First, I hope this is not an inappropriate diary since I am looking to purchase something. However, we have been annually ordering a few hundred books from the dreaded Amazon for several years now. I have never been happy with this situation, and at last have decided to attempt to take action.
Our organization provides students with a reference library and also test preparation books to assist international students that wish to apply to U.S. colleges and universities. We are small and understaffed, so there is not a great time to do in-depth research on bookstores. However, I would really prefer that our funds go to support an independent book shop.
After much thought, I realize there are many knowledgeable people here, and that maybe someone is close to an independent book seller that we could communicate with and see if we could agree to terms that would be a good fit for both our organizations.
Once again, if this is an inappropriate request, I will delete this diary.