Report of the Summer ABA Board Meeting

The ABA Board held its summer meeting at the association's headquarters in Tarrytown, New York, from July 10 - 13.

At its meeting, the ABA Board:

• Heard reports from ABA President Ann Christophersen and ABA CEO Avin Mark Domnitz.
  
  
• Received a report on the latest Booksellers Advisory Council meeting, which was held after this year's BEA.
  
  
• Received a report on the preliminary 2004 association budget. The association is operating under a Board resolution to present a balanced budget for next year, and it is expected that this will happen.
  
  
• Met with William King of Merrill Lynch to review ABA's policy regarding its investment portfolio, which the Board voted to continue.
  
  
• Received a full report on Book Sense and other projects -- including the new electronic gift card -- from Mark Nichols, director, Book Sense Marketing; Jill Perstein, director of marketing; Len Vlahos, director, BookSense.com; and Dan Cullen, editor-in-chief/Book Sense 76.
  
  
• Discussed plans for ABA participation in the regional fall trade shows.
  
  
• Heard a report from ABA COO Oren Teicher on the continuing efforts to achieve sales tax equity on Internet sales.
  
  
• Received an update on the Freedom to Read Protection Act, currently pending in the U.S. Congress.
  
  
• Received the preliminary results of a member study on BookExpo America.
  
  
• Heard and discussed a report from Ivan Barkhorn, a consultant to ABA, which presented an analysis of possible future scenarios for the bookselling and publishing industries as part of the ongoing environmental planning called for in the association strategic plan.

In addition, as part of its ongoing series of meetings with industry leaders, the Board and ABA senior staff met with executives from HarperCollins and from Grove Atlantic to review industry issues and trends. They also met with three representatives from Publishers Weekly -- Nora Rawlinson, editor-in-chief; Jim Milliot, senior editor, business and news; and John Mutter, executive editor, bookselling -- to discuss industry issues.