Community, engagement, and book banning were the major themes at SIBA's Annual Meeting this week. SIBA Board and Staff talked to booksellers about the past year and future goals.

Jamie Southern, SIBA Board President, reported on the board's work to update SIBA's bylaws, including expanding the definition of SIBA's core membership to include other business models beyond the traditional brick-and-mortar bookshop. The board is also investigating increasing the size of the board from 5 to 7 people, to allow for better representation of SIBA's large territory. The proposed changes to the bylaws are currently under review by a legal team, and once they sign off on, the bylaws will go to the SIBA membership for a vote, hopefully before the end of 2023.

SIBA's executive director, Linda-Marie Barrett spoke passionately about book banning and censorship issues facing Southern bookstores, and reiterated that SIBA's priority is to support its member store sand give them the resources and tools booksellers need to face these censorship attempts and advocate for the books and authors in their own communities.

She also reported on SIBA's Annual Conference at New Voices New Rooms, held in partnership with NAIBA in Arlington, VA in August. The conference was the first large-scale event SIBA has held since 2019 and considered a success, with robust attendance by booksellers from both SIBA and NAIBA regions, and a sold out exhibit hall. NVNR 2023 took steps to make the event affordable, including offering single-day passes and making all meals included in the registration price. SIBA also also gave out 10 scholarships to booksellers to attend the event. The event was also returned a net profit and was a financial success for SIBA, a marked change from trade shows in previous years which tended to operate at a loss. Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. Barrett confirmed that SIBA and NAIBA would partner again for the 2024 conference, dates and details to be announced within the next couple weeks.

SIBA's other programming also saw high engagement from booksellers, including the "March Madness" series held at bookstores around the region, and the inaugural "Indie Press Social" event held in Atlanta in September.

In reporting on SIBA's financial status, Barrett said the organization was in "excellent financial health" and anticipated ending the year with a 22% increase in assets over the same period the previous year.

Nicki Leone, SIBA's Communications Coordinator, spoke about SIBA's Diversity & Inclusion initiatives, including member outreach, programming, DEI training, and advocacy. She noted that SIBA's DEI policies grew out of SIBA's Statement Against Racism issued in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd's murder, and has evolved into a comprehensive Diversity and Inclusion policy for the organization.

She reported a significant increase in the number of Black-owned, BIPOC-owned, and LGBTQ+-owned bookstores in SIBA's membership database since 2020 when SIBA first started keeping records (from about 20 stores to nearly 50), and also noted that the number of those stores who were actively engaged with SIBA had also risen. Leone estimates that at any given time, approximately 15% of SIBA's bookstore membership comes from diverse or under-represented groups. SIBA held a "census" of its bookstore in 2022 to collect data about its member stores and plans a second census in 2024.

Other DEI programming initiatives for the year included SIBA's 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge, held in February, SIBA's first Bilingual issue of The Southern Bookseller Review in September, and a widely-praised virtual event on supporting Trans Staff and Community in May, which received national attention. SIBA also continues to publish a regular column in its newsletter focused on DEI work for small businesses.

Leone also spoke about the dangers of book banning in the region, pointing out that the demands to censor books -- overwhelming by black, brown, and LGBTQ+ authors -- were damaging the relationships bookstores have built with libraries and schools in their own communities. SIBA will be holding a special event in November in cooperation with PEN America specifically to address the issue of safety and dealing with online and real world harassment. SIBA has also started a program of sharing bookseller reviews of banned books under the heading "Decide for Yourself," and has created a resource database for booksellers dealing with book bans in their communities.

Candice Huber, SIBA's membership coordinator and social media coordinator, reported that this year SIBA's focus has been on community-building within the SIBA membership. SIBA currently has 186 bookstore members, representing a 22% increase over the previous year, and 23% of its members are new bookstores. They also noted they were reaching out to lapsed members and that member outreach has been the main priority for the year.

Huber reported that member engagement is at an all-time high, with more stores participating in SIBA programming across the board than in the previous year. For example, 2023 was notable for a record-breaking percentage of booksellers voting in the Board elections. Participation in the summer and holiday catalogs were up by at least 26%, and not only was attendance up in events such as March Madness, but the number of bookstores represented by attendees has increased as well. Engagement has also increased across SIBA's Social Media channels, especially since Huber has started to add more video posts and store spotlights. Banned Book reviews are also among the most engaged posts.

As part of its community-building, Huber also announced that SIBA is creating a community space on Discord for SIBA booksellers. The Discord "server" is currently being tested, and all SIBA booksellers will receive an invitation to join once it opens within the next couple weeks.

SIBA Annual Meeting Agenda | 2022 Annual Meeting Minutes | SIBA Banned Books Resource List