WOMAN’S BOOK ASSOCI BOARD OF DIPECIORS

MINUTES OF 1990 MEETING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENT……………………………………………………………….i-ii

INDEX ALPHABETICAL………………………………………………………….iii-iv

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION………………………………………………….1

1989 BOARD NINUTES……………………………………………………………….1

REPORT OF CHAPTER ACTIVITIES………………………………………………2-5

Binghamtonchapter…………………………………2

Bostonchapter……………………………………….2

Detroitchapter……………………………………….3

Los Angeleschapter………………………………....3

Nashvillechapter…………………………………….4

New Yorkchapter……………………………………4

San Franciscochapter………………………………..5

Washingtonchapter………………………………….5

REPORT OF NATIONAL OFFICERS……………………………………….5-9, 25-26

President Report…………………………………..5-6

Vice President Report……………………………….7

Secretary Report…………………………………….7

Treasurer’s Report………………………………...7-9

Past President Report………………………………25

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS……………………………………………10-12

The Bookwoman…………………………………10-11

Corresponding Membership………………………...11

Education for Publishing………………………...11-12

Develop Committee……………………………..22-23

Pannell Award…………………………………..23-24

1992 WNBA Award…………………………….24-25

OLD BUSINESS……………………………………………………………………12-14

Procedures Manual………………………………….12

Publicity……………………………………………..12

Archives……………………………………………..12

1990-1991 Budget…………………………………...13

Potential New chapters………………………………13

Suggested Name change……………………………..13

NEW BUSINESS……………………………………………………………………14-22

National Library Week………………………………14

Chivas Regal Entrepreneurial Award………………..14

Publishers Weekly……………………………………15

Clairol Mentor Program for Women…………………15

National Council of Women………………………….15

Assistant Treasurer…………………………………...16

75th anniversary…………………………………..16-21

WNBA Headquarters Fee…………………………….21

Nominating Committee/Election……………………..22

1991 Board Meeting…………………………………..25

1990 WNBA Award……………………………….25-26

SLA Women’s Issues Caucus…………………………26

WNBA Presidency…………………………………….26

INDEX, ALPHABETICAL

Archives…………………………………………………………….12

Assistant Treasurer………………………………………………….16

Binghamtonchapter Report………………………………………….2

Board Meeting (1991)……………………………………………….25

Board Minutes………………………………………………………..1

The Bookwoman………………………………………………….10-11

BostonChapter Report………………………………………………..2

Budget (1990-1991)………………………………………………….13

Chivas Regal Entrepreneurial Award………………………………..14

Clairol Mentor Program for Women…………………………………15

Corresponding Membership………………………………………….11

Detroit Chapter Report………………………………………………...3

Development Committee………………………………………….22-23

Education for Publishing (MEA)………………………………….11-12

Headquarters fee………………………………………………………21

Los Angeles Chapter Report……………………………………………3

Name Change (Suggested)…………………………………………….13

Nashville Chapter Report……………………………………………….4

National Council of Women…………………………………………...15

National Library Week…………………………………………………14

New Chapters, Potentia1……………………………………………….13

New York Chapter Report………………………………………………4

Nominating Committee…………………………………………………22

Pannell Award……………………………………………………….23-24

Past President Report……………………………………………………25

President Report………………………………………………………..5-6

Procedures Manua1……………………………………………………...12

Publicity………………………………………………………………….12

Publishers Weekly………………………………………………………..15

San Franciscochapter Report……………………………………………..5

Secretary Report…………………………………………………………..7

SLA Women’s Issues Caucus…………………………………………...26

75th Anniversary……………………………………………………..16-21

Treasurer Report………………………………………………………..7-9

Vice President Report…………………………………………………….7

WashingtonChapter Report………………………………………………5

WNBA (1990) Award……………………………………………………25

WNBA (1992) Award………………………………………………...24-25

WNBA Presidency……………………………………………………….26

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BOOK ASSOCISIATION

NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECIORS MEETING

MINUTES OF MEETINGJUNE 25-26, 1990

American Library Association, Chicago

Present:

Marie Cantlon, WNBA President, Boston Chapter

Carolyn T. Wilson, WNBA Vice President, Nashville Chapter

Susan Trowbridge, 1989/90 Treasurer, Boston Chapter

Margaret E. Auer, Secretary, Detroit Chapter

Pamela Banks, Past President, Boston Chapter

Sylvia Cross, Treasurer, Los Angeles Chapter

Sue MacLaurin, President, Los Angeles Chapter

Edith Phillips Past President, Detroit Chapter

Diane Ullius, President, WashingtonD.C. Chapter

Etta Wilson, President, Nashville Chapter

May Wu, President, New York Chapter

Joining the meeting Tuesday afternoon, June 26 were:

Ann H. Eastman, Chair, Pannell Award Committee

Sandra Paul, Chair, DevelopmentCommittee

Cathy Renstchler, Past President

Absent:

Patti Breitman, WNBA President-elect, San Francisco Chapter

Marilyn Abel, Chair, Publicity Committee

Heather Delterio, Editor, The Bookwoman

Josephine Fang, President, Boston Chapter

Lou Carter Keay, 1989/90 Secretary

Mary B. Levering, Chair, Membership Committee

Carole McCollough, President, Detroit Chapter

Lillian Ruf, President, Binghamton Chapter

Sally Wecksler, UN/NGO Representative

I. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

The Monday, June 25, 1990 meeting was called to order at 9:15 a.m. by President Marie Cantlon who expressed her appreciation to the American Library Association for providing its conference room facility for the WNBA annual Board meeting.

Each member in attendance was asked to introduce herself giving her position within WNBA and chapter.

II. 1989 BOARD MINUTES

President Cantlon asked for any additions or amendments. The following

correction was made to the 1989 minutes:

  • Page 3 section titled Present: Spelling of name to be corrected to read: May Wu
  • Page 7 section titled Corresponding Members, paragraph 2, change to read: Cathy Rentschler presented copy for the corresponding members’ application form for approval by the Board, which will be given to Mary Levering for future use.

Two questions were raised:

  • Page 9, section titled By-laws: Were the by-laws reviewed and reprinted or was the procedures manual updated? Both activities still need to be completed.
  • Page 10, section titled New chapters, paragraph 2: Was a new line item in the budget for development of new chapters established? Money was allowed for development of new chapters but the outgoing treasurer should be asked whether it is in a separate line.

Motion: Moved by Diane Ullius, seconded by Pamela Banks “That the Minutes of the 1989 Board meeting be approved as corrected.” Motion approved.

III. REPORT OF CHAPTER ACTIVITY

President reports, treasurer reports and rosters from each chapter were made available to those present. (Copy of each report attached to official minutes.) President Cantlon requested that each representative summarize her chapter’s activities.

BinghamtonChapter: Cantlon reporting from chapter’s written report.

  • Booth with books, household items and baked goods sold at 1989 Downtown Binghamton July Fest
  • Established Excellence in Writing Award
  • Program on writing newsletters for our organizations
  • Program on reviewing A BrightShining Lie
  • Members attended annual Women of Achievement Dinner sponsored by Status of Women Council
  • Holiday tea and silent auction, members donated books for local hospitals
  • Four large-print books distributed to local hospitals
  • Held local author luncheon
  • Visited SUNY-Binghamton’s exhibit which featured antiquities from the SigmundFreudMuseum, London

BostonChapter: Pamela Banks, Past President, reporting.

  • Program on censorship and book banning in America
  • Program on how the emphasis on everything “high tech” has affected the book world
  • Toured the homes of two of New England’s literary giants
  • Toured two local printing presses
  • Holiday tea. Speaker Robert Hale, Westwinds Bookshop. Chapter introduced chapter’s book bag
  • Program panel of people who have all worked in traditional publishing areas and have taken the skills they learned there and transferred them into new careers
  • Program with creator and curator of BostonUniversity’s Special Collections Twentieth Century Archives
  • Program panel of local personalities discussing what they like to read
  • Program titled “Making History Come Alive”
  • Literary tour of Boston
  • Program about language by vice president of Society for the Preservation of the English language and Literature
  • Chapter member Sukey Choi‘s first about her experience as a Korean child reacting to the Japanese occupation of Korea, has been accepted for publication by Houghton Mifflin

DetroitChapter: Edith Phillips, Past President, reporting. Written report will be forwarded to chapter presidents.

  • Larger proportion of membership are librarians but chapter does have some members who work in publishing or are booksellers; all programs are dinner meetings
  • Co-sponsored meeting with Michigan Association of Media in Education on library science program at WayneStateUniversity
  • Tour of well-known used book dealer store and warehouse; book dealer evaluated member’s personal copy of an old book
  • Tour of Cranbrook house given by archivist
  • Chapter newsletter is currently without an editor
  • Collected and distributed books to center for abused women and children
  • One year honorary membership given to speakers

Los Angeles Chapter: Sue MacLaurin, President, reporting.

  • Membership remains steady at 147 members
  • Program by local talk radio personality on juggling different professional interests as well as private life as a wife andmother
  • Program on writing for all media discussing author’s experiences as a journalist, author, and writer for film and television
  • Mystery night: Why Mess Around with Murder? with authors discussing their writing techniques and the pleasure of murder and mayhem
  • Annual dinner with program titled: “Words are Alive: Poetry and Prose as Performing Art” with authors reading own essays and poetry
  • Judy Lopez Memorial Award given to Gary Paulsen for The Winter Room which was chosen as the best book for children 9-12 of 1989
  • The Lopez Foundation has asked the chapter to take over the administration of the award. The proposal is under consideration and will be decided upon by the governing board in the coming year
  • Annual conference generated a profit of approximately $500
  • Chapter newsletter distributed nine times a year, September through June
  • Goals for the coming year include:
  • continued growth in membership
  • development of liaison with other book and publishing groups
  • resolution of the Judy Lopez Award proposal
  • establishment of an 1\dvisory Board

Nashville Chapter: Etta Wilson, President, reporting.

  • Membership numbers 76 active plus 2 honorary life members, representing a 59% increase over last year. Key factors leading to growth were chapter’s significant involvement in the Southern Festival of Books, a revised and expanded chapter newsletter, and a rousing presentation by a local columnist at the opening September meeting
  • Chapter members increasingly come from publishing, bookselling and writing segments of the industry which compliments the basic librarian membership
  • Monthly programs included presentation by member from book company, president of Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club, local poet, arid local authors
  • 127 books collected for local Book’em Project
  • Members contributed $70.00 to Children’s InternationalEducationCenter at the Nashville Public Library
  • Committee finalized publication plans of a collection of children’s stories based on Tennessee history
  • Committee working with Tennessee Arts Commission to prepare, mail, and tabulate a survey of Tennessee writers to determine their needs and level of interest in a statewide network for support
  • Initiated a program of book-related tours
  • Annual dues increase approved

New York Chapter: May Wu, President, reporting.

  • Program on authors reading from first novels
  • Program on collecting and conservation of rare books
  • Co-sponsored estate auction of jewelry and objets d’art with the National Council of Women
  • Program on Taking the Plunge: How to Go Freelance
  • Co-sponsored panel discussion on multicultural literacy with Black Women in Publishing
  • Program by chapter members on Women in Publishing: Have We Come a Long Way, Baby? Covering how women have made and are making contribution to publishing including training others and being role models
  • Program on reference books, what’s new and what’s revised
  • Program on mergers and acquisitions: an irreversible trend or a cycle
  • Chapter needs the develop programs which will attract younger members, including “how to” programs
  • Membership is at 121, with 94 renewals, renewal of members continues to be of concern as is the spread of dues paid
  • Chapter has become more active with job referral service, sending a form to approximately 150 publishers and other trade firmsasking for information on available jobs; information is sent out with program flyers and newsletters and, hopefully, distributing flyers will generate new members. National Board members asked that a copy of this form be sent to each chapter.
  • Chapter directory now includes a history of the chapter

San Francisco Chapter: Sylvia Cross reading chapter’s written report by Patti Breitman.

  • Program titled “Your Check is in the Mail, and Other Lies Publishing People Tell” included editor and author, former sales representative, editorial consultant and psychotherapist, and chapter president discussed the truth about what goes on between publishers and authors
  • Program panel addressing the upper end of childhood - young adults
  • Using a restaurant owner, restaurant critic, and author provided program on the shift in American eating habits from red meat to white meat to no meat and how we are what we eat
  • Program on marketing: getting books into bookstores and getting consumers to take them out of bookstores
  • Co-sponsored authors panel with the Marin Small Publishers Association
  • Eleanor Touhey Smith Award was established by the Literacy Volunteers of America, endowed by Kraft Cheese Foundation; annual award will be given to agency with the best adult literacy program

WashingtonD.C. Chapter: Diane Ullius reporting

  • Membership ranges around 200
  • Program dealing with impressionfrom Sandy Paul, leader of delegation of book publishers who traveled to China in April,1989
  • Program by rare book conservator at the Library of Congress
  • Co-sponsored a career night with GeorgeWashingtonUniversity
  • Lecture on Jean-Paul Marat
  • Program on what makes a bestseller
  • Author’s program on her co-authorship of In Love and War
  • Interview style program that paired an independent bookseller and an independent publisher that discussed the particular issues and special problems and opportunities facing the independents
  • Co-sponsored with Washington Book Publishers a program on literary contracts
  • Program on marketing the midlist
  • Annual chapter business meeting, brunch, and book exchange at president’s house
  • Production problem during this year hopefully will be eliminated with a new editor for chapter newsletter being appointed

IV. REPORT OF NATIONAL OFFICERS

President Report: President Marie Cantlon reporting.

When I started to write the 1989 President’s report for the WNBA National Board Meeting, the report began with the sentence, “This has been a year of transition.” Then I looked at Cathy Rentschler’s report on her first year of the presidency and saw it began, “This has been a year of transition.” So I promptly dropped my opening sentence.

On later reflection it became clear to me that every new president could begin her report this way. And, in fact, if one thinks of transition as change, WNBA, and indeed all organizations, are in a constant state of transition. Sometimes we see change as growth, sometimes as crisis, but always it presents an opportunity.

WNBA’s ability to shift from a New York-centered group to a multi-chapter one is a source of our current strength. We see chapters such as Washington and Boston come close to demise and under new, enthusiastic leadership revive and flourish. Other chapters have less dramatic ebbs and flows, but as we have heard today from the presidents, vigorous membership growth characterizes many chapters.

The theme of my presidency was to increase communication among chapters, members, national, and other organizations. My first year failed to follow through on this promise. This year by reinstating the presidential newsletter and visiting the LA and Nashville chapters as well as the Southeastern Booksellers Convention in Atlanta, I have tried to reinforce WNBA’s presence as a national organization.

Working with WISP as cosponsors of programs at MLA and attending a presidents’ meeting at the NationalCouncil of Women in New York have been valuable interactions with other women’s organizations, learning about their achievements and problems.

The unknown, unsung, and time-consuming part of the WNBA presidency is the paperwork that must be attended to. Some items are as routine as passing on items of interest to The Bookwoman editor, some as pesky as filling out numerous requests for information listings, which, of course, are valuable to our organization’s visibility.

As you undoubtedly know, a great deal of time, energy, and concern has been expended this year as we followed through on last year’s Board decision to give the 1990 WNBA Award to Barbara Bush for her contribution to literacy. Not until last week did we receive definite word that Mrs. Bush would not be at ALA where we had proposed making the presentation. Her staff realizes that the Award can be given at any time and place of her choosing. There is still a possibility that a modest presentation can be arranged in Washington in 1990. How strong or slim a possibility, only God and, perhaps, George knows.

In general the financial condition of WNBA is healthy, thanks in part to membership growth, in part to the raising of sustaining membership dues, and also to the splendid work of our outgoing Treasurer, Susan Trowbridge.

I would like to go on record as thanking Lou Keay for her prompt distribution of 1989 Board Minutes and for the many tasks she has performed for WNBA over these past two years.

Patti Breitman, who with Marilyn Abel represented WNBA at the recent Pannell Award presentation at ABA, sends regrets that she cannot attend because of illness. Unfortunately, it was too late to arrange a substitute representative from San Francisco. Binghamton also is not represented. But we have president and treasurer reports as well as rosters from both chapters.

There are two committee chairs that need to be appointed. Heather having produced six fine issues of The Bookwoman is stepping down. Mary Levering, Membership chair, has had her time preempted by her new position at the Library of Congress. We will miss Mary’s contribution and presence at the Board meetings, but trust she will be able to rejoin us sometime soon.

My two year presidency of WNBA has been a full and enriching one. I wish to thank everyone for the honor and for your assistance during my term in office. The WNBA future, both as the national and chapter levels, is in good hands. I will enjoy hearing about your experiences of the past year and to planning for our 75th anniversary in 1992.

Vice President Report:

With the absence of Vice President Patti Breitman no report was given.

Secretary Report: Lou Keay report read into the record by Margaret Auer. (Copy of report attached to official minutes.)

During the past year the Secretary’s activities included:

  • Preparation and revision of minutes of the last Board meeting forpresident’s signature
  • Preparation of packets of chapter reports for those Board members not in attendance at 1989 Board meeting
  • Reprinting of the brochure
  • Distributing of the new letterhead
  • Responding to thirty-five (35) letters of inquiry directed to WNBA
  • Attended meeting with the President, Past President and Advisory Committee to brainstorm ideas for the 75th Anniversary and the direction of the organization
  • Met with President to discuss broader WNBA involvement in the Judy Lopez Memorial Award for children’s books
  • Attended WNBA reception at the ABA in Las Vegas
  • Recommendation: Brochures should be reviewed and updated before reprinting
  • Recommendation: Stationary design could be reconsidered so typography would be more attractive
  • Budget should not exceed the secretary’s allocation for the past year

Treasurer Report: Susan Trowbridge reporting.

Three documents were distributed: Women’s National Book Association,