ABA Announces 2006 Board Election Results

The results of the American Booksellers Association's 2006 Board of Directors elections, which concluded on April 24, were recently certified by the association's election inspector, KPMG. Candidates chosen by bookstore members to serve as directors, with terms ending in 2009, are Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville and Downers Grove, Illinois; Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City; and Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona. Shanks, who currently serves on the Board, was elected to a second three-year term.

ABA membership also ratified the Board's choice of Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana, for a one-year term as ABA president, and of Shanks for a one-year term as vice president/secretary.

Ending their terms on the Board are President Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books in Coral Gables and Miami, Florida, and Suzanne Staubach of UConn Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut, who served as vice president/secretary in 2004.

Other directors on the nine-member Board are Carla Jimenez of Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida; Cathy Langer of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver; Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis; Linda Ramsdell of The Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont; and Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco. The Board transition will take place at ABA meetings to be held in conjunction with this month's BookExpo America in Washington, D.C.

New and outgoing members of the Board will be at ABA's Annual Membership Meeting, to be held from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 19, in Room 150B in the Washington Convention Center. ABA's official annual meeting will provide membership with an update on the past year's activities and accomplishments and a look ahead to upcoming association projects.

ABA's Annual Town Hall Meeting will be held immediately preceding the Board meeting, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., in Room 150A. The Town Hall Meeting offers ABA members the opportunity to express opinions and share ideas with the Board and with staff in a less formal setting than at the Annual Membership meeting. Booksellers are encouraged to ask questions and make suggestions on such topics as Book Sense, ABACUS, Above the Treeline, and ABA's educational offerings.

In order to provide the opportunity for as many members as possible to speak during the town meeting, a sign-up sheet will be prominently displayed in the Book Sense Lounge beginning Thursday, May 18. Sign up is on a first-come, first-served basis, though the Board will do its best to make sure all members with questions or issues have the opportunity to speak. Booksellers will be called upon in the order in which they sign up.

The Annual Membership Meeting and the Town Hall are open to all ABA members.