ABA Strategic Planning Committee Receives Members' Ranking of Draft Strategic Goals

When the ABA Strategic Planning Committee meets in July, its work will rest on a foundation of significant ABA member input. A key result of that input is the final result of surveys conducted at 11 regional meetings over the past several months and at special sessions at BookExpo America (BEA). These meetings addressed the draft strategic goals created by the Strategic Planning Committee in conjunction with input from ABA’s Booksellers Advisory Council (BAC).

At all the ABA Booksellers Forums held across the country this year, booksellers ranked in importance the new plan’s six proposed goals as well as discussed the goals in some detail and offered their thoughts and feedback on priorities. The results of this process were brought to the BEA strategic planning meetings with members, where they again offered input and ranked the proposed goals.

Following BEA, the report of the entire process was shared with the BAC for further discussion. The results of that discussion will be provided to the Strategic Planning Committee when it meets in July.

The proposed strategic goals, as ranked by ABA membership, on an average ranking from 1 to 6, are to:

• Provide independent professional booksellers with access to the information and skills they need to succeed in a changing world (4.47);
  
• Serve as the voice of independent professional booksellers and advocate on their behalf on issues such as trade practices, free expression, and literacy (4.35);
  
• Promote the value of independent booksellers as a group through Book Sense and other cooperative activities (4.17);
  
• Foster development of enhanced business systems, services, and new business models (2.92);
  
• Support community activism and help create alliances that promote independent bookselling and other independent businesses (2.56);
  
• Increase the membership of ABA by helping to ensure the viability of current members and by developing new members (2.53).
  

Notably, the results from the meeting across the country showed marked agreement in the ranking of the proposed goals, as did the sessions held at BEA.

Looking ahead, the current, five-year, ABA Strategic Plan continues through 2002. However, recognizing the increasing pace of change in today’s business environment, the final version of the new plan that the Strategic Planning Committee sends to the ABA Board for its final approval may cover a shorter period of time.