By Wednesday evening Barnes & Noble admitted to customers that the “serious network issue” we reported on Tuesday was indeed “a cybersecurity attack, which resulted in unauthorized and unlawful access to certain Barnes & Noble corporate systems.” Previously, the company had only said they were “investigating the cause.” As we had suggested, the company also now confirms the bookseller was “made aware” of the attack back on Saturday, October 10, and systems have been impaired since then. On Thursday morning BN executive Jackie DeLeo sent an email to publishers as well. The effects were so sweeping, as we previously described, […]
Bookstores
Barnes & Noble Says Most “Systems Are Back Online” After Major, Multi-Day Problem, But Nook Is Still Being Restored
Barnes & Noble suffered a serious, widespread, unspecified IT systems problem that appears to have begun on Saturday and was mostly remediated by Tuesday afternoon. The most obvious signs of the problem to the outside world were significant issues accessing Nook titles and other data (libraries, wishlists, etc.) and problems logging into BN.com accounts and reported delays in shipping those orders, while in-store customers appear to have faced at least some checkout issues and difficulty with special orders, stock-finding and other functions that required computer assistance. A BN spokesperson told PL Tuesday afternoon, “We have a serious network issue and […]
People, Etc.
Lane Zachary will join Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents, continuing to represent many of her current clients as well as new writers of literary fiction, memoir, and creative nonfiction. At Simon & Schuster, Sienna Farris will take the new position of vp, director of multicultural marketing, serving as “a company-wide, senior marketing expert and champion for our multicultural publishing,” reporting to Liz Perl. At Random House Children’s, Alison Stoltzfus has been promoted to senior director, publishing, for Princeton Review and Sylvan Learning. Suzanne Lee has joined the art department as designer, moving over from Princeton Review and Sylvan Learning. Larsson […]
Indigo Store Employees Vote In Favor of Unionizing
Employees of Indigo’s Square One store, one of 39 locations of the chain in Mississauga, Ontario, voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union yesterday, with 23 votes in favor and 13 opposing. UFCW representative Kevin Shimmin told PL in an email, “We are so happy to welcome the Indigo workers at Square One in Mississauga to our union. This victory demonstrates the necessity and viability of organizing unions, especially right now during the pandemic. Health and safety in retail work is the spark that started this campaign. Workers, and their community supporters, understand unionization is the […]
Workers in an Ontario Indigo Store to Finish Vote on Unionizing Today
Workers in Indigo’s Square One location in Ontario, Canada, will conclude voting today on whether to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union. The move came after a failed petition asking their employer to stop forcing them to clean customer bathrooms, which they saw as a Covid health and safety issue, according to Kevin Shimmin, a representative for UFCW Canada, interviewed by Quill & Quire. The high-profile, multilevel store re-opened in late June. Shimmin said that a winning vote would lead to a series of meetings to gather employee proposals, followed by negotiations with Indigo, a process that […]
People, Etc.
Kristin Fassler will return to Penguin Random House on October 5, in the new role of svp, director of integrated marketing strategy for the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, reporting to Maya Mavjee. All divisional marketing functions will report to Fassler. She “will build and lead a state-of-the-art marketing department centralized across all imprints that incorporates title marketing, social media marketing, advertising, promotion and creative services, online optimization, audience development, consumer insights and analytics, and campaign ROI.” At Knopf, Chris Gillespie is being promoted to svp, publishing director, effective October 5, reporting to Reagan Arthur, helping with “the logistics of our […]