Dear Fellow Booksellers, We hope you are enjoying the first days of fall and gearing up for what will hopefully be a successful and profitable Q4. Here on the ABA Board, we’ve just finished our September Board meeting where we met virtually with representatives from Ingram to discuss their vision and plans for the future and how those plans will impact bookstores, as well as to address concerns that members have brought to the Board’s attention and that the Board has experienced in their own stores, including how changes in Ingram’s minimums have negatively impacted smaller stores. (We urge stores to contact their rep to discuss options and see how settings might help. Please contact [email protected] if you’re not sure who your Ingram rep is; every store has one.) We also heard about Ingram’s automation plans, raised questions about safety for their warehouse workers, and heard about how seriously they take safety — tracking it closely and appointing a director level position to oversee it. Historically, the ABA Board has met with publishers and Ingram annually to discuss member priorities and concerns and to advocate on behalf of members. We also finalized our Audit Review committee for this year, per our Governance Policies, and thank in advance our two Board members, Angela María Spring from Duende District and Diane Capriola from Little Shop of Stories, for participating in the Audit process along with our three volunteer non-Board members: Robert Sindelar from Third Place Books; Melissa DeMotte from Well-Read Moose; and Jonathon Welch from Talking Leaves. This group will assist the Board with its oversight responsibilities by meeting with the association’s external auditor to review the annual audit process and review the final report, per ABA’s bylaws. The audit’s purpose is to ensure that the association financials are accurate, that there has been no illegal activity, that there are good checks and balances in place, and that the association is achieving financial benchmarks for nonprofit best practices. In October, at our upcoming quarterly Board meeting, we will conduct our annual financial review, including a review of end of year financials (ABA’s fiscal year is 10/1–9/30), a report from our investment managers who oversee the ABA’s endowment, as well as an annual budget review and discussion about any possible changes to our investment policy. (The most recent change to the investment policy was in 2021 when the Board voted to add ESG criteria to the ABA’s Investment Policy criteria.) We will also discuss the accountability mapping training the Board is participating in for our 2022 antiracist/DEI training and Board education. Finally, we will conduct our annual review of governance policies, including bylaws, and discuss the upcoming Board election in May. Nominations opened up last week; please consider nominating yourself or someone else for an open Board position. We expect there will be at least two spots open, including the vacancy left by Michael Herrmann, as well as an open spot once current President Christine Onorati rotates off the Board, in addition to possible re-election of two current Board members. Another huge thanks to this year’s Nominating Committee Chair Jake Cumsky-Whitlock, and to Board member Melanie Knight for serving on the committee, as well as to the three non-Board nominating committee members assisting with this important process this year — Javier Ramirez from Exile in Bookville, Josh Cook from Porter Square Books, and Rosa Hernandez from Third Place Books. Looking ahead into Fall, the final Board Office Hours for this year will be on October 21 at 4:00 pm ET with Board members Danny Caine, Angela María Spring, Diane Capriola, and Christine Onorati. Board Office Hours are a way for the Board to prioritize Board/member linkage as mandated by ABA’s bylaws and we appreciate the opportunity to hear from members. We hope you get a chance to connect with the ABA team at the Fall Regional shows, and we hope to see you at the in-person Winter Institute in Seattle in February or online at the Virtual Winter Institute in March! —Christine, Kelly, and Angela, your Board Officers |
