A Report on ABA's September Board Meeting

The American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors held its 2008 fall meeting in Tarrytown, New York, from Monday, September 22, through Wednesday, September 24.

Over the course of the meeting, the Board:

• Received a report from ABA President Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, on her efforts on behalf of the association, including her participation in the Electronic Catalog Task Force meeting in San Francisco in August and meetings in September at ABA's offices in Tarrytown, New York, to brainstorm plans for the further development of IndieBound, as well as for discussions with Above The Treeline founder John Rubin.

• Received an update from ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz on his activities since the last Board meeting, including his participation in the Electronic Catalog Task Force meeting and a meeting with leaders of CBA, the Association for Christian Retail, to discuss issues of mutual concern. Also received status reports on registration for the upcoming Winter Institute and member participation in the 2008 ABACUS Study.

• Heard a report from ABA Chief Marketing Officer Meg Smith on the implementation of IndieBound and discussed plans for future development.

• Received a status report on the migration of ABA's membership database to web-based Association Management Software from Senior IT Director Jeff Wexler and Database Manager Barry Sobolewski and previewed some of the new package's self-service application modules, which will allow members to update their own records.

• Traveled to New York City on Tuesday in groups of three, accompanied by an ABA staff member, to meet with publisher representatives to discuss the recommendations of ABA's Electronic Catalog Task Force. Participating publishers were Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan, New York University Press, Penguin Group, Perseus Books Group, Random House, and Simon & Schuster. (Watch for a further report on these meetings in an upcoming edition of Bookselling This Week.)

• Received a report from ABA COO Oren Teicher on ABA's continuing efforts to level the playing field for sales tax on Internet purchases.

• Heard updates from ABA Chief Program Officer Len Vlahos on plans for the Fourth Annual Winter Institute to be held in Salt Lake City from Thursday, January 29, through Sunday, February 1, 2009, as well as on the status of the migration of ABA's E-Commerce Solution to the open-source platform Drupal.

• Met with William King of Merrill Lynch, the association's financial consultant, who provided a report on the performance of ABA's investment portfolio during the current economic downturn.

• Reviewed the association's 2008 - 2009 operating budget, presented by CEO Domnitz, which reflected an anticipated reduction in investment income based on current economic conditions.

In conjunction with the Board meeting, the ABA Audit Committee, which is charged with oversight and monitoring of ABA's financial dealings, meet with the association's auditors, Marks Paneth & Shron LLP, in New York City on Wednesday, September 24.