ABA Board of Directors Spring Meeting Report

The ABA Board of Directors held its spring meeting in Chicago from March 28 - 30.

At the meeting, the Board:

• Approved appointments to the association's Nominating and the Governance Review committees, and, also, appointments to the Booksellers Advisory Council.

The new members of the Nominating Committee are:

Beth Puffer, Bank Street Bookstore, New York, NY
Dave Kaverman, Million Story Book Company, Ft. Wayne, IN
Luanne Kreutzer, St. Helens Book Shop, St. Helens, OR
Suzy Staubach, U-Conn Co-op, Storrs, CT

(Neal Coonerty, of Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, had previously been approved to chair the Nominating Committee by the Board.)

The new members of the Governance Review Committee are:

Chuck Robinson, Chair, Village Books, Bellingham, WA
Tom Campbell, The Regulator Bookshop, Durham, NC
Mary Gay Shipley, That Bookstore in Blytheville, Blytheville, AR

The new members of the Booksellers Advisory Council are:

Becky Anderson, Anderson's Bookshops, Naperville, IL
Dale Szczeblowski, Concord Bookshop, Concord, MA
Carol Chittenden, Eight Cousins, Falmouth, MA
Brother Simba, Karibu Books, Hyattsville, MD
Vivien Jennings, Rainy Day Books, Kansas City, KS
Lynn Roberts, Square Books, Oxford, MS

• Met with Judy Krug, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, who briefed the board on current First Amendment challenges, especially the provisions of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, which threaten the privacy of customer and patron records at bookstores and libraries, respectively. Krug offered an overview and analysis of the issues, and noted efforts underway to repeal Section 215.
  
• Met with William Nasgovitz of Heartland Advisors, which manages part of the ABA investment portfolio. (Periodically, the ABA Board reviews the association investment portfolio with representatives of the various management companies, which report on the status of the investments and provide an overview of the economic climate.)
  
• Heard a report from ABA senior staff on eight Booksellers Forums that had taken place this late winter and spring -- forums in Northern California, Southern California, New England, the Mountains and Plains region, the Pacific Northwest, the Upper Midwest, and two forums in the Great Lakes region. (Upcoming are forums in the Southeast, Mid-South, New Atlantic regions, and another New England forum.)
  
• Saw a screening of the award-winning documentary film Stone Reader, which examines why a critically acclaimed novel and author have fallen into obscurity.
  
• Conducted a preliminary review of the recommendations of the ABA Governance Committee.
  
• Received and reviewed the latest association financial report.
  
• Received a preview of ABA's bookseller education programming for this year's BookExpo America.
  
• In its efforts to stay abreast of industry-wide developments, the Board met with Greg P. Josefowicz, chair and CEO of Borders Group, Inc., to learn more about Borders' category management program.
  
• Heard a report from Board member John Bennett on a meeting in New York City of booksellers and Scholastic, which covered a number of general publishing-related issues.
  
• Heard a report from ABA senior staff on ongoing programs, including Book Sense, BookSense.com, and ABACUS, as well as on several programs in development, including the BookSense.com co-op program and the gift card program. The Board also received reports on ABA's work with ABFFE and other organizations to address the First Amendment threats of the USA Patriot Act and to help strength productive alliances among independent Main Street retailers.
  

In addition, while the Board was in Chicago, ABA President Ann Christophersen, co-owner of Women & Children First (which is located in Chicago), hosted a reception on March 28 for area booksellers and writers.