The American Booksellers Association’s Nominating Committee, chaired by Jonathon Welch of Talking Leaves Books [4] in Buffalo, New York, begins its search today for qualified candidates to stand for election to the ABA Board of Directors in 2018. Any ABA member may nominate a qualified candidate [5], and given ABA’s commitment to diversity in all its meanings, the committee strongly encourages members to nominate all interested candidates (self-nominations are acceptable).

A nominee for the Board of Directors [6] must be an ABA member who is the owner or employee of an independent bookstore with a storefront location that is operated according to sound business principles. In addition, a candidate must have at least three years of recent experience as the owner or employee of a member company. It is also desirable that nominees have at least two years’ experience as an active volunteer in ABA and/or in a regional association or other constituency organization. Qualifications are outlined in the “ABA Nomination and Election Guidelines [7]” from the ABA Governance Policy Manual [8].

The committee requests that nominations be submitted as soon as possible but no later than October 31, 2017, via the online nomination form available here [5]. Nominations should include as much information as possible about a prospective candidate. All information will be kept strictly confidential.

Serving with Welch on this year’s Nominating Committee are ABA Board member Annie Philbrick of Bank Square Books [9] in Mystic, Connecticut, and Savoy Bookshop & Café in Westerly, Rhode Island; Kristen Gilligan of Tattered Cover Book Store [10] in Denver, Colorado; Melanie McNair of Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café [11] in Asheville, North Carolina; and Andy Perham of Books Inc. [12] in San Francisco, California.

The slate for the 2018 Board of Directors elections will be announced approximately 120 days prior to the next ABA Annual Membership Meeting, which will be held in conjunction with BookExpo [13] in New York City, scheduled for May 30–June 1, 2018.