Congratulations to Our 8th Fully Certified Bookseller!
The Professional Booksellers School is delighted to celebrate our 8th Fully Certified Bookseller - Allison Witten, CPB, Finance and Ordering at Politics and Prose Bookstores in Washington, D.C.
Allison completed Inventory Management in 2021, Store & Operations Management in 2023, Basic Bookselling Certification via Independent Study in 2025, and Event Management in 2026.
Our upper-level courses are demanding, as our Instructors have distilled their years of experience into focused learning and homework that helps booksellers build knowledge and resources, such a creating a store's publicity kit, operations handbook, buying schedule, financial dashboard, and emergency plan. To become a Fully Certified Bookseller is to have put in hours of work, and to have fully invested in yourself and your store.
Allison says: "I came into bookselling as a burnt-out teacher, fully intending on returning to the classroom the following semester. That was almost 13 years ago, when it quickly became apparent that this was truly my path. The problem was, I didn't go to school for bookselling (I guess none of us did!) so when PBS debuted, it was a no-brainer to me that I would work to become certified. So much of bookselling is ascertained on the frontlines, but it was beyond beneficial to have a space to commiserate with and learn from others in the trade. I can see so much deeper into the industry after taking these courses, and I have a newfound respect for each and every one of you lucky enough to call yourself a bookseller."