We are now accepting nominations for open spots on ABA’s Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC). The BAC serves as a sounding board and advisory council on issues facing the bookselling community and ABA.
Booksellers are invited to nominate themselves or another bookseller.
Nominations are due by 11:59 pm ET on May 13, 2026.
Nominations will be reviewed that week by current BAC members. Ten new members, one each from PNBA, MPIBA and CALIBA, and two each from SIBA, NAIBA and SIBA and NEIBA will be selected to fill the empty seats.
The BAC serves an important role in ABA’s work. It has also proven to be a pipeline to the ABA Board. Ten current ABA Board members have served on the BAC: Cynthia Compton (4 Kids Books & Toys, MacArthur Books), Diane Capriola (Little Shop of Stories), Jake Cumsky-Whitlock (Solid State Books), John Cavalier (Cavalier House Books), Donya Craddock (The Dock Bookshop), Paul Hanson (Village Books), Christina Pascucci Ciampa (All She Wrote Books), Jessica Stockton Bagnulo (Greenlight Bookstore), Tegan Tigani (Queen Anne Book Company), and Holly Weinkauf (Red Balloon Bookshop).
BAC members provide feedback about ABA programs and services as they are being developed; offer suggestions to help ABA improve programs and services to better serve bookselling communities; help identify and respond to emerging threats and opportunities related to antiracism, equity, representation, and access in the industry; bring concerns of booksellers and bookstore owners to the ABA staff and Board; and generally assist ABA.
The BAC is looking for individuals who represent different diverse identities. ABA is looking to create a committee as a whole that is representative of different types of individual diversity, as well as diversity of region, store size, and format.
A candidate for the BAC committee:
- Is a full-time bookseller or bookstore owner at an ABA member bookstore (any format or model)
- Has not served on the BAC before
- Does not currently serve on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council (DEIC) or the ABA Children’s Advisory Council
- Is able to meet the time obligation (see below) and serve for two years
Nominees will be informed of final decisions by May 21, 2026. The first BAC meeting with new members will take place on July 22 at 4:00 pm ET.
The BAC time commitment varies as outlined below:
-
Input and/or participation in ABA’s Winter Institute
- This includes offering feedback on programming and/or participating in a panel.
- Occasional attendance at prep or preview sessions for ABA programming with external speakers
- Occasional emails asking for feedback
- Four quarterly 60-minute Zoom meetings
For more information about the committee, please reach out to the bookseller committee members collectively or individually, or contact ABA CEO Allison Hill or COO Joy Dallanegra-Sanger.