May 04, 2001 The Lawsuit Settlement and Book Sense Chief Topics at New England Forum This season's ABA Booksellers Forums reached New England on April 24, when the region's booksellers met with ABA COO Oren Teicher and BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos at the Westford Regency Hotel in Westford, Massachusetts. Coming so soon after the settlement of the lawsuit, the number-one topic of discussion, according to booksellers, was the conclusion of the lawsuit against Barnes & Noble and Borders. Carol Chittenden of Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Massachusetts, told BTW that ABA staff in attendance did "a terrific job of explaining the viewpoint on things" regarding the settlement. She added that "people need to get to the [ABA] Web site and read the trial transcript and the information about terms" to get the full context of the decision. Dale Szczeblowski of the Concord Bookshop in Concord, Massachusetts, noted that "everyone was quite interested in hearing about the settlement," adding that some "were disappointed, but understood the reasons behind the settlement." The forum also covered a number of other topics including Book Sense, BookSense.com, and how ABA could make Book Sense more responsive to specialty bookstores. On that score, Chittenden said some specialty booksellers "felt pretty darn strongly that there need to be services for specialty stores," adding that she believed ABA fully recognized that fact. She noted, too, that both at the forum and at a meeting of the New England Children's Bookselling Advisory Council that followed the next day "people felt very supportive" regarding the upcoming Children's Book Sense 76. She stressed though that the participation of specialty booksellers in such programs as the 76 list was key. "The best list is the one that has the most contributors." (For a preview of the Children's 76, click here.) The 2:30 p.m. forum was preceded by a New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) Advisory Council meeting, and following the forum NEBA and attendees saluted Nan Sorensen, NEBA's outgoing assistant executive director, at a reception co-sponsored by NEBA and ABA. Sorensen recently accepted a position with Houghton Mifflin. -Dan Cullen Topics: News - Regional, Forums, About ABA,