BY KATHIE FITZGERALD AND JON ERWAY
NEWARK, New Jersey - "I'm so glad I'm going to have Pathfinder books back in my bookstore!" the owner of a small shop in Madison, New Jersey, told Lee Oleson and Sara Lobman after placing an order for 48 books. The buyer, whose store specializes in titles on women's studies and Black studies, ordered a wide range of titles, including The Changing Face of U.S. Politics by Jack Barnes, Speeches for Socialism by James P. Cannon, To Speak the Truth by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, several titles by Malcolm X, Sexism and Science by Evelyn Reed, and several issues of the Marxist magazine New International.

Oleson, a Pathfinder supporter from New Jersey, and Lobman, Pathfinder's business manager, visited the store as part of a week-long special effort in mid-December to distribute more Pathfinder titles to bookstores and libraries in New Jersey. In addition to Oleson, six other New Jersey Pathfinder supporters participated in sales visits to 24 bookstores and libraries. As an immediate result of the visits, Pathfinder received seven new orders for 185 books.

The acquisitions director at one of the state university libraries immediately placed an order for the Collected Works of V.I. Lenin. He said he and a professor had been trying to find one for the library there for three years.

The sales team arrived at a private university with time to do an initial check of the library's collection. When the representatives told the person in charge of collection development that they were missing a number of Pathfinder titles, including 9 issues of New International, she filled out the paperwork on the spot to send to the acquisitions department.

The bookstore for a community college in Cranford, New Jersey, only has one shelf set aside for books not assigned for course work. But the staff there has been discussing how to enlarge the section. They began by ordering 22 Pathfinder books, including Che Guevara Speaks; Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women; and Art and Revolution. They also ordered one each of the books by Malcolm X in preparation for Black History Month in February.

New Jersey Pathfinder supporters also used the tour to lay the basis for getting copies of the new 1998 Pathfinder catalog to professors at various state colleges and universities so they can consider making the books part of the reading for their classes. They plan to follow up with phone calls and visits early next semester.

The importance of getting Pathfinder books out on the shelves of bookstores as widely as possible was underscored by the comments of a student who was working as a cashier at a bookstore in New Brunswick when she caught a glimpse of the Pathfinder catalog while giving the sales team directions to their next stop. "Pathfinder! You guys are just great! Just last night my friends and I were discussing your books."  
 
 
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