A Report on ABA’s 2012 Winter Board Meeting

The American Booksellers Association’s Board of Directors met on January 16 and 17, 2012, prior to the seventh annual Winter Institute, at the Astor Crowne Plaza in New Orleans.

Among its activities during the two days of meetings, the Board:

• Welcomed Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, who was attending her first Board meeting since joining the association in November 2011.

• Heard a report from ABA CEO Oren Teicher on his activities since the last full Board meeting, including:
  • a visit to Frankfurt for a series of meetings, including one with Fraser Tanner of the U.K.’s Batch and another with members of the European and International Booksellers Federations to consider possible partnerships;
  • a recent meeting with BookExpo America Event Director Steven Rosato and BEA Director of Education Sally Dedecker;
  • his participation in a number of the fall regional trade shows;
  • a trip to Washington, D.C., in December with Content Officer Dan Cullen for a series of positive meetings focusing chiefly on sales tax fairness;
  • a meeting with eight of the nine regional association executive directors on November 30 and December 1 with Content Officer Cullen and Senior Program Officer Dallanegra-Sanger;
  • his participation in the annual meeting of the LIBRIS Board of Directors in December with ABA Chief Financial Officer Eleanor Chang and Board Member Sarah Bagby;
  • the implementation of ABA’s new dues structure, which began in January 2012 with the mailing of renewal notices to all members;
  • plans to move ABA to a new headquarters in White Plains, New York, at the end of 2012, which will improve the association’s office space while saving a significant amount in rent over the course of an eight-year lease.

• Heard a report from ABA President Becky Anderson on her activities on behalf of the association, including her participation in the panel “The Bookstore of the Future,” at the New England Independent Booksellers Association Fall Trade Show, which she suggested might serve as a model for future ABA programming, and a very successful event featuring Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin in support of sales tax equity and the Marketplace Fairness Act at Anderson's Bookshops on January 13.

• Met in Executive Session.

• Were briefed on the December meeting of the LIBRIS Board by ABA Board member Bagby, CEO Teicher, and CFO Chang, who noted that LIBRIS had paid out $8.3 million in claims to bookstores since the program’s inception and that LIBRIS representatives would be participating in the Winter Institute’s Consultation Station.

• Discussed the new Shelf Awareness proprietary consumer newsletter, which it is offering to independent bookstores for their customers.   

• Received an update from CEO Teicher and Content Officer Cullen on the following days’ Winter Institute. In the update, they noted the event’s new initiatives, the Working Group sessions set for the final day of the institute, and the 12 30-minute sessions that were focusing on best practices. On the eve of the event, it was anticipated that the total Wi7 attendance would be approximately 775, which included about 510 booksellers, 35 percent of whom were attending their first Winter Institute.

• Heard an update from Technology Director Matt Supko on IndieCommerce, which noted both the level of participation (there are currently 358 IndieCommerce stores) and total sales across the platform, as well as some trends in e-book sales, including that the promotion and sales of e-books appeared to be fostering the sales of print books as well.

• Discussed both capital investment for new IndieCommerce features and for continued development of the IndieBound Reader app.

• Received a report from William King, senior vice president at Merrill Lynch, on the performance of the association’s investment portfolio and discussed and approved a motion to not invest in any publicly traded company that owned a publisher.

• Heard a report from Content Officer Cullen on ABA’s advocacy efforts as well as recent developments in the movement for sales tax fairness, including:
  • the influential effect of California’s passage of sales tax fairness legislation on other states and on the national level in the fight for sales tax equity.
  • several very positive meetings with legislators and others in Washington, D.C., conducted by ABA Senior Public Policy Analyst Dave Grogan in January in support of the proposed federal sales tax equity legislation.
  • nine sessions at the fall regional trade shows organized by ABA in conjunction with the Small Business Administration, which focused on sources of capital and on small business professional development resources, as well as plans for a similar session at Wi7 and SBA’s participation in the Consultation Station.
  • SOPA and PIPA legislation, which was quickly losing support in Washington in the face of growing protest.

• Received an update on ABA membership figures from Membership and Marketing Officer Meg Smith, who noted that the association currently has 1,904 bookstore locations and ABA would continue to reach out to inactive members to encourage them to rejoin ABA.

• Heard a report from CEO Teicher on plans for the upcoming ABA spring Bookseller Forums.

• Had a working lunch with Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publishing services, for R.R. Bowker.

• Met with representatives of the Ingram Content Group, including Chief Commercial Officer Shawn Everson, Vice President and General Manager Dan Sheehan, and Director of Sales Ron Smithson, to discuss matters of mutual interest.