Hillel Stavis, the owner of Wordsworth Books, says his shop has been able to attract business largely due to its series of lectures by authors.

“We have an author series that’s about the best in town,” Stavis says. He adds that the children’s division of Wordsworth has done particularly well.

And the Square’s independent booksellers reinforce the area’s character as a nexus of reading and learning.

“If there ever was a community where there is a demand for books it’s going to be this one,” Gifford says. “Graduates come back and all they want to do is browse in the bookstores—it’s a special attraction.”

“People love the independent bookstores in Harvard Square,” says Robin A. Lapidus, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association. “They’re an essential thread in the fabric of this community.”

She says the volume of e-mails she receives through the association’s website asking about the Square’s bookstores attests to their importance to locals and tourists alike.

“We get a substantial amount of e-mails from people asking questions about bookstore hours,” Lapidus says. “Harvard Square is still recognized in the world at large as a bookstore-ish kind of place where anyone can find almost any book.”

And booksellers say they are always looking for new ways to market their books.

With websites and 1-800 numbers, as well as frequent-buyer discounts, bookstores are doing all they can to drum up business.

Last month, the Harvard Bookstore kicked off a citywide book group, with support from a variety of Cambridge organizations.

“We’re working to reach out more than we ever have before,” Kramer said at the book group’s launch, as he sold copies of the citywide group’s first selection, James McBride’s The Color of Water.

“It’s very sad to see the diversity of bookstores slowly dwindle down,” Kramer says. “I hope we’ll bring more bookstores back to Harvard Square.”

—Staff writer Claire A. Pasternack can be reached at cpastern@fas.harvard.edu.