May 07, 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS: SBA Chief of Staff to Speak at New ABA • SBA Chief of Staff to Speak at New ABA Session at BEA Session at BEA ................................................ 1 May 07, 2009 -- Ana M. Ma, chief of staff at the U.S. Small • ABA Annual Meeting to Include Vote to Amend Business Administration, will be one of the featured speakers at a Bylaws .............................................................. 2 new ABA session at BookExpo America, "How SBA and the Federal Stimulus Package Can Help Your Business," to be held • IndieBound on the Rise! ................................... 3 Saturday, May 30, from 10:30 a.m. - noon, at the Javits Convention • Wine Guru Gary Vaynerchuk to Lead Social Center. Media Session at BEA ...................................... 3 "Ms. Ma is looking forward to talking with the members of the • ABA Announces Details of New CEO Contract American Booksellers Association," said SBA spokesman Jonathan .......................................................................... 3 Swain. "Ms. Ma will share what the SBA is doing as part of the • Trade Associations Call on Minnesota Recovery Act to help small businesses get access to much-needed Governor to Support E-Fairness Bill ................. 3 capital in these tough economic times, and how SBA is working to be a real partner with small businesses across the country in • North Carolina Latest State to Introduce creating jobs and driving our nation's economic recovery." Internet Sales Tax Provision ............................ 5 "We're delighted to have someone as knowledgeable about small • ABACUS Survey Works to Increase business issues as Ana Ma speak at this very important educational Participation: How Bookstores Benefit ............. 5 session," said ABA COO Oren Teicher, who will serve as • BTW Talks With New AAP Head Tom Allen .... 6 moderator. "In these difficult economic times, it is crucial that • Edelweiss to Demo Publisher eCatalogs at booksellers are aware of the many ways the Small Business Administration and the federal stimulus package can provide them BEA .................................................................. 7 with access to capital and help their bookstores succeed. I strongly • Spotlight on Children's Programming at BEA encourage our member bookstores to attend this informative .......................................................................... 7 panel." (Watch upcoming editions of BTW for announcements • International Booksellers Organizations to about other panel participants.) Convene at Hotel ABA ..................................... 8 Ma, a native of Tucson, Arizona, was appointed by the • Author Kevin Baker to Lead Brooklyn Bridge Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team to serve as chief of staff at SBA. Prior to her appointment, she was senior counsel to Walking Tour .................................................... 8 Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) for two terms. • BTW News Briefs ............................................. 9 Ma has been involved in grassroots organizing for more than 20 • The June 2009 Indie Next List Preview ............ 10 years, and has participated in the electoral process at all levels -- • Sign Up Required for Day of Education from school boards to the last five presidential campaigns. In 1996, Bookstore Tours ............................................... 12 Ma was asked by the Clinton/Gore Presidential Campaign and the • A Preview of African-American Programming Democratic National Committee to serve as their Southern Arizona at BEA .............................................................. 12 Coordinator. • Author Sets Out to Visit 100 Independent In 1997, the Clinton Administration selected Ma to join the U.S. Bookstores ....................................................... 12 Department of Labor under Secretary Alexis Herman as the Intergovernmental Affairs Officer and Special Assistant to the • BALLE Conference to Focus on Economic Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Administration. Models Built on Local Ownership ..................... 13 During her tenure at the Department of Labor, Ma worked on • Llama Llama Gift Cards Celebrate Someone issues such as welfare to work, youth employment and training, and Special .............................................................. 13 unemployment insurance. She also served as a liaison to county • Celebration Luncheon Booked to Capacity ...... 13 and municipal officials across the country. • WNBA Names 2009 Pannell Winners .............. 14 In 2001, then newly elected Chairman of the Democratic Party, Terry McAuliffe, hired Ma to serve as the Western Political Director for the DNC where she oversaw 13 states and territories MARKETPLACE from Montana, to New Mexico, to Guam. From January through • Classifieds ........................................................ 14 September of 2008, Ma was on leave from Congressman Grijalva's • Other Advertising .............................................. 14 staff to serve as the Director of Party Affairs and VIPs for the Democratic National Convention Committee in Denver, Colorado. Upcoming editions of BTW will have more information regarding © 2009 American Booksellers Association. http://news.bookweb.org/ 1 BOOKSELLING THIS WEEK May 07, 2009 this important panel on the Federal economic stimulus package and 3. Election and Term of Office. Prior to each annual meeting of the its provisions designed to help America's small businesses get back Association, an election shall be held to choose three members of the Board on their feet. Among the initiatives are the elimination of fees on of Directors and, if necessary, to fill any other vacancies. Directors serve popular SBA loan programs and an increase in loan guarantees; staggered terms of three years. At least one Director elected each year shall not have served previously on the Board. Directors shall take office at the new funding for SBA's Microloan Program; and provisions that Board meeting held in conjunction with the Association's annual meeting. enable some small businesses to "carry back" their losses for up to No Director shall have total service of more than two terms on the Board, five years, effectively allowing them a rebate on taxes paid in i.e., total service of six years, after which such person shall be ineligible to previous years. --David Grogan 1 serve as a Director again for six years. ABA Annual Meeting to Include Vote to a. Nominating Committee. The President, with the approval of the Board, shall select the Nominating Committee as a standing Amend Bylaws committee of the Association. The Nominating Committee shall present the Director candidates (including at least one alternate May 07, 2009 -- This year's Board of Directors elections, whose Director candidate) to the Board for its approval, which shall not be results will be announced next week, was the first in which many withheld absent good cause, and shall then present the candidates to ABA member bookstores voted electronically. The new voting the Bookstore Members in accordance with these Bylaws and procedure significantly cut printing and mailing expenses and policies and procedures adopted by the Board. The Committee shall helped ABA become a more environmentally friendly organization. be comprised of five booksellers from member bookstores and shall include two current Directors, none of whom shall be nominated for Before ABA could send bookstores a ballot via electronic means, 2 a current vacancy on the Board. The Committee term is one year. however, due to the way ABA's Bylaws are written, this year One of the Board members shall be appointed as Chair of the members had to opt in to the process. To allow for future electronic Committee. Approximately one hundred and twenty days prior to the voting without the need for members to opt in, the Board of annual meeting, the Nominating Committee shall nominate Directors has approved an amendment to the ABA Bylaws that will candidates for the Board of Directors and shall announce the be put to a vote by membership at the ABA Annual Membership nominations to the Bookstore Members. Meeting at BookExpo America. b. Petitions. Any Bookstore Member may submit a petition for a The amendment approved by the Board changes the language in Director candidate. Each petition shall present only one candidate. Articles IV and VIII of the Bylaws to permit both voting by Petitions shall be received by the Nominating Committee on a date set by the Committee approximately ninety days prior to the annual electronic means and the use of e-mail to notify members of the meeting. The names on the petition shall reflect at least two percent location and agenda of the Annual Membership Meeting without of the Bookstore Members as of January 1 of the year in which the the extra step of having members opt in. election is to be held and contain original signatures, names, addresses, and telephone numbers for the Bookstore Members in at "E-mail has become the communications method of choice for the least five states (with representatives of no one state constituting vast majority of our members, and the formal move to electronic more than fifty percent of the total number of petition signatures). notification about important governance issues -- as well as for Upon receipt of a valid petition, the Nominating Committee shall add balloting -- is a logical next step for ABA," explained ABA the petitioned candidate's name to the Director ballot. President Gayle Shanks in a letter to members.