Winter 2005 ABA Board Meeting Report

The American Booksellers Association Board of Directors, senior staff, and representatives from the regional booksellers associations held meetings at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Austin, Texas, from Thursday, February 3, to Sunday, February 6.

On Thursday, February 3, at 7:00 p.m., Claiborne Barksdale, CEO of the Barksdale Reading Institute (BRI) in Oxford, Mississippi, spoke as part of ABA's ongoing environmental scanning efforts, where the association examines issues that might significantly affect the book industry. BRI works with Mississippi public schools to improve the reading skills of pre-K - 3rd grade students.

On Friday morning, there was a breakfast presentation with Dan Houston, a partner in Civic Economics, an economic analysis and strategic planning consulting firm that is emerging as a leading proponent of progressive economic development. Civic Economics, which Houston founded with Matt Cunningham, gained widespread attention with the December 2002 release of the study, "Economic Impact Analysis: A Case Study, Local Merchants vs. Chain Retailers," and "The Andersonville Study of Retail Economics," both of which illustrated that local merchants contribute significantly more money to the local economy than do retail chains.

Following the breakfast, ABA's Board of Directors and staff met with the presidents and executive directors of 10 regional associations in a roundtable discussion with eight people at each table to discuss different issues for an hour. The discussions were then followed by a 45-minute discussion, during which the roundtable proceedings were reported to the entire group.

"It was wonderful," said Lisa Knudsen, executive director of the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association. "I've been going to these meeting for 17 years, and it was one of the most lively and energetic meetings we've ever had." She noted that the groups were not given an agenda but were asked simply to talk about those industry issues foremost on their minds.

Some of the issues discussed were:

• The necessity and challenges of communication between ABA and its member bookstores, and between regional associations and their member stores.
• ABA's new and developing education program. "The reality is ABA is developing a curriculum, a progressive course of study, and the principal forum for [these programs], aside from BookExpo America, is regional associations at their spring meetings and trade shows," Knudsen noted.
• Marketing Book Sense to consumers more aggressively.
• How bookstores can become more proactive regarding retail development and in marketing their stores to developers as a viable alternative to national chains in new lifestyle centers.

At 1:00 p.m. on Friday, February 4, the Board convened for its meeting. Among its activities over the weekend meetings, the Board:

• Met with representatives of the association's auditor, KPMG Peat Marwick, George Alleyne (in person) and Charlene Laniewski (via telephone), and received the audited financial statement for the year ending September 30, 2004. The auditors provided a clean report, which stated that "the consolidated financial statements referred to ... present fairly, in all materials respects, the financial position of ABA, Inc. and subsidiaries [as of September 30, 2004] ... and the changes in their net assets and their cash flows for the years then ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. And the opinion to the consolidating and other supplement information and the consolidated financial statements -- are fairly stated in all material respects in relation to the consolidated financial statement taken as a whole."
• Met with William King of Merrill Lynch, the association's financial consultant, who provided the Board with updated information on the association's investments.
• Heard and approved the report of the ABA Nominating Committee, chaired by ABA board member Suzanne Staubach of UConn Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut. The Nominating Committee is composed of Staubach; Cathy Langer of the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver; Ann Christophersen of Women & Children First in Chicago; Jerry Brace of Brace Books & More in Ponca City, Oklahoma; and George Kiskaddon of Builders BookSource in Berkeley, California.
• For three-year terms, beginning in June 2005, the committee recommended the re-nomination of Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana; and the nomination of Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis; and Michael Tucker of Books, Inc. in San Francisco. (Under the ABA Bylaws, in addition to candidates put forth by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Board, any bookstore member may submit a petition for a director candidate. Watch for details in next week's BTW).
• Selected Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books in Coral Gables and Miami Beach, Florida, as ABA President and Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store, as ABA Vice President/Secretary for one-year terms beginning in June 2005. Their names will appear on the Board ballot, which will be mailed in early March, for approval by ABA membership.
• Reviewed the written reports provided by staff on the BAC meeting held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in early January, and, as the Board's BAC observer, Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, added her comments.
• Reviewed the program reports provided in advance of the meeting on Book Sense marketing; BookSense.com; the Book Sense Bestseller Lists; the Book Sense Picks; the Book Sense Gift Card Program; and the work with other trade associations representing independent businesses.
• Received a report from ABA COO Oren Teicher regarding the plans for BEA 2005 in New York and on the changes to the process surrounding the Book Sense Book of the Year, indicating that many of the changes came out of the conversations at recent Board meetings. (For a related article on the Book Sense Book of the Year ballot changes, go to http://news.bookweb.org/news/3177.html.)

The Board adjourned on Sunday, February 6, 2005.