For myself, I believe that what we do with our lives has meaning, that our dealings with each other are important, and that in the end it is what we do with what we were given that counts. Len was able to “talk with crowds and keep (his ) virtue”, and “walk with kings” without losing the “common touch “. He definitely forced his “heart and nerve and sinew to serve (his) turn long after they were gone,” and he “(filled) the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run.” I believe Kipling would have called him a man. I know I called him friend. Leonard Lanfranco, I’m glad I met you. Len’s family has requested that any donations be given in Len’s memory to either: Friends of the Lake Oswego Library 706 Fourth Street Lake Oswego, OR 97034 or Oregon Donor Program PO Box 532 Portland, OR 97207 Comments from a few of Lens Friends Greg & Julia Williams, Booksellers (IOBA) – I met Len through the IOBA. Soon after I joined, I volunteered for the PR committee, and over the past few months, Len and I had worked closely on creating some IOBA promotional material.After trading a few emails, it became readily apparent that Len was a bright, sociable and kind individual. I soon discovered that he was also gracious and generous, eager to praise and recognize the contributions of others. Our correspondence focused on the IOBA, but as we got to know each other a little bit better, we started to chat about numerous other topics, and I thoroughly enjoyed our correspondence.My wife and I will be permanently relocating to Portland later this summer. When Len learned about our plans, he was extremely enthusiastic and genuinely excited for us (despite the already-overwhelming influx of ex-Angelenos into the area). He made us feel so welcome, and it was comforting to know that the minute we stepped off the plane, we’d already have someone to call a friend in our unfamiliar new home. We’re tremendously saddened that we’ll no longer have the opportunity to get to know Len better, and our hearts go out to his family and friends. Pat Ahearn, Quill & Brush – Although I never had the pleasure of meeting Len in person, I did correspond with him many times over the last few years. He was very knowledgeable, an excellent writer and had a delightful sense of humor. His professional experience in the PR field and as a senior trade association executive was a wonderful benefit to our organization. Len offered IOBA’s Board excellent professional help whenever and wherever it was needed. He will be missed. Jerry Blaz, The Bookie Joint – It is, indeed, a terrible loss. It is also a terrible loss to IOBA. As a member-at-large I have seen that it is not easy to get people to give of themselves to volunteer their time and talents. Len was a member of that elite group that did volunteer their time and talents, and so even if most of us knew him only as a virtual personality, all of IOBA is lesser because of his passing. May Len LanFranco, of blessed memory, rest in peace. Shirley Bryant, Authors & Artists – Len was generous with his time, knowledge, and help. Back in January, 2002, when I was trying to organize sending thousands of books to the Afghanistan University Library to replace those ruined during their years of war, Len volunteered information on shipping methods and was trying to contact people he knew who could perhaps help with the logistics of actually getting the books directly to the Libray. The project got put on hold as, for the time being, there isn’t a way around their political situation, but I very much appreciated Len’s generosity and help. This seems to have been typical behavior for Len, and all of those of us whose lives he touched will miss him. Pat Holt, Holt Uncensored Newsletter – I worked with Len only one time, when he invited me to speak at the Fair in 1999. I vividly recall the exhibit floor as a living, breathing, organic thing that seemed to percolate with energy and love for books because Len himself was personally attentive to everyone’s needs. He knew so much about trends and issues in the industry that I followed him around taking notes as he feverishly gestured to this booth and that to illustrate his point, that change was coming to this field and we all better be prepared. He took me out to dinner with his friendly and welcoming family and made me – truly a novice to the trade – feel as much at home as if I had been coming to the Fair all my life. Dr. Leonard W. Lanfranco Professional Background 1996 – 2002 : Owner & Operator – Oregon Antiquarian Book Fair, Oswego, Oregon 1996 – 2002 : Owner & Operator – Columbia Books, Oswego, Oregon 1985 – 1995 : Executive Director – Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, Portland, Oregon 1981 – 1985 : Executive Director – Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Columbia, South Carolina 1970 – 1981 : Chairman, Department of Journalism, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 1967 – 1970 : Faculty – School of Journalism, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 1965 – 1967 : Faculty – Department of Communications, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington 1958 – 1965 : Management – Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, California ; Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California ; Antioch Ledger, Antioch, California ; Columbia Missourian, Columbia, Missouri Education Ph.D, School of Journalism, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri M.S., School of Journalism, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon B.A., California State University, Hayward, California Civic Involvement Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA) – Chair PR Committee, Board of Directors Lake Oswego Friends of the Library Lake Oswego Heritage Council Oregon Heritage Museum, Board of Directors Oregon 4-H Foundation, Board of Directors Oregon Donor Foundation, Board of Directors American Advertising Museum, Founder, Member of Board of Directors

Joyce, you’ve evidently been fighting for First Amendment rights for quite some time. What first got you started in fighting censorship of the written word and freedom of speech, i.e., what personal beliefs or experiences have you had that made you a strong proponent of First Amendment rights? It probably dates back to my childhood. My parents were very keen on reading and my mother took me at a very early age to story hours at the library. I spent a lot of time reading as a child. Along the way I became aware of censorship issues. There was a big brouhaha over Grace Metalious’s Peyton Place when I was a teenager, and of course, the term “banned in Boston” was referenced in conversations having to do with censorship issues historically. There was also the matter of the “red scare” in those days, the McCarthy hearings, whether information about communism should be made available in the schools, …. I could never imagine why people would want to censor material, because I felt strongly then (as I do now) that our governmental system is based on the access to and debate of ideas of all kinds. In order to have an informed citizenry, they need the freedom to read. People don’t just need to have access to the ideas with which they agree, but also those with which they might disagree. Don’t we want to know what the other side is thinking? Well, one thing just led to another. When I shifted my major in college from math to English literature, I had an independent study course where I read a lot of the social critics, and I also took a course in Milton and read the Areopagitica, which is his treatise on freedom of the press. And I got into the issues of those times with respect to the tensions between the government and its people. Of course, our own country was in its infancy then, but it’s easy to see how those events in England affected the thinking of the colonists here, and subsequently the formation of our own governing documents. Do you think of yourself as a feminist, or just a strong believer in those First Amendment rights? The latter, but I am certainly a person who believes in equal rights for women on all fronts. It sounds as though you’ve had to fight both “officialdom”(in the form of a lawsuit to fight subpoenas by the North Metro Task Force of customer records relating to material found during a raid on a methamphetamine lab), attempts by individuals or groups of citizens to censor what books you carried in your store, i.e., The Satanic Verses in 1989, you forming the Colorado Citizens Against Censorship and leading a successful campaign against laws permitting easier labeling of material as obscene in 1994, and having controversial authors signing books at your store–most notably overcoming author protests in 1992 canceling signings because of the anti-gay referendum passed by Colorado voters and your subsequent refusal to limit author signings to non-controversial authors . Have you ever had serious threats of violence made against you or your store because of these courageous stands? We had veiled threats with the publication of Satanic Verses when we refused to remove it. If so, what actions have you taken to protect yourself and your store? It was the only time in my life where I checked the undercarriage of my car before I got into it. As far as the store goes, we had staff meetings to heighten awareness. And we were particularly watchful about unattended bags. We also tried to keep exposure limited with regard to the staff being photographed by the media. I was to be the main spokesperson. Another general manager was designated if I was unavailable. Have there been picket lines, nasty letters, threats of lawsuits, etc.? There certainly have been picket lines, but to date only at author signings is my recollection (Newt Gingrich and Hillary Clinton in particular). Yes, there have been nasty letters, too. Has there been pressure against you or your business in other forms? Certainly, there has been in the form of customers vowing never to shop in our store because we stock a particular book or host a particular author that they don’t like. Have there been other lawsuits on such First Amendment rights involving you or your store? Yes, a lawsuit in the early eighties; legislative challenges; a veto by the governor at one point; …. I would have to do some research to remember it all in the correct order. And what did your lawyers tell you to do initially when your records were first subpoenaed (in relation to this present lawsuit)? When we received the first “administrative subpena” I faxed it to Dan Recht, our attorney. He informed me that it was an administrative document and not enforceable (I, of course, wouldn’t have known this.). Dan and I know each other well. He knew that we would see this as a First Amendment issue. He also knows that we are law abiding and supportive of our law enforcement officers. However, given the First Amendment implications here, he knew that we would want to take this through the correct judicial process. So, we talked about it. Dan said that he would call the individual who served the “subpena” (yes, this spelling is correct, and it is the second spelling listed in Webster’s), saying that we were not required to comply with it and consequently wouldn’t. He suggested that the officer could pursue a real subpoena from a magistrate, and we would litigate it, moving to quash the subpoena. It was Dan’s impression that the officer indicated that he didn’t want to go that route. We thought the matter was over. But it wasn’t. The next step was a search warrant, which is immediately actionable. Fortunately for us Dan was able to persuade the officers and the Deputy Denver DA to hold off on the execution of the warrant. We filed for and got a temporary restraining order, and filed suit in the Denver District Court. We’d also be interested in details about what support you have received. I know you received the prestigious William J. Brennan Award in 1996, and that the American Booksellers Foundation For Free Expression (ABFFE) has been collecting donations from booksellers to help defray your legal costs. I believe some authors also formed a support drive for you? Have there been other forms of support? And is there enough support to keep your lawsuit from being a real financial burden for you and The Tattered Cover? Has any pro bono legal help been offered to you? Yes, we have had a lot of support and are very grateful to so many organizations and individuals. ABFFE, the various organizations that have signed on to Amicus briefs; Dan and his colleagues who are working at a fraction of their usual fees; publishers, booksellers, authors, readers who have offered words of encouragement and financial contributions to ABFFE; and many attorneys who have offered pro bono legal help have all played a significant role in this process. Have these “threats” increased or decreased over the years (i.e., we tend to think we are becoming more tolerant of other peoples’ rights over time, but the events you’ve had to fight have happened in the last few years)? Increased. Have you seen any increase or decrease in business at your store since you became involved in fighting for First Amendment rights? Well, we’ve fought for First Amendment rights for a very long time. It’s hard to say. Along the way we have had years of significant growth. But the marketplace pressures have been very difficult for the last several years for independent bookstores, the Tattered Cover included. In a related vein, do you impose any censorship on yourself on the type of books you stock–i.e., are there any that, for whatever reason, you wouldn’t stock? If so, why (if not too nosy)? No, we will provide access to any material that is constitutionally protected that comes through our regular distribution channels. And do you have any specialties in the types of material you stock or are interested in carrying? We’re a general bookstore, with perhaps a stronger emphasis on fiction, children’s and psychology books. I understand you had another book store before you bought The Tattered Cover. What can you tell us about that experience? It was a casualty of a planned community development that didn’t develop, a very heart wrenching and expensive experience. And how and when did you first decide to become a book seller? I got my first bookselling job in 1960 at my university book store, to help pay the tuition bills. We all know The Tattered Cover is one of the largest independent book stores in the U.S. I believe it was quite small when you bought it. How did you grow it into such a large, prestigious store and business? And do you have any advice for other booksellers, whether online or bricks & mortar? What attributes or personality traits do you think are essential for a successful book store owner (or even an online bookseller)? I’ll pass on this question, other than to say, one book at a time when it comes to growth. And the word “success” has an elusive definition when it comes to business life, particular the life of a bookseller. It’s always been hard, and that hasn’t changed. Perseverance and passion for the work helps. But nothing is ever guaranteed in business life. The circumstances in the life of each bookseller are different. I understand that you once moved your book store with the help of your customers? How did this work? Yes, actually it happened twice. They volunteered when they learned we were moving. What’s your philosophy in running book stores, i.e, what sets your stores apart and makes you able to compete with the chains? I’ll pass on this question, too, in the interest of time. What do you see as the future of independent book stores? And, have online booksellers hurt bricks & mortar stores, in your experience? If so, has the harm been done by independent online booksellers, or by such “new” book online sellers as Amazon and Barnes & Noble? This, too, is a question that we could discuss forever. I do believe that independent bookstores play an important role in their communities. While we have seen their market share decrease from ~31% to ~15% in ten years, the rate of decrease seems to have stablized somewhat. Of course we’re in a recession now, as well as in the aftermath of 9/11 so this doesn’t help keep the clouds out of my crystal ball. I think that information will move in the most user-friendly manner possible and that the distribution of that information will continue to change. Certainly, online booksellers in all forms are part of that information stream. Do you ever intend to put your inventory online? Yes, actually it was online when we developed our own website some years ago. That changed when we went with booksense.com a year or so ago. It’s my understanding that booksense is working with bookstores to provide that option. Since your business has grown so much, with you now owning two book stores and a restaurant, do you still find the same satisfaction and love of dealing with books in your business, as it is now? Yes. We’d love to know more about you, as a person (most of what is public involved your involvement in protecting First Amendment rights). Please tell us anything you wish about you and your life, and thanks so much for participating in this interview! I have two grown daughters and I like to cook when I have time. I live in a small loft right over pool table 14 at the Wynkoop Brewing Company with the best alley view in Denver. Whew! Are we done? Interview by Shirley Bryant.

From: Bob Fleck and Jelle Samshuijzen URL: http://www.ilab-lila.com/ (EDITOR’S NOTE: PLEASE NOTE THAT ILAB IS A MEMBERS’ ONLY DATABASE, BUT INFORMATION WILL GIVEN AT THE END OF THIS INTERVIEW ABOUT HOW TO JOIN THE ORGANIZATION.) What is your purpose in starting a online book database (i.e., to help online booksellers, to get a database that does what you think a book database should do, because it’s a good business to be in, all of the above, none of the above, or ????). Bob Fleck: It is first necessary to explain a bit about us before answering your question. The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers is an organization that encompasses national associations of antiquarian booksellers around the world. It speaks for twenty nations and two thousand leading booksellers. Its sign stands for the integrity and professionalism of the trade worldwide. Beginnings: The League (or ILAB, as it is often known among English-speakers; LILA among French) was founded in Amsterdam at a meeting of major European booksellers in 1947. It was born of the spirit of international cooperation and fuelled by the determination to sweep away national differences that inspired the postwar world. Since that time its aims, objects and ideals have been adopted across the continents, and the ILAB network now extends into America, Asia and the Southern Hemisphere. Objects: The objects formulated in 1947 are still little changed. Put briefly, they are to uphold and improve professional standards in the trade, to promote honorable conduct in business, and to contribute in various ways to a broader appreciation of the history and art of the book. The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) first started a data base a number of years ago and rapidly saw that the internet was going to be a global phenomena and not just one restricted to America. Our representatives on the Committee that oversaw the day-to-day operations of ILAB pointed out to that Committee that ILAB as an organization should develop a site for all member booksellers. The site was turned on in March of 1999. We then introduced a database with secure credit card ordering. We have a two fold purpose to having this website: First and most important we wanted to tell the internet world who we were – a group of the most experienced booksellers in the world who had to meet stringent requirements to become a member. Ethics are enforced by each member country of ILAB to a degree not found in any other website devoted to the sale of books. This combination of experience, expertise in describing books, and consumer protection is a fabulous story to tell especially in what is sometimes seen as the “wild-west” of internet bookselling. Our second purpose was to provide one of the best technical sites on the web for the sale of books at as low a price as possible to our members. Our webmaster company, Rockingstone, located in the Netherlands, has done that for us. Our webmaster keeps track of statistics for us and we have seen a very large increase in visits (and purchases) at our website. These visitors do much more that just buy books, they look at an average of 7.3 other pages of information about ILAB. One of the frequently used functions of the website is the link which allows searches for dealers by specialty. This means we are benefiting all members of ILAB, including those without computers. Is this a long-term commitment on your part? Where do you see yourself and your database in 3 years? 5 years? Bob: There are about 2000 members of ILAB of which over 300 are now actively placing around 2 million of the best books available on the web in our searchable database. We have seen that web technology is rapidly becoming as mainstream in other parts of the world as it has become in the U.S. As more and more of our foreign members join, the site will continue to improve in its diversity of rare books in all languages. The combination of the best rare books and the only true consumer protection offered will continue to make us a serious contender in the future of web bookselling. We own our site and do not have to worry about hiding the identities of our booksellers, charging a percentage of the sale, or any of the other problems that face for-profit databases. As more non-ILAB booksellers see what we are doing, I believe that there will be a large increase in the number of them who seek membership in the individual country organizations (such as the ABAA in the US). What lister book database inventory programs do you/will you support? Jelle Samshuijzen: We support a lot of different database inventory programs like: BookEase Pro, BookMinder, RS BookStore, HomeBase, BookTrakker Pro, BookMate, RecordManager, MS Access, File-Maker, etc. Both Windows and Mac files. What are your upload procedures? Deletion procedures? Are “wants” listings available? For sale matches? Are any additions/changes planned? Jelle: The ILAB-LILA Books Database accepts 6 main types of import files: tilde-delimited, tab-delimited, “Comma Separated Value” (CSV), UIEE, ABE, and Alibris PRV files. First the bookseller sends an example file to the Support Desk so they can create the settings and then booksellers can upload their files to the website as “total update”, “additions and changes” or “deletions”. An FTP account is also possible. These uploads are added to the database within 24 hours (usually much faster). Individual listings can also be altered on line. There is a wants service in place and we will soon be implementing the possibility of uploading wants files, which is ideal for libraries. What customer service (for both sellers and buyers) do you/will you have? Jelle: For customers we have a mailing list, wants service and offer multiple search methods including catalogues. For the ILAB national associations and their members the website offers the possiblity of sending emails to all members of the ILAB community, there is a free downloadable database, one can add images with their books, and a stolen books list. Very soon we will be offering members the possibility of having their own homepage, which will include the Personal Search Page feature. This will ensure that members will have their own URL, “www.ilab-lila.com/membersname.htm” and their own email address, “membersname@ilab-lila.com” Another service to come soon is our “highlights” feature. For a small fee dealers will be able to add their books to “highlights” gallery, putting them as it were in the shop window. Will you/do you have any quality (i.e., descriptions, shipping, and/or customer service) standards for your listers? If so, what will be/are the consequences of violating those standards? Bob: This question pinpoints one of the great strengths of ILAB. Although one can never provide strict standards for the way books are described, we can promise the buyer that the dealer selling the book has experience and must meet the general ethical standards of ILAB and the more specific ethical standards each member country of ILAB must have. If you are found not to have met the standards, you will be asked to leave the organization – it is that simple. The ABAA in the U.S. has an entire committee devoted to ethics with a lawyer retained and attending every board meeting to help enforce the ethical standards. More importantly they have a large amount of money set aside to take legal action if necessary. Each country of ILAB feels this strongly about this point. What are your technical arrangements (in non-technical language, please) to ensure reliability of service? Future growth? Additional services? Jelle: We always keep a close track on what is happening on our servers, implementing new security measures and looking at ways to increase their speed. Will you/do you have the capability of taking credit card info for orders? If so, what can you tell us about the safety procedures you have or will have in place to ensure the security of such info? Jelle: We offer a secure order form which uses the Verisign technology. The credit card details are sent to the bookdealer in two separate emails. Credit card details are not saved on the server. And, of course, customers are always free to contact the bookseller directly. Do you ever plan to process credit card orders through your database (rather than simply passing on the info to the lister) and, if so, will the lister or buyer bear the processing cost, and how long will it take to get payment to the lister? Jelle: Yes, we’re looking into this. Do you have any plans for programs associated with your database which would involve anything other than direct contact between seller and buyer? Bob: Absolutely not. Do you have or do you plan to have an “all word search” capability? Jelle: We do have that feature. What search capabilities does your database have now? What is planned for the future? Jelle: One can browse bookdealers’ books or their catalogues. Search by: author, title, description, any word/keyword, minimum price, maximum price, when added, publishing date, books of all ILAB members or of a national association, first editions, signed, dust wrappers, hardcover, paperback, type (books, maps and prints, autographs) and we have a special character keyboard in place. On what will you base your listing fees? What fees do you have now or plan to have? Jelle: US$50 set up fee and US$35 per month for up to 10,000 books (and / or maps, prints, autographs). Above the 10,000, US$5 per month per 5,000 (or part of) extra. US$10 a month for using the search engine at your own company’s site to search only your own books in the ILAB database. US$100 one-time set up fee, above 10,000 books US$2 per month per 5,000 (or part of) extra. Images can be added to one’s listings. These can be stored either on one’s own site, or on a space that we allocate. The first option costs US$50.00 set up fee; the second US$75.00 with an additional US$0.50 per 1 Mb per month. Do you plan to have or now have your database searched by Addall or Bookfinder or any other mega-search site? Bob: Our site is currently searched by both Addall and Bookfinder. This has greatly increased the number of people visiting our site and the sales at our site. How do you plan to advertise your database (both to draw listers and buyers)? Jelle: Hardcopy advertising, bookmarkers, E-mails, links on the websites of the members, booths in book fairs. What background or experience do you or other people involved with your database have that relates to the online book or online book database business? Bob: Our members are booksellers and not computer experts. Luckily we have members who volunteer their time to help with the overall look of the site and its advertising but not with the technical part. We are very fortunate to have Rockingstone and its President, Jelle Samshuijzen, as our webmaster and site developer. Jelle was a bookseller before he decided to devote full time to the computer world so that he really understands the problems of booksellers. His company is composed of 12 people and does work in other areas in addition to the ILAB site, yet his heart seems to be with us. ILAB has a very good legal contract with Rockingstone that makes it clear what obligations exist on both of our parts. Do you or are you planning to have professional management, bookseller management, or???? Bob: Rockingstone has designated certain members of their company to deal with ILAB matters. ILAB will eventually need to find more volunteers to help oversee the site. What markets (geographical and/or demographic) are you aiming at? Bob: As we are already a global organization, our growth throughout the world will be very simple. What services/features does your database have that you feel sets you apart and/or will ensure the success of your database? Bob: I would love to answer this question again (and again) but you are all probably tired of hearing it – The Best Books described by the Most Experienced Dealers – with ethical standards Enforced by our Member Nations! Please tell us anything you’d like about yourself, your database, or about the ILAB, and thank you for participating. Bob: I am a past President of the ABAA and am current Vice President of ILAB. I am the owner of Oak Knoll Books, which specializes in the sale of books about books, reference books, examples of fine printing and private press books. Our publishing company, Oak Knoll Press, publishes about 40 titles a year in the same field (for instance John Carter’s ABC for Book-Collectors is an Oak Knoll Press publication). The internet has been my holy grail quest since the beginning of time, it seems. Don’t ask me anything too technical but also don’t get me started on how positive I feel about the role the internet can play in the life of an ILAB bookseller. I feel that ILAB members have worked hard to achieve a reputation in the book world and that the internet is an ideal way to educate an entire new book buying community about who we are and what we stand for. ILAB is composed of the National Associations of 20 countries. You must first get accepted into the National Association in which you reside or, if there is no National Association in which you reside, you can apply to those associations that accept foreign members. Once you are accepted in a National Association (such as the ABAA in the U.S.) you will become an associate of ILAB-LILA. Here is the statement on our website: You could consider becoming a member of one of the 20 national affiliations of the ILAB-LILA. The affiliations are independent and their membership rules differ slightly from one another, though all set standards on professionalism and trustworthiness. All members must adhere to the ILAB-LILA code of ethics. Some affiliations require that your business be established in their country, though many do not. The 20 ILAB-LILA affiliations have members from 27 countries. See our list of national associations, choose one that seems most appropriate, and apply to them.

In nuclear physics, a half life is the period of time required for the decay or breakdown of half of the atoms in a sample of some specific radioactive isotope. Plutonium 238, for example, has a half life of about eighty-seven years, while Uranium 238 takes about 4.5 billion years to decrease by half. (If you are thinking about relocating near a war zone, leaky reactor, or abandoned mine, numbers like these can come in handy.) I would venture that most ephemera has an average half life of something more along the order of one to five years. If ten thousand pieces were printed, five thousand will be left one to five years later. That still sounds like a lot, but using the one year half life model, that same large print run would be down to less than ten surviving examples in just ten years. Ephemeral depletion depends largely on the subject matter, of course. Condom wrappers and church supper menus would disappear a lot quicker than tickets to the seventh game of a Yankees-Brooklyn Dodgers World Series match, or that famous Marilyn Monroe calendar. As the decades fly by this disintegration by halves continues unabated. Of the remaining survivors in any given era, half of those will be in rough or poor condition. Perfect copies will be thrown out when someone cleans an attic while their soiled and torn counterparts escape the purge. Survivors lose their crispness, sheen, and shape. Flakes, chips, chunks, creases, tears, and stains come next. Acidic post-rag paper generally doesn’t look better with patina like early furniture does. The very best examples of old ephemera are in the fine or near fine category, and generally comprise less than 1% of the original printing run. I have a Big Bang theory of ephemera. It shot out in all directions from one small place with great force, and some of this matter (energy is eternal but ephemera is not) is slowly coming back toward the center of the universe, which in our field are the public and private collectors. These collectors are the ones who can be most entrusted to track down, acquire, catalog, and safely preserve the best remaining examples. When I lose a nice piece at auction to the gravitational and monetary pull of a collector, or a dealer who has that collector in mind, there is consolation in knowing it has reached a potentially safe haven. Once there, two hazards exist. One is the destruction (usually by fire) of a large collection which would have been safer dispersed in many hands. The other is that supernova which occurs when a collector passes away and her or his life’s work once more hurtles through cold, hard space (i.e., at auction). The prudent collector pre-arranges a new home for these artifacts. Sometimes the best repository is a museum or library, where catastrophe and greed are less likely to intervene down the road, though there is always the danger of natural or unnatural disasters. If the donation is significant enough to warrant public attribution, that collector’s name and effort will live on in a setting available to the masses rather than squirreled away in a former cutthroat competitor’s trophy room. These are the stellar pieces though. The vast majority of good ephemera is worthy of collection but is not of museum quality. It is held by regular people who happen to have an interest in a certain subject and want paper collectibles to go along with and give context to their hard objects. The melancholy fact of life for most acidic paper items is that they will not be around by the year 2500 like many of their denser contemporaries will. But the information they hold can be researched and copied, and perhaps even the items themselves can be preserved in some way we don’t yet envision, such as through holographic projection. At any rate of decay, we have a certain duty to make sure we don’t damage or destroy good ephemera. How does one define “good” ephemera? Simple. Send it to me for free. If it’s good I’ll sell it or keep it. Seriously, though, we have a duty to preserve these items during our commercial or collecting stewardship. “I can’t afford to be the National Archives,” as one inveterate packrat friend and colleague often says (he is a close second to the National Archives), but we are beholden. Our job is to make sure that a minimum of atoms depart while the piece is in our possession. We can accomplish this in the following ways. Put your ephemera in a polypropylene or mylar protector bag, with an acid-free backing board behind it (the bag and board should be about 20% bigger than the piece it is holding). A bag without a board isn’t much better than no bag at all. How you store your ephemera depends on whether it’s at home in your personal collection or offered for sale somewhere. At home, it rather depends on what format most of the items are in, and whether you wish to display them or archive them. If pieces are stacked standing up they may bend, and if they are piled it may put too much pressure on the bottom of the heap. For uniform items such as baseball cards, archival plastic holders in binders may be best. There are good ways to preserve any item, from large movie posters to old cigar bands. Seek out experts in that line of collecting and learn how they do it. Keep your collection away from temperature extremes, avoid humidity, and shun immersion (leaks and floods) altogether. Most archivists shoot for 50% humidity and a little under 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Don’t store your containers in uncontrolled basements, attics, or outbuildings, and don’t rest them directly on the floor. Some folks microwave, spray, or “bomb” newly arrived books and ephemera to eradicate tiny paper-eaters such as silverfish. This can be time-consuming, as well as disturbing to family members and customers. Some northern purveyors put their containers outside once a year on the most frigid and still winter night when it is well below zero for a more natural solution to the problem of bio-predation. When it comes to items offered for sale, you have to make it easy for customers to flip through and see what’s there. It is frustrating and damaging to look through a large stacked pile top to bottom. Arrange these items standing up in a subject-labeled bin so they don’t flop over. Personally I prefer large clear or blue stackable Rubbermaid-type containers over more attractive but often dirty and splintery wooden boxes, but your silage may vary. Graduate down from big boards in the back to smaller toward the front. If you are running low on ephemera in a certain category, like your bin of transportation stuff, stick some related auto, railroad, aviation and nautical books up front to keep the stack upright until you can find some more stock. Keep rare, expensive, and fragile items in a locked showcase if at all possible. Never put a sticker or a written price on the item itself. Clearly record the price and other pertinent information at the top of the backing board. (I used to price in pencil but you have to press harder, it’s more difficult for the customer to read, and it’s easier for lowlifes to discount. Let the ink dry before you slide the item in.) For tears, learn how to use archival quality document repair tape or leave it as is, but never use Scotch tape. Don’t display outside, where polybags sweat and airborne grit can seep down. One day in the sun, outside or even in a front window, can bleed colors or curl photos like you wouldn’t believe. If you have ephemera at antiques centers where others will be handling sales for you, outline your concerns and special instructions to the staff. Talk with the management about emergency preparedness. Consider leaving a couple of clean tarps under your tables for quick and ready protection against water or smoke damage. I showed up at one center only to find that the owner had decided to move his front desk operations to the middle of the floor, which put my booth next to a construction site. Everything was covered with a nice layer of sawdust and powder. It would have been pretty easy to throw one of the nearby affected quilts over my ephemera buckets beforehand, no? It’s not like the ceiling caved in without warning overnight because a previously mentioned would-be National Archivist stored a pile of 1,800 worthless law books in the attic directly overhead. I am no longer in either of these buildings, by the way. To obtain protection, there are some local and national distributors who advertise on the internet and in ephemera publications. Bags Unlimited will probably be around for awhile so I’ll name that company as one example. If you are lucky enough to live near such a distributor you can save a lot on shipping, as the backing boards can be quite heavy (and if they ship for free the cost is built in). During lulls in New York State paper shows I became acquainted with bookish Bill Kammer of Mega-National Industries, Inc. (I kidded him that the Round Lake Polybag Company would sound a little less corporate.) M.N.I. carries an amazing inventory of hundreds of display supplies, from tiny jewelry tags to the gigantic tents favored at Brimfield and elsewhere. In terms of white backing boards, they cut thirty-five sizes, from 3 3/4″ by 5 5/8″ up to 18″ by 24″, with regular and archival quality polybags to match. Special size orders and volume discounts too. The prices are reasonable, such as 100 9″ by 12″ boards for $10.00, with 100 matching bags for $6.00. These very quickly pay for themselves in terms of presentation and preservation. At first I just purchased needed supplies from Bill but after awhile we started watching each other’s booths, getting food for whoever was busier, etc. Eventually I began placing large annual orders approaching $1,000.00 worth of bags and boards which he was kind enough to deliver right to my back porch. At first glance Bill appeared rather scrawny and reserved, but I learned that he took winter breaks from the breathtaking world of ephemera and antiques supplies to participate in more mundane Central and South American archeological digs, in addition to leading more profitable Euro-tourist jungle tours. I once sold him a major bibliography of early exploration of these areas and he seemed familiar with most of the titles listed. Bill told thrilling tales, and had interesting firsthand opinions on global trade, ecology, world peace, etc. I came to enjoy his company very much and planned to join him on treks (free assistance in exchange for free transportation and lodgings), but it wasn’t to be. Everyone who knew Bill was devastated to learn of his sudden and early demise several years ago. “Ephemeral” is so often applied to paper, but it is only the written word which remains. I’d plug his business here, but Bill’s widow is winding it down. I purchased as much of the remaining stock as I could, which should last a lifetime. Bill Kammer put out a nice little catalog in his day and I’ll close with a quote from that in this small tribute to his memory. “This is our first Ephemera products catalog. Since it is issue #1, and limited to a few thousand copies it will probably be a collector’s item someday. In the meantime keep it safe and close to you, and refer to it so you can make your orders properly. When the time comes for a new catalog (#2) this one can be put in your collectible archives (properly protected with one of our protectors I hope).”

Table of Contents Note from the Editor Joe Spoor of BookQuarters Tom Biro – Bibliology Limited Paul Anderson – Books & Collectibles Jeff Moore – UsedBookCentral Jan & Roger O’Connor and Lynn DeWeese-Parkinson – Bibliodirect 2002 Los Angeles Book Fair IOBA and Firsts: a match made in Book Heaven December 2001 : IOBA Seminar Report from Attendees IOBA Q & A Column Day in the Life: The Wall of Unavailability The Grand Pooh-Bah: An Interview with Lynn deWeese-Parkinson Sam Gottlieb, author of “Overbooked in Arizona” 2002 IOBA Election results

Editor: What is your purpose in starting a online book database (i.e., to help online booksellers, to get a database that does what you think a book database should do, because it’s a good business to be in, all of the above, none of the above, or ????). A: My purpose all along has been to try and unite booksellers so that they have some ability to bargain for better prices and services online. When attempts at working with existing organizations failed, or they had a different goal, I decided a database site would be the best way to spearhead and tackle the issues I felt online dealers faced. That’s where the low $100/year rate came from: the need to help sellers find an inexpensive alternative, and to encourage them to join our unofficial guild. Many have read the paraphrased quote I have posted on our service agreement page, and I think it really goes hand in hand with the spirit of our website. The quote is from “It’s A Wonderful Life” where Jimmy Stewart basically says the town needs to support his savings and loan company”..even if it’s only so there is somewhere people can go without having to crawl to Potter,” referring to the greedy old bank owner who all but runs the whole town. I see us as the little guy and, believe it or not, a few even started referring to me as the George Bailey of the online book industry because of that quote. And as I remember, he ended up being called the richest man in town, but it wasn’t meant financially. If I can earn that type of honor, that will be all I need. Editor: Is this a long-term commitment on your part? Where do you see yourself and your database in 3 years? 5 years? A: Because I was able to start on $1000, I really have no fears of having to recuperate any investment or fears of loss. For my wife and I, our major forms of income are outside of Bookquarters.com, probably about 85-90%. She works full time and I primarily earn income from printing services and Bookseller Monthly advertising and subscriptions. Additionally, in September I took on a business partner, Patty Johnson, who does all of the programming for the site. This has really made things easier to improve the site as needed, plus it took any fear of excessive web development fees out of the picture. For both of us this has become an extremely fun, and sometimes nerve-wracking, venture. But because there are two of us now it is easier to deal with, and neither of us want to give it up. I’ve always had a hard time envisioning where I would be even a month from now, but I don’t see how our site can fail. Patty and I are too driven to let it fail. Editor: What lister book database inventory programs do you/will you support? A: Well, we haven’t run into anything yet that we can’t accept or import. Bookquarters.com allows direct FTP upload, it supports BookTrakker’s “one-touch” upload feature, we accept uploads from BookRouter.com, and then through our online upload page we can take everything else: Homebase, BookMate, BookHound,simple database files from Excel, whatever you have–UIEE, tab, comma, etc. We even have eight customers who aren’t online who mail us typed lists that we manually enter–so I guess you can include that we import paper files as well 🙂 Editor: What are your upload procedures? Deletion procedures? Are “wants” listings available? For sale matches? Are any additions/changes planned? A: I pretty much covered our upload procedure in the previous question. Deletions can be handled several ways. If you send us UIEE type text files, our script automatically detects which listings are to be deleted. For tab and comma users, we require that they create a separate delete file and use the “Upload Deletes” link on our upload page–or if they FTP, to make sure they name the file a delete file. The other feature we have, one that was positively commented on recently by a new member, is our online delete page that allows you to quickly go in, enter up to 10 book listing numbers at a time, then select and delete them. Want listings are not currently available nor is there a matching procedure. However, Patty already has most of the programming written for collecting wants, it is just a matter of putting it in place. More importantly, we’re expecting to affiliate with a website in February where libraries and individuals go to post their books wanted and how much they’re willing to pay for the book. It won’t be anything like any other “library matching program,” we won’t be involved collecting commissions or even forwarding sales. Instead, part of the agreement will be making all wants on the site available only to our members for the first few days they are listed. As well, the site we are affiliatingwith will be giving us exclusive rights to having only our members inventories searched from their site. Editor: What customer service (for both sellers and buyers) do you/will you have? A: As far as I have seen, we are the only site that offers online live customer service. By clicking the button on our site that says “Click here for live help” a customer is connected with me through a chat window, similar to AOL instant messenger. I’ve had quite a few people glad it was available, many asking for recommendations on where to find a book (a valuable chance to send them in the direction of one of our members who specializes in such a field), others simply looking for answers regarding other services on our site. It’s very convenient because I can turn it off whenever I am away from the computer, so it doubles as an email button in those instances. We do provide all of our phone/fax/email information very clearly on our “Contact Us” page, which is a clear link from the home page. I think, as well, there have already been some public posts on the email lists about Patty and my quick response time to problems or questions. I think between the two of us we are online around 20 of the 24 hours in a day! Editor: Will you/do you have any quality (i.e., descriptions, shipping, and/or customer service) standards for your listers? If so, what will be/are the consequences of violating those standards? A: I don’t think we will be restrictive unless there is a real problem seller amongst our group. I know many sellers want to see higher standards, but there are several reasons why I prefer not to get too involved. First, I can’t see trying to impose policies on very specific matters such as accurate descriptions. It is such a subjective area with so many potential variables it only invites a quagmire of involvement and would appear as heavy-handedness on our part. We stay out of all specific transactions. But if a number of customers start to complain about a particular dealer, whether it be failure to ship, not having inventory in stock, etc., then action such as refund and removal would be considered after speaking with the member. Secondly, I think some dealers may feel uncomfortable being put under a scrutinizing system, thereby potentially scaring away what would have been perfectly good members. Ultimately, a bookseller will suffer poor sales if they are unable to fulfill a customer’s needs. But if there is, as I said, a problem member who is hurting the site and hindering us from having a good reputation we will take action. We have no specific policy on such things yet, but realize situations like this are inevitable and need a stated policy. I simply prefer to be very flexible. Editor: What are your technical arrangements (in non-technical language, please) to ensure reliability of service? Future growth? Additional services? A: We expect to be switching web host providers very soon, as we have found even better services elsewhere. We currently run our database on a shared SQL server, but once we move this will be altered. The provisions for our site with the new host will provide us scalability to 18 gigabytes of data storage (enough for around 36 million titles), a guaranteed uptime of 99.93%, and initially 40 gigabytes of transfer (enough to handle around 10,000 visitors per day) with scalability options there as well. Editor: Will you/do you have the capability of taking credit card info for orders?If so, what can you tell us about the safety procedures you have or will have in place to ensure the security of such info? A: Bookquarters.com has a shopping cart that allows customers to enter a credit card. In mid to late February we will be making it a secure process. Editor: Do you ever plan to process credit card orders through your database (rather than simply passing on the info to the lister) and, if so, will the lister or buyer bear the processing cost, and how long will it take to get payment to the lister? A: That is something that I really have no desire to be involved in. Depending on the requests of our members in the future, Patty and I may implement a system that that processes cards for our members, but it seems a distant notion at the moment. I would rather integrate a PayPal, ProPay, or other button into the shopping cart that allows or encourages buyers to pay the seller themselves on the spot with a system the seller already uses. I’m not here to make commissions or get involved in a bookseller’s transaction. The only reason we would consider providing such a serviceis if it was feasible and if the members were sincere in needing such a system. If you have a secure server where a customer can send along their card number, it is no less efficient (for the customer) than having us bill them. In turn, however, if for some reason the book is unavailable, we won’t be billing the customer for an “invisible” item. If the seller is responsible for processing, they will know whether to actually bill or not and be solely responsible. I want them to have control over their business. Editor: Do you have any plans for programs associated with your database which would involve anything other than direct contact between seller and buyer? A: No, that is something we would like to avoid unless it is a program that is invaluable to the bookseller and buyer. Editor: Do you have or do you plan to have an “all word search” capability? A: Bookquarters.com has an all word search capability. I often complain that it is too slow, though, as it obviously has to look through everything. I think it was our member Vic Zoschak at Tavistock who suggested I should refer to it as a “full bodied” search. Editor: What search capabilities does your database have now? What is planned for the future? A: We provide search by author, title, subject (a combination search of title and keywords), and all word search. We also have browsing capabilities of all members’ listings, either by the catalogs/subjects provided in their listings or by “view all books.” We haven’t settled on the best form of an advanced search yet, so that is what is to come. Editor: On what will you base your listing fees? What fees do you have now or plan to have? A: Policy: The cheaper the better. Bookquarters.com is a special site that has peripheral revenue gathering sources that don’t require hitting up the bookseller. I think our fee of $100/year to list up to 100,000 titles is going to be safe for a long time–especially considering technology will always make things like web hosting and data storage cheaper. Editor: Do you plan to have or now have your database searched by Addall or Bookfinder or any other mega-search site? A: We’ve had a rough go just trying to get information from either of these services on the fees they charge to be included in their search. What has been rumored to me, however, are rates in the neighborhood of $1500 per month. First, we don’t have that much revenue at this point to put solely towards advertising–especially all in one basket! Secondly, imagine what you could do with $1500 per month to really target various avenues instead of just focusing everything at one website. I believe that these type of search facilities allow database sites to create a great deal of hype and instant results. Unfortunately, the long term result is dependency on those sites at a hefty monthly fee they won’t be able to escape. What are you really doing to promote your booksellers’ names and your site’s name? To me it is analogous to the parable of either feeding a man or teaching him how to fish. If we were to throw that much money each month at one source, we would forever be dependent on them to bring in sales–much like booksellers are dependent on larger database sites right now. On the other hand, if we use our creativity and energy, we can much more effectively advertise in grass-roots manners, through print, various online paid advertising, and any other forum we choose. When you advertise your web site you are building a brand and at least giving your dealers a chance for return sales. With the “mega search” sites, it is virtually impossible to expect a repeat customer. Bookfinder and Addall have no search capabilities for a customer to track down “Bill’s Used Books” if they forgot what site they list on. I would prefer to spend our money wisely, scatter it around and not be overly dependent on any one source. Those who own their own websites are taking the right path, and they know it is the truth when I say repeat sales are very much possible online and are very important. Many dealers don’t realize or expect this because too many of the database sites and mega-search sites do not emphasize the dealer, just that they have “a gazillion books.” That’s one thing that is very important to me, promoting our site as a place to find a bookseller or bookstore that carries the type of books you like to collect or read. I don’t think the mega-search sites facilitate this. Editor: How do you plan to advertise your database (both to draw listers and buyers)? A: Incredibly, even though we have such a low fee, we are able to do some wonderful things because of the equipment I possess for publishing Bookseller Monthly. Additionally, the mere fact that I own a publication really eliminates some print advertising costs. I have many ideas, but to list a few of what we’ve done and are going to do: **We print out photo-quality, single-page, heavy-stock 2002 calendars for distribution at book fairs. This gives show-goers something neat to pick up, and they see our name all year long. **We advertise on Google.com. **We advertise on regional snack products (hey, you have to target everyone!). **We advertise extensively in Bookseller Monthly. 🙂 **We’ve recently purchased advertising with Overture advertising online for display on sites like AltaVista, Yahoo!, and Lycos. **We have a mail list visitors can sign up for to receive our “Thursday Night Special” of discount offers from our members. **We will be purchasing ads in Book Source Monthly and Antique Week. But, we also advertise our members, and give them free advertising: **Our members receive as much as 1 free ad each month in Bookseller Monthly. **They receive 2 weeks of free advertising on Google.com. **We list members and their specialties in our general Bookquarters.com ads. We have many plans for wise advertising, but we are trying to grow prudently and solidly. We know our site is only growing because sellers are supporting it, not because we have $25,000 to keep it afloat artificially. As we grow, our potential for growth simply snowballs. I expect to be able to carry out more of our as yet un-announced advertising plans in the near future. Editor: What background or experience do you or other people involved with your database have that relates to the online book or online book database business? A: I came from a sales environment that exposed me to all types of manipulative and unsavory type back-door dealing, typically what you would expect to see corporations doing but can never prove. That’s why I am so wary about the current online situation. I’ve been a collector of fine bindings for a decade and a seller of such for 4 years, although it has taken a back seat these past six months. Patty knows how to put it all together and has worked extensively with helping several booksellers create and maintain their own web sites. Editor: Do you or are you planning to have professional management, bookseller management, or???? A: Bookquarters.com will never leave my site or be out of my control, unless (with Patty’s permission) I can eventually simply turn it over to the members and take a long vacation. This isn’t all about money for me, but I would never deny it’s nice to be compensated for all the work that goes into the site. I am at home all day with my 2 1/2 year old daughter, so that makes me thrilled beyond belief. Getting a “hired gun” to run the business would only indicate to me that someone is looking to pull more revenue for their own pocket. I want revenue to build the site up for our members. Editor: What markets (geographical and/or demographic) are you aiming at? A: Everyone. Considering we aren’t going to be running $20,000 six-month ad campaigns in The NY Times, it is really silly to consider who we are targeting. We are talking to everybody and examining all realistic and worthwhile forms of advertising to reach whoever wants to listen. I tend to feel word of mouth and solid grassroots building is the best plan. This includes the simplest things as popping into a high-traffic chat room and letting everyone know there is a great new site out there to find used books called Bookquarters.com. Editor: What services/features does your database have that you feel sets you apart and/or will ensure the success ofyour database? A: I think the only thing that makes us similar to anyone else is the fact that we host booksellers’ databases; everything else is pretty unique. To my knowledge, no other database-type site has weekly guest author chats to attract readers. In fact, through NewBookReviews.com we actually work with Time Warner to pull in some big names. As many know, we hosted David Baldacci, a #1 NY Times bestseller, in our chat on January 15th. Just as well, we are able to provide unique and interesting content from my Publication, Bookseller Monthly, although abe.com also carries some of our articles. As I mentioned before, I’m pretty sure we are the only site that offers live online service. We also have a unique rotating banner ad on our site that we control, selling ads to booksellers who want to post books wanted or sell particular special volumes. I like this neat feature as it allows the site to seem more alive and active, like a true marketplace and not just a sterile search engine. We also offer many services to booksellers, such as all the printing options and website design. With what we offer, we can take a bookseller from selling on our site, to printing and mailing their print catalogs for them, to building and hosting their own web site for them, and then printing out their promotional materials for them. We are also the only site that gives the customer the ability to search within a particular bookseller’s listings from the main search bar, making it very easy for them to locate a dealer they would like to buy from again. For collectors and readers, aside from the chat and articles already mentioned, we will be opening a specific Kid’s section with materials on home-schooling, recommendations on books, moveable author puzzles, educational games and reading contests with books for prizes. We will also be finishing our book collecting information area. Later this month we will also be including a section where readers can find book related items from other independent websites, such as cloth book covers, specialty book marks, etc. Need more? We are also going to be partnering more heavily with NewBookReviews.com, who have a database of over a thousand book reviews written by readers, so that we can offer our browsing customers peer information on an author or title they may be interested in. Our site is going to be a center for books, that is why we changed the name to Bookquarters–Your headquarters for books and collecting online. Editor: Please tell us anything you’d like about yourself or your database, and thank you for participating. A: All I would like to say in following up is that booksellers should not be impatient with any of the new sites. Instant success is not in the realm of reality for any of us. Perhaps moreso than others, even though we got a “head start,” Bookquarters.com will alter and improve things slowly instead of launching everything all at once. This simply is a result of our revenue-generating system and my belief that prudent growth based on the support of people is what will ensure success. You aren’t successful if you have a “gee whiz” site that you dumped $25,000 into. Building a better mouse trap of a search engine isn’t going to get people to your site either. It all requires creativity, hard work and time. It is much more difficult an idea to reproduce the success a site like abe.com has achieved in the online market we see today. The Internet was not as competitive nor as over-crowded with web sites as it is today. And even though there are more customers, they have all had a great deal of time and saturation advertising thrown at them by ebay, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Half.com–so we actually need to not only try to grow and attract customers, but to educate them as well. The wonderful thing is that so many people are trying to pick up the ball that was left by Bibliofind, so there will be a great deal of competition–hopefully this will work to the booksellers advantage and give them better prices and services.