Hi SIBA Friends! It was so wonderful to meet so many of you at NVNR! This was my first time working a conference, and it was a blast. As part of my duties as your Membership Coordinator, I attended the SIBA Town Hall, and I wanted to pass along what we reported. 

First of all, SIBA is in excellent financial shape! Since 2020, our assets have increased by 389% (and yes, that number is real!). We currently have 182 active members, and so far this year, we have welcomed 25 new members from nine states. That means that we’ve had 16% membership growth over 2022! 

Board president Jamie Rogers-Southern reported that over the past year, the Board has been working hard to update our by-laws, including updating outdated language and SIBA’s official definition of a “core member” to be more inclusive of all store models. The Board is hoping to get the updated by-laws out to membership for a vote by the end of September. Rogers-Southern also stated that they are looking to expand the Board to 7 members.

Board elections are in progress, and it’s really important that each store votes on the proposed Board slate, as we do need a quorum for that to pass. So if you haven’t voted yet, please do! Two of our Board members, Jamie Fiocco and Jamie Rogers-Southern, are ending their terms at the end of 2023. As past president, Jamie Rogers-Southern will remain as a non-voting member of the Board to ensure a smooth transition. 

We also heard from the membership, where a few stores shared stories of book banning efforts in their states. The emerging issue of AI was also discussed as a future concern. In response to expanding the Board, concerns were brought forth about the state diversity of the current Board, as two members have stores in Georgia and two have stores in the Carolinas. Board member Julia Davis addressed that concern, stating that it is up to the members to both volunteer and nominate folks for the Board. Members also stated that they would like a place to continue to connect with each other throughout the year. SIBA staff has definitely heard that, and we have already been working on ways to support that! Finally, members also wanted updated materials in our shared bookseller resources on Sibaweb.com, and that is also a project on our list.

Other current SIBA projects include researching mentorship programs and additional resources for communities that experience violence, book banning, and anti-LGBTQIA+ activities and formalizing the process of how stores report to SIBA that they are closing so we can offer more support and collect better data, as well as potentially continue our relationship with those stores in a different capacity.

It was wonderful to pass the mic around and get to hear from you all!

SIBA handed out a 2023 Town Hall Update brochure with a lot more information, which you can access here.