ABA's 2005 Annual Membership Meeting

The ABA Board convenes at the Annual Membership Meeting.

ABA's Annual Membership Meeting was held at BookExpo America on Friday, June 3, immediately following the association's Town Hall Meeting. ABA President Mitchell Kaplan began the meeting with some reflections on the past year. "I think in many ways the [association] is working on all cylinders and at the highest levels," said Kaplan, who noted, however, that there is still much to be done and that he and the ABA Board and staff were committed to redoubling their efforts on behalf of independent booksellers.

Kaplan then acknowledged the contributions of outgoing Board members Neal Coonerty of Bookshop Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, California, and Karl Pohrt of Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, of whom he said, "They have given immeasurable service, they have integrity, and they have always strived to do what's right for the association."

Following Kaplan, Suzy Staubach of UConn Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut, who was acting as outgoing ABA vice president and chair of ABA's Nominating Committee, reviewed the 2005 election results, noting that two new members had been elected to the Board -- Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco and Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus Books for Young Readers in Minneapolis. Membership had also certified Kaplan for a second year as ABA president; and Russ Lawrence, who was elected to a second three-year term on the Board, had been certified as vice president.

Staubach also reported that, although membership in the association was down this past year in the categories of Regular Bookstore, Associate, and Auxiliary members, a hopeful sign was an increase in the number of Provisional members, which was up to 124 from 119 the year before.

ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz then took the floor to present a year-end review of the association's accomplishments. He began by describing the many educational offerings developed by the association over the past year in response to input gathered from booksellers and how these courses were tested at various regional forums and bookseller association trade shows. Domnitz pledged that these offerings "are only going to get deeper." However, Domnitz reiterated Kaplan's comments about the need for input from members. "We welcome input from all of you," he told booksellers in attendance.

Domnitz then led the audience through the various programs of the association that were designed to meet the goals of ABA's strategic plan, including the key components of the Book Sense marketing program; the business management services available to members at discounted prices; ABA's work with the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression to defend the public's First Amendment right to read; and the association's continued efforts to ensure fair trade practices and sales tax equity. Along the way, Domnitz encouraged booksellers to participate in the ABACUS study, which he noted was a perfect example of booksellers helping themselves by sharing valuable information and creating benchmarks; to use the booksellers forums on BookWeb to communicate with, and learn from, fellow booksellers; to sign up with ABA's new partner Constant Contact for easy e-mail management; to nominate to the Picks lists and to sign up to become nominators for the Quill Awards. Regarding the Quills, Domnitz explained that in order to be recognized in the book industry, "we must participate."

Domnitz concluded with a report on the financial health of the organization, which he termed as "rock solid."

To view Domnitz's complete Year-End Review in PDF format, click here.