Not so fast.

Six senators--three Republicans and three Democrats--are threatening to filibuster the tentative agreement reached late Wednesday night between the House and Senate for an extension of the Patriot Act that has disappointed the many people who wanted more protection of civil rights and liberties.

The six senators are supported by an unusual coalition that includes librarians, booksellers, defense lawyers and business groups (the last are concerned about the costs of complying with increasing government demands for records).

One of the six, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), said, "We have worked too long and too hard to allow this conference report to eliminate the modest protections for civil liberties that were agreed to unanimously in the Senate."

Buoyed by a "strong hardcover release schedule" last month, sales at Barnes & Noble rose 4% to $1.08 billion in the third quarter ended October 29, and net earnings were $327,000 compared to $7.57 million a year ago. The company's earnings drop reflected costs of $2 million for the company's new distribution center in New Jersey. Analysts had expected a slight loss.

B&N increased its estimates of earnings per share for the full fiscal year by five cents, which reflects both an increase in net earnings of $1 million and the reduction in the number of shares outstanding following the company's share repurchasing program.

Yesterday Wall Street reacted favorably to the results and the estimates increase. On a day the Dow Jones Industrials rose 0.4%, B&N stock closed at $39.98, up 4%.

CEO Steve Riggio commented: "Third quarter sales met expectations, benefiting from a strong hardcover release schedule in October. If our sales trend continues, we are optimistic that the company will be able to deliver its fourth quarter results as planned."

The Divisions

Sales at B&N stores rose 4% to $930.5 million. Sales at B&N stores open at least a year rose 1.5%. The company estimated that hurricanes during the quarter negatively impacted comp-store sales 0.5%. During the quarter, the company opened 13 B&N stores and closed three. It currently operates 683 B&N stores.

Sales at B. Dalton Bookseller dropped 21% to $28.4 million, mainly because of store closings. Comp-store Dalton sales dropped 1.6%. B&N closed five Daltons during the quarter and now has 141.

Sales at B&N.com rose 8% to $99.4 million.

Also during the quarter, B&N paid its first dividend, of 15 cents a share. It also bought back 2.8 million shares of its stock for $105 million; for the year-to-date, it has bought 7.3 million shares for $269 million.

Discount and remainder bookseller Daedalus Books & Music is opening its first freestanding retail store, at Belvedere Square, a renovated marketplace in North Baltimore, Md., in January, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.

While most of its business is online and through catalogues, Daedalus has a store at its Columbia, Md., warehouse. The new 9,000-sq.-ft. Daedalus store will offer up to 20,000 book titles and 2,000 music CDs.

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The Kentucky legislature is calling for a study of prices of textbooks and related material, which CM Bulletin calls the possible "first wave in an upcoming flood of similar actions in other states."

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Next stop, Penn Station. All aborders.

Borders Books & Music is opening a fifth store in New York City next summer. The 23,480-sq.-ft. store will be on two stories at Seventh Avenue and 33rd Street in the Penn Plaza complex, which includes Madison Square Garden and Pennsylvania Station.

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The off-campus bookseller who argued that he shouldn't have to pay $3,000-$6,000 a semester for a list of required textbooks from the University of Colorado bookstore was notified this week that he can have an electronic copy of the list for $75, according to the Rocky Mountain News, which has publicized his plight.

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Dial-A-Book, the company whose Chapter One program includes 72,000 excerpts of U.S. books (with permission of the copyright holders!), has signed an agreement with Xinhua China, majority owner of China's largest book distributor. Under the agreement, Xinhua will post more than 25,000 Chapter One excerpts on its dealer network, which reaches 12,800 bookstores that together sell more than three billion books a year.

Also Dial-A-Book will act as a consultant with Xinhua to develop a database of excerpts of 100,000 Chinese books both for the Chinese and export markets. Most government-owned publishers are expected to participate. Dial-A-Book will also consult with Xinhua to create a database of English-language excerpts to be made available in China.

Dial-A-Book president Stanley R. Greenfield said that the program will "provide Chinese bookstores and online book retailer with the opportunity to read excepts of English books to help them judge the reading level of the books and their suitability for the Chinese market when making buying decisions."

Three Massachusetts bookstores are part of a group that is working to promote literacy, education and libraries both in the U.S and Iraq. "We're trying to raise money for literacy programs here and get textbooks and computers to send to Iraq," Nancy Felton of Broadside Bookshop, Northampton, Mass., told Shelf Awareness. The other organizing bookstores are the Odyssey Bookshop, S. Hadley, Mass., and Food for Thought Books, Amherst, Mass.

Called Books Building Bridges, the year-long program is focused in western Massachusetts. Besides the bookstores, participants include librarians and artists as well as representatives of literacy organizations, the American Friends Service Committee and schools.

The group was inspired by both a Friends Services program called Harvest Aid--which has brought American and Iraqi farmers together--and Jeanette Winter's book The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq (Harcourt Children's, $16, 0152054456), which tells of a Basra librarian who, with help, saved 30,000 books from being destroyed during the war.

The first event sponsored by Books Building Bridges is a panel called Learning in a Time of War and will be held the evening of Tuesday, November 29, at the Northampton Center for the Arts. The subject is "the impact of war on literacy, libraries and education both in the U.S. and in Iraq." Panelists are:

• Saffaa Al-Hamdani, professor of biology at Jacksonville State University and founder of Books for Baghdad. (He is helping Books Building Bridges to send textbooks and computers to Iraq, most likely to the University of Baghdad, Felton said.)
• Michele Cloonan, dean and professor of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College. (Simmons runs several programs in Jordan that train Iraqi librarians.)
• Pamela Schwartz, outreach director of the National Priorities Project, which offers citizen and community groups tools and resources to shape federal budget and policy priorities that promote social and economic justice.
• Jeff Spur, Islamic and Middle East specialist at the Documentation Center of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Fine Arts Library, Harvard University. (Spur has done a detailed study of conditions at university libraries in Iraq.)

The moderator is Bonnie Isman, director of the Jones Library in Amherst.

Books Building Bridges hopes to hold similar events and is encouraging its members and others to develop their own programs. Booksellers, librarians and others in the region are being urged to promote the November 29 panel.

Another component of Books Building Bridges is a curriculum that is being put together in connection with the Literacy Project of Springfield. The curriculum is designed for adult literacy programs but "could be easily adapted to high schools," Felton said. Among its subjects are media literacy, the impact of war and the history of Iraq. In addition to reading, writing and math, the group wants to teach critical thinking.

Books Building Bridges hopes that the book business will help with donations of books, energy and money. But "the biggest help," Felton said excitedly, "would be to get Jeanette Winter to come here. That would be wonderful!"

For more information about Books Building Bridges, visit the group's Web site.

Yikes! We just realized Thanksgiving is next week. Without further ado, special holiday schedules from wholesalers.

Bookazine

From now until December 24, Bookazine will be open Mon.-Fri., 8:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Sat., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; and Sun., 10 a.m.-3 p.m. EDI and Web orders can be taken at any time.

Bookazine will close on Thanksgiving, December 26 and January 2. For more information, call the company at 800-221-8112 or 201-339-7777.

Baker & Taylor

Beginning Sunday, November 27, and running through Monday, December 19, B&T will be open Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, Noon-6 p.m. (EST).

Independent bookstore customers in the New York metro/New England areas who receive shipments from B&T via Transmark will be eligible to receive Saturday Next Day Delivery on orders placed by 5 p.m. on Fridays. This service is available Saturday, November 26, through Saturday, December 17.

Also B&T has extended its Early Pay Option. Independent Booksellers now have until the 15th of each month to pay the previous month's invoices in order to earn an extra 2% discount. (The company had previously offered a 2% discount for 10-day EOM terms but has extended that by five days.)

B&T may be reached at 1-800-775-1100. Electronic: 1-800-775-0419. For DVD or music orders, 1-800-775-2600.

Ingram

Ingram's customer care department in Tennessee is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Phone numbers for orders:

Ingram Book Company: 800-937-8000
Spring Arbor: 800-395-5599
Ingram Library Services: 800-937-5300
Ingram International (Canada): 800-289-0687
Ingram International (other than Canada): 615-793-5000 x27652

Customer service numbers:

Ingram Book Company: 800-937-8200
Spring Arbor: 800-395-7234
Ingram Library Services: 800-937-5300
Ingram International (Canada): 800-289-0687
Ingram International (other than Canada): 615-793-5000 x32622

Koen-Levy Book Wholesalers

Starting Saturday, November 26, and lasting until Thursday, December 22, Koen-Levy will be open Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-7 p.m., and Sat.-Sun., Noon to 5 p.m. (EST). Before then, regular hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; customers are welcome to call, starting next Monday, November 21.

Electronic ordering is available around the clock beginning Monday. Koen-Levy is closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The company has what it calls "a special and generous" Welcome Back offer through December 31. Call for details: 856-235-4444.

NACSCORP

NACSCORP's customer service/order line is open Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-7 p.m. (EST), and will be closed Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving, Monday, December 26, and Monday, January 2. Orders may be placed any time at www.nacscorp.com with a free online account.

For Winter Back to Class season, NACSCORP is taking orders for its new Bargain Book Program assortments as well as popular reference specials with discounts up to 55% off list, plus free displays.

Partners/West Book Distributing

Partners/West will be open November 28 through December 23, Mon.-Fri. 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (PST). From December 3 through December 18, Partners/West will be open Saturdays and Sundays 8 a.m.-2 p.m. (PST). The company will close Thanksgiving Day, December 26 and January 2.

Electronic and PubEasy orders can be placed 24 hours a day.  Preferred Customers can receive discounts up to 43%.  All customers can take 2% additional discount off net for payment 15 days EOM.
 
For additional information, call 1-800-563-2385 or e-mail orders@partners-west.com.

Partners Book Distributing

Partners will be open through December 23, Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and on Saturdays, December 3, 10 and 17, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Partners East will be closed Thanksgiving and December 26.

Customer Service: 1-800-336-3137

Toll-Free Orders: 1-800-336-3137

Today WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show is debriefed by Gene Sperling, national economic advisor to President Clinton and author of The Pro-Growth Progressive: An Economic Strategy for Shared Prosperity (S&S, $26.95, 0743237536).

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WAMU's Diane Rehm Show consults with Dr. LaSalle Leffall, author of No Boundaries: A Cancer Surgeon's Odyssey (Howard University Press, $26.95, 0882582518).

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The View spends a few minutes with Food Network host Rachael Ray, author of the 30 Minute Meals series.

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Tonight on Larry King Live: Teri Garr and Meredith Viera talk about multiple sclerosis, which Garr and Viera's husband are battling. In her new book, Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood (Penguin, $23.95, 1594630070), Garr writes about her life and dealing with MS.

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Tonight on the Late Show with David Letterman: Senator John McCain, co-author of Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember (Random House, $23.95, 1400064120).

The following are the bestselling titles at Pacific Northwest Bookseller Association member stores during the week ended Sunday, November 13, as reported to Book Sense.

Hardcover Fiction

1. Light From Heaven by Jan Karon (Viking, $26.95, 0670034533)
2. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin (Spectra, $28, 0553801503)
3. The Sea by John Banville (Knopf, $23, 0307263118)
4. Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Knopf, $20, 140004460X)
5. Christ the Lord by Anne Rice (Knopf, $25.95, 0375412018)
6. Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan (Putnam, $26.95, 0399153012)
7. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan (Tor, $29.95, 0312873077)
8. Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire (Regan Books, $26.95, 0060548932)
9. A Sudden Country by Karen Fisher (Random House, $24.95, 1400063221)
10. A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte, $28, 0385324162)
11. Predator by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam, $26.95, 0399152830)
12. The Trouble With Poetry by Billy Collins (Random House, $22.95, 037550382X)
13. Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (Canongate, $18, 1841957178)
14. The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch (Bloomsbury, $23.95, 1582346054)
15. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday, $24.95, 0385504209)

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter (S&S, $25, 0743284577)
2. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Knopf, $23.95, 140004314X)
3. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (S&S, $35, 0684824906)
4. A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Seven Stories, $23.95, 158322713X)
5. The Truth (With Jokes) by Al Franken (Dutton, $25.95, 0525949062)
6. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow, $25.95, 006073132X)
7. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (FSG, $27.50, 0374292884)
8. Healthy Aging by Andrew Weil (Knopf, $27.95, 0375407553)
9. The Elements of Style Illustrated by William Strunk et al. (Penguin Press, $24.95, 1594200696)
10. Marley & Me by John Grogan (Morrow, $21.95, 0060817089)
11. Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall (Warner, $24.95, 0446533629)
12. The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt (Penguin, $25.95, 1594200580)
13. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown, $25.95, 0316172324)
14. The River of Doubt by Candice Millard (Doubleday, $26, 0385507968)
15. 1491 by Charles C. Mann (Knopf, $30, 140004006X)

Trade Paperback Fiction

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $14, 1594480001)
2. Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos (Grove, $13, 0802142109)
3. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin, $15, 0143034901)
4. Wicked by Gregory Maguire (Regan Books, $15, 0060987103)
5. Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner (Milkweed, $14.95, 1571310479)
6. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Harvest, $14, 015602943X)
7. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (Back Bay, $13.95, 0316010707)
8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage, $12.95, 1400032717)
9. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Vintage, $14.95, 0679781587)
10. Runaway by Alice Munro (Vintage, $14.95, 1400077915)
11. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Washington Square, $14, 0743454537)
12. The Chronicles of Narnia (adult movie tie-in) by C. S. Lewis (HarperCollins, $19.99, 0060765453)
13. The Best American Short Stories 2005 edited by Michael Chabon (Houghton Mifflin, $14, 0618427058)
14. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin, $14, 0142001740)
15. Light on Snow by Anita Shreve (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316010677)

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

1. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Anchor, $14.95, 0307276902)
2. Bad Dog by R. D. Rosen et al. (Workman, $9.95, 0761139834)
3. Sudoku Easy to Hard edited by Will Shortz (St. Martin's, $6.95, 0312355033)
4. Bad Cat by Jim Edgar (Workman, $9.95, 0761136193)
5. The End of Faith by Sam Harris (Norton, $13.95, 0393327655)
6. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay, $14.95, 0316346624)
7. Sudoku Easy, Volume 1 by Will Shortz (St. Martin's, $6.95, 0312355025)
8. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage, $14, 0679745580)
9. The Original Sudoku edited by Nikoli Publishing (Workman, $8.95, 0761142150)
10. Chronicles by Bob Dylan (S&S, $14, 0743244583)
11. Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner et al. (Three Rivers, $12.95, 1400082315)
12. Don't Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff (Chelsea Green, $10, 1931498717)
13. Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (Random House, $14.95, 0812973011)
14. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library, $14, 1577314808)
15. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage, $14.95, 0375725601)

Mass Market

1. State of Fear by Michael Crichton (Avon, $7.99, 0061015733)
2. Jarhead by Anthony Swofford (Pocket, $7.99, 141651340X)
3. Whiteout by Ken Follett (Signet, $7.99, 0451215710)
4. Night Fall by Nelson DeMille (Warner, $7.99, 0446616621)
5. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Warner, $6.99, 0316769487)
6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Warner, $6.99, 0446310786)
7. The Constant Gardener by John le Carre (Pocket, $7.99, 1416503900)
8. The Winds of Change by Martha Grimes (Signet, $7.99, 0451216962)
9. Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule (Pocket Star, $9.95, 0743460502)
10. London Bridges by James Patterson (Warner, $7.99, 0446613355)

Children's (Fiction and Illustrated)

1.  The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events #12) by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist (HarperCollins, $11.99, 0064410153)
2. Eragon by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $9.95, 0375826696)
3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (movie tie-in, children's) by C. S. Lewis (HarperCollins, $7.99, 0060765461)
4. Eldest by Christopher Paolini (Knopf, $21, 037582670X)
5. Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (Chicken House, $19.99, 0439554004)
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $8.99, 0439139600)
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $29.99, 0439784549)
8. Fairyopolis by Cicely Mary Barker (Frederick Warne, $19.99, 0723257248)
9. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (Scholastic, $7.99, 0439709105)
10. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $9.99, 0439358078)
11. Skippyjon Jones by Judith Schachner (Puffin, $5.99, 0142404039)
12. Napoleon Dynamite: The Complete Quote Book (Simon Spotlight, $7.95, 1416913912)
13. Flush by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, $16.95, 0375821821)
14. Junie B., First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May) by Barbara Park, illustrated by Denise Brunkus (Random House, $11.95, 0375828087)
15. Winter's Tale by Robert Sabuda (Little Simon, $26.95, 0689853637)

[Thanks to Book Sense and PNBA!]