A Report on the ABA Board's Summer Meeting

The American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors held its summer meeting in Missoula, Montana, from Thursday, July 21, through Sunday, July 24. The meetings began in the late afternoon on Thursday with an orientation to introduce new Board members Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus Books for Young Readers in Minneapolis and Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco to the association's policies and procedures.

Over the course of the following three days, the Board:

• Received a detailed report on the association's implementation of the 2005 Strategic Plan from ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz.
  
  
• Reviewed the findings of a session on the Challenges and Obstacles Facing New Booksellers conducted on the association's behalf by Dietmar Grimm of the Redstone Strategy Group at this past June's BookExpo America (BEA).
  
  
• Convened with booksellers Catherine Weller of Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Barbara Theroux of Fact & Fiction in Missoula, Montana, as the Strategic Planning Committee, to review the plan's current goals and objectives. At the meeting, which was facilitated by Dietmar Grimm, the Committee reaffirmed the Strategic Plan's current number-one priority of providing booksellers with the education and information they need to succeed in a challenging environment.
  
  
• Heard a report from ABA President Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida, on his activities on behalf of the association.
  
  
• Received a report from CEO Avin Mark Domnitz on ABA's recent move to new offices, as well as on his recent participation in the Canadian Booksellers Association's annual convention and trade show.
  
  
• Heard a report from ABA COO Oren Teicher on last month's BookExpo America and reviewed plans for BEA 2006, which will be held from Thursday, May 18 - Sunday, May 21, in Washington, D.C. Teicher also presented a report on the Booksellers Advisory Council meeting, which was held immediately following BEA.
  
  
• Discussed plans for a proposed Winter 2006 Education Institute. (Watch for more on this subject in upcoming editions of Bookselling This Week.)
  
  
• Reviewed reports on Book Sense and other ABA projects -- including the recent Book Sense Picks Survey and the Campaign for Reader Privacy -- prepared by association staff.
  
  
• Discussed plans for ABA participation in the regional associations' fall trade shows.
  
  
• Reviewed the association's current investment portfolio, as well as its June 30 Financial Report. The Board also looked at a preliminary budget for the 2005 - 2006 fiscal year.

During the evenings of July 22 and July 23, Board members had the opportunity to visit Missoula's Fact & Fiction and Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana, respectively.