Dear Booksellers,

ABA is moving forward with initiatives that address concerns that were raised at Town Hall around diversity, antiracism, and supporting BIPOC-owned bookstores and BIPOC booksellers. I’m usually of the mind to wait to share until we’ve completed or accomplished the work, but a few BIPOC booksellers have shared with me their desire to know our steps in real time. With the goal of transparency and communication, here’s an update on our work in progress:

• The ABA team has formed the ABA Access and Equity Committee. The intention in setting up this internal working group is to create and implement initiatives to support BIPOC bookstores and booksellers and to promote diversity, inclusivity, representation, and antiracism both within the association and for our members. Some of the things we’ll be discussing at our first meeting include:
  • Finalizing an ABA diversity statement
  • Reviewing ABA’s Code of Conduct with special attention to BIPOC concerns, confidentiality, and repercussions
  • Creating an antiracism educational series on topics such as microaggressions, race relations in bookstores, and advocacy
  • Creating a campaign for the ABA Board nomination process in support of diverse board candidates (including hosting an informational webinar on being a board member, promoting the call for nominees through diverse channels, etc.)
  • Exploring ideas like mentoring for BIPOC-owned bookstores and mediation for owner/bookseller issues
  • Getting ABA’s house in order — reviewing all personnel paperwork to ensure that it’s inclusive; reviewing procedures to support diverse hiring; looking for human resources support; and making changes in ABA’s office to ensure better representation and inclusivity
  • And the group itself. What does the ABA team want to accomplish?
• On July 2, the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee of booksellers and ABA staff will resume meeting with a discussion on this group’s role moving forward.
• The membership team is finalizing plans for a BIPOC meetup in the coming weeks. This space will be for BIPOC booksellers to come together and aims to ensure that the session will be whatever the attendees want it to be. This will be a non-hosted event without an ABA facilitator or staff person present.
• I’m in conversations with potential partners about the possibilities for industry microloans.

We’ll share more as we move along. Until then, ABA is here for you. Please reach out if there is anything we can help with. 

Best,
Allison