A Report on ABA's Recent Board and Advisory Council Meetings

On Tuesday, June 1, and Wednesday, June 2, the American Booksellers Association Board of Directors and senior staff met at the Hotel ABA - Chicago (Allerton Crowne Plaza), prior to the start of BookExpo America.

During a busy two days, the Board and staff:

• Heard a report from outgoing ABA president Ann Christophersen of Women & Children First in Chicago about her activities on behalf of the association;
  
• Heard a report from CEO Avin Mark Domnitz on ABA activities, including a Strategic Plan update;
  
• Reviewed the ABA Board election results, certified by the association's election inspector, KPMG. Candidates chosen by ABA bookstore members to serve as directors, with terms ending in 2007, were Carla Jimenez of Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida; Cathy Langer of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver; and Linda Ramsdell of Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont. Membership had also ratified the Board's selection of Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books in Coral Gables and Miami, Florida, as ABA president and Suzanne Staubach of UConn Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut, as ABA vice president/secretary for one-year terms beginning in June 2004.
  
• Received a report about the 16 ABA Booksellers Forums, which began on January 9 and concluded on May 6 and were held in various locations across the country.
  
• Received an update on the pending sale of ABA's headquarter property in Tarrytown, New York. The Board and staff also discussed objectives for the Real Estate Task Force, which will analyze ABA's real estate needs moving forward.
  
• Discussed matters relating to the imminent ABA Convention and BookExpo America, including materials to be presented at ABA's Annual Membership Meeting on Friday and the agenda for the Booksellers Advisory Council meeting to be held immediately following the trade show.
  
• Discussed the feasibility of reporting aggregate sales of independent bookstores gathered through reporting to the Book Sense Bestseller Lists to publishers.
  
• Discussed plans for further development of the Book Sense marketing program, including plans for the next five years, guidelines for future partnerships, and gift cards.
  
• Received a report on ABA's financial status, including a year-end projection and an investment review. There was also discussion about how best to invest proceeds from the pending sale of the property.
  
• Reviewed a Book Industry Study Group Report on the expansion of the ISBN to 13 digits from 10 digits, effective January 1, 2007.
  
• Heard a report on the results of the 2004 ABACUS study.
  
• Reviewed a report on the status of ABA membership and the results of special membership offers conducted in conjunction with the regional booksellers associations.
  
• Received an update on the Campaign for Reader Privacy and the petition drive calling on Congress to amend Section 215 of the Patriot Act.
  
• Met with representatives of the American Independent Business Alliance and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies as part of ABA's environmental scanning to discuss ways booksellers could foster the development of local business alliances.
  

At a dinner on Wednesday evening, the Board honored outgoing directors John Bennett of Bennett Books in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and Ann Christophersen, as well as, in absentia, PW's Bookseller of the Year David Schwartz of the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops of Wisconsin, who died on June 7.

Following the trade show, on Sunday, June 6, and Monday, June 7, at the Hotel ABA - Chicago, the Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC) met with ABA senior staff, ABA President Mitchell Kaplan, and Board Director Linda Ramsdell, who fills the newly created position of liaison between the BAC and the Board. Six new bookseller volunteers joined the 25-member council, which provides the ABA Board of Directors with a broad cross-section of views from within the community of independent booksellers. Booksellers joining the BAC were Steve Bercu, BookPeople, Austin, Texas; Dana Harper, Brystone Children's Books, Fort Worth, Texas; Mary McCarthy, Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Julie Norcross, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, Michigan; Philip Rafshoon, Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse, Atlanta, Georgia; DeDe Teeters, Armchair Books, Port Orchard, Washington.

Among the issues discussed by the BAC were:

• ABA programming at BookExpo America: What worked at this year's convention; what didn't; and how ABA's programming and presence at the trade show can be improved next year.
  
• The next five years of Book Sense: Where does it go from here?
  
• Current trade practice issues.
  
• The Campaign for Reader Privacy, including the petition drive and plans for the next phase.
  

The BAC meeting concluded with an open forum at which members discussed whatever was on their minds, including ABA membership and new bookseller recruitment, sales tax issues, literacy efforts, and how BookSense.com can meet the needs of specialty stores.

Booksellers ending their terms on the BAC in June were Tamra Dore, Katy Budget Books, Houston, Texas; George Kiskaddon, Builders Booksource, Berkeley, California; Dee Robinson, Village Books, Bellingham, Washington; Neil Van Uum, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, Ohio; and Barb Wieser, Amazon Bookstore Cooperative, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Also, on Sunday, there was an abbreviated BookSense.com Users Council meeting. Present were Chuck Robinson, Village Books, Bellingham, Washington; Matt Miller, Tattered Cover, Denver; Mary Gay Shipley, That Bookstore in Blytheville, Blytheville, Arkansas; Tom Campbell, Regulator Bookstore, Durham, North Carolina; Michele Sulka, Joseph-Beth Bookstores, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee; and Wendy Manning, Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, Washington. The group heard separate presentations from ABE.com and Ingram, and also discussed future enhancements to the BookSense.com product.