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WOMEN’S NATIONAL BOOK ASSOCIATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MINUTES OF 1991 ANNUAL MEETING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………….. …1-2

INDEX, ALPHABETICAL …………………………………...3-4

I. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS ………….……..5

II. 1990 BOARD MEETING MINUTES…………………...5

III. REPORT OF NATIONAL OFFICERS…………...….6-14

A. President Report…………………….6

B. Vice President Report……………….7

C. Secretary Report..……………………7

D. Treasurer Report ……………………8

E. Past President Report………………..13

IV. REPORT OF CHAPTER ACTIVITIES…………………15-19

A. Binghamton Chapter…………………15

B. Boston Chapter……………………….15

C. Detroit Chapter……………………….16

D. Los Angeles Chapter………………....16

E. Nashville Chapter…………………….17

F. New York Chapter……………………17

G. San Francisco Chapter………………..18

H. Washington Chapter…………………..19

V. STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS……………….…19-33

A. Pannell Award…………………………19

B. Corresponding Membership……………25

C. WNBA Award………………………….26

D. The Bookwoman………………………..27

E. ALA/WNBA Breakfast…………………28

F. Development Committee………………..28

C. U.N./UGO………………………………29

H. 75th Anniversary……………………….30

VI. OLD BUSINESS…………………………..…………. 34-35

A.1 Sustaining Membership…………………34

A.2 Honorary/Complimentary Membership…34

A.3 Corresponding Membership……………..34

B. Brochure Update………………………….34

C. Publicity…………………………………..34

D. Archives Reminder……………………….35

E. Women in Scholarly Publishing………….35

F. SLA Women’s Issues Caucus Report ……35

G. Per Capita Payments from Chapters……...35

VII. NEW BUSINESS…………………………………….35-37

A. ALA/WNBA WNBA Breakfast………35

B. New Chapter Follow-up……………….35

C. Meeting Friday Night at Marriotte Marquis..35

D. Children’s Breakfast Saturday Morning..35

E. Chicago Women in Publishing…………36

F. Fund Raising……………………………36

G. Membership Directory………………….36

H. 1992 Annual Board Meeting……………37

I. Adjournment…………………………….37

INDEX, ALPHABETICAL

Adjournment………………………………………………….37

AIA/WNBA Breakfast…………………………………...28, 32

Archives………………………………………………………35

Binghamton Chapter Report…………………………………..15

Board Meeting (1992)…………………………………………37

Board Minutes (1990)………………………………………..…5

The Bookwoman……………………………………………….27

Boston Chapter Report…………………………………………15

Brochure Update………………………………………………..34

Chicago Women in Publishing…………………………………36

Children’s Breakfast……………………………………………35

Complimentary Membership…………………………………...34

Corresponding Membership………………………………...25, 34

Detroit Chapter Report………………………………………….16

Development Committee………………………………………..28

Fund Raising…………………………………………………….36

Honorary Membership…………………………………………..34

Los Angeles Chapter Report…………………………………….16

Marriotte Maquis Meeting………………………………………32

Membership Directory…………………………………………..36

Nashville Chapter Report………………………………………..17

New Chapter……………………………………………………..35

New York Chapter Report……………………………………….17

Pannell Award……………………………………………………19

Past President Report………………………………………………13

Per Capita Payments from Chapters…………………………........35

President Report……………………………………………………6

Publicity…………………………………………………………..34

San Francisco Chapter Report…………………………………….18

Secretary Report……………………………………………………7

75th Anniversary…………………………………………………..30

SLA Women’s Issues Caucus……………………………………..35

Sustaining Membership…………………………………………...34

Treasurer Report……………………………………………………8

UN./UGO………………………………………………………….29

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

Washington Chapter Report……………………………………….19

WNBA Award……………………………………………………..26

Women in Scholarly Publishing…………………………………...35

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BOOK ASSOCIATION

NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

MINUTES OF MEETING, M 29-30, 1991

Meeting held at John Wiley & Sons, New York

Present:

Patti Breitman, President, San Francisco Chapter

Carolyn T. Wilson, Vice President, Nashville Chapter

Margaret E. Auer, Secretary, Detroit Chapter

Sylvia Cross, Treasurer, Los Angeles Chapter

Marie Cantlon, Past President, Boston Chapter

Lillian Ruf, President, Binghamton Chapter

Josephine Riss Fang, President, Boston Chapter

Sue MacLaurin, President Los Angeles Chapter

Etta Wilson, Past President, Nashville Chapter

May Wu, Past President, New York Chapter (May 29 only)

Beth Lieberman, President, New York Chapter (May 30 only)

Linda T. Head, President, San Francisco Chapter (May 29 only)

Diane Ullius, President, Washington, D.C. Chapter

Sandra Paul, Chair, Development

Cathy Renstchler, ALA Breakfast Chair (May 29 only)

Marilyn Abel, Chair, Publicity Committee (May 30 only)

Sally Wecksler, UN/NGO Representative (May 30 only)

Guests:

Jeannie Jeavons, Binghamton Chapter (May 29 only)

Miriam Hurewitz, New York Chapter (May 30 only)

Claire Friedland, New York Chapter (May 30 only)

Absent:

Ann Heidbreder Eastman, Chair, Pannell Award Committee

Carole McCollough, President, Detroit Chapter

LaVonne Taylor-Pickell, Co-Editor, The Bookwoman

Dayna Macy, Chair, Membership Committee

I. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

The Wednesday, May 29, 1991 meeting was called to order at 9:05 a.m. by President Patti Breitman. Each member in attendance was asked to introduce herself giving her position within WNBA and Chapter.

II. 1990 BOARD MINUTES

President Breitman asked for any additions or amendments. The following corrections were made:

• Page 9 paragraph two under “page 6” currently reads: “Two years ago the award expenses increased when the decision was made to give two $2,000 awards plus an art piece and to increase the administrator fee.” should be corrected to read: “...two $1,500 awards plus $500 apiece for art...”

• Page 9 middle of paragraph four under “page 6” currently reads: “Similarly, jury expenses could be reduced by getting people to jury free of charge.” Statement needs to be clarified since members who jury are never paid, they jury free of charge. WNBA does however pay their expenses.

• Page 24 third full paragraph currently reads: “WNBA needs to look for ways to get less expensive or find no cost facilities for jury meetings or select jury members who are willing to donate services.” Clarification needs to be made that the association has never paid for hosting facilities for jury meetings and jury members have never been paid, jury member expenses have been absorbed by WNBA.

Motion: Moved by Sandra Paul, seconded by Josephine Fang “That the Minutes of the 1990 Board meeting be approved as corrected.” Motion passed unanimously.

III. REPORT OF NATIONAL OFFICERS

A. President Report: Patti Breitman reporting. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

I will break a time honored tradition by not beginning my report with “this has been a year of transition” but I will end my report that way. I would like to thank the national officers, committee chairs, chapter presidents and all individuals who helped me during this year. The presidency is a phenomenal responsibility but the year had been a pleasure with all the encouragement, guidance, and support I have received.

WNBA is a service organization that works to help people feel at home in the book world. In one phrase, an individual can go from one city to another and, if there is a WNBA chapter in the new city, the person can be made to feel at home in the book world. It also means we make people feel at home in the book world who currently cannot read, or do not appreciate books, or cannot afford books. The organization is doing a lot to make people feel at home with books. I am proud of the organization for doing that.

There are two sides to the idea of books, there is access to words and there is access to books through literacy and through the common man being able to go to bookstores and go to libraries and enjoy the written word. There is also the freedom of speech issue which means we want access to the widest variety of ideas and words. I am only encouraging people here that when we honor women and booksellers and other people who have done a lot toward helping people have books, that we never forget we also have to defend the right to free expression and the right to be able to publish books on whatever subjects. Similarly, when we are fighting for that and we are protesting for free speech, we want to make sure that our right to write on anything is protected. We want keep in mind that those rights are only valuable in so far as society has access to the written word. So, if we are not a literate society the theoretical right to read is worthless, the theoretical freedom to write whatever we want is worthless. Likewise, if we can all read but we do not all have that freedom, the ability to read is stifled. Remember both sides of this issue and continue rewarding people who work on both side of this issue.

The minutes from last year’s board meeting indicate that because Barbara Bush changed her plans WNBA could not present her with the award in Chicago. The minutes indicated we would attempt to arrange a modest presentation in Washington. As it turns out, I need to congratulate everyone involved in a not-so-modest presentation but a wonderful and successful and memorable event. Congratulation and thanks to all of you who made it happen and traveled so far to honor Mrs. Bush. It was very well done and I was very proud of everyone. It was elegant and successful, far from the modest little presentation that was originally envisioned.

Thanks to Anne Eastman and Marilyn Abel for the superb job on the Pannell Award. Everyone is encouraged to read the summary of the Pannell winners, a copy of which is available during this meeting. I am so impressed with the submissions and the winners, the winners this year are outstanding. They are the Little Professor Book Center in LaVista, Nebraska and Rosemary and Michael Stimola of A Child’s Story in Teaneck, New Jersey.

This year for the first time, so that everyone can recognize these winners on the floor of the ABA, we have ribbons that can hang from their badges which say “WNBA Pannell Award Winner.” Everybody on the floor will be able to see that they are the Pannell Award Winners. Question was interjected as to whether the ribbon would be given to all previous winners. President Breitman indicated the questions would be discussed under the Pannell agenda item.

I urge all members of the board to become more familiar with the Pannell Award, know what the winners did to win, and encourage local booksellers to get involved. Each chapter should be talking to local booksellers about what is involved and how to do it. It is a fabulous way to promote how to get books and kids together. Also, as a WNBA Board member, make it a point to seek out the winners this year and congratulate them, make them know we are proud of them.

A new nominating committee will be formed this year.

There are many new sustaining members this year. Thanks to a New York Past President, Diane Roback, the organization now has a letter proven successful in bringing in new sustaining members. She wrote a phenomenal letter which I encourage each chapter president to use that has brought in many new sustaining members from New York. The letter makes the publishing community in your town feel like it has a purpose and a presence and a direction it can go in, it can throw money at, it can help us do what we do. A very effective letter and I urge everyone to follow its lead.

Congratulation to LaVonne Taylor-Pickell and Sue MacLaurin for taking over The Bookwoman doing a splendid job.

In summary, as our 75th anniversary approaches, the organization has many accomplishments to celebrate and many challenges ahead. I suggest that we celebrate together in our cities as we plan the 75th and we put our heads together and solve the challenges as they come. It is exciting and it is a privilege to be part of it. And I will end, it has been a year of transition.

B. Vice President Report: Carolyn Wilson reporting. Copy of written statement attached to official minutes.

Since the primary activities of the Vice-President have been concentrated into two areas, that of the administration of the WNBA Award and the planning and implementing of the 75th Anniversary project, the Vice President’s reports will be found under those agenda items later in these minutes.

C. Secretary Report: Margaret Auer reporting. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

Secretary Auer distributed forms to be completed which will provide information for the development of the national board roster. A second form requested information on individual needs for national stationery, envelopes, brochures, and inserts. New stationery will be distributed to board members as soon as possible.

There are no national brochures for distribution. There is one copy which the Secretary has been photocopying as needed. The brochure needs to be revised. Inserts will also have to be produced.

D. Treasurer Report: Sylvia Cross reporting. Copy of financial reports attached to official minutes.

Four documents were distributed: Women’s National Book Association, Inc. Annual Report (Unaudited); Revenues, Expenses, and Cash Position: Quarter Ended 5/31/91; Lucile Micheels Pannell Award Trust Fund: Statement of Revenues, Expenses, and Cash Position for Program Year 1990-91; Pannell Trust Fund: Comparison of Key Revenue and Expense Items, Program Years Ended August 31, 1987-90. The treasurer commented on each document.

Annual Report (Unaudited)

The official Annual Report is not yet audited because of the timing of the annual board meeting. Books were unofficially closed on May 15. Any revenues or expenses after that date will be reflected in next budget year. Interest which would accrue between the 15th and the end of the month is estimated. Board members will receive an audited annual report with the first quarter report.

• Page 1: This is a comparison between revenues and expenses for fiscal year ‘90 and current fiscal year. It shows how the association has done in all categories of revenues and expenses.

The sustaining memberships have only gone up by twenty-five dollars although there are a number of new sustaining members. Many of these were brought in by Diane Roback’s letter in which the New York chapter received nearly $1,100 for bringing in six new sustaining members. Therefore, the $7,175 is the adjusted figure.

Chapter membership money dropped. Chapters continue to get new membership right up to the end of the year so chapter information on membership is more accurate than what is reflected. Corresponding memberships have dropped.

There was no income from any WNBA Award and the amount from the ALA breakfast is balanced out by what the association paid.

There was almost $2,000 in interest and one subscription to The Bookwoman

All of these accounted for the $13,875 revenue for this year, an amount which was a little higher than last year.

Expenses were fairly flat. The WNBA Award ceremony came in at $3,992. Because the ceremony was for Mrs. Bush the association could not charge anything so this amount was not compensated for by any revenues. The finance committee had anticipated this in the budgeting process but felt it was fine to fund the ceremony since there was a healthy reserve.

Officers expenses are fine, committee chairs expenses are flat, Bookwoman is on target with two issues totaling about $5,000 with a third issue to come which will fall into the first quarter of the new budget.

The bottom line is that the expenses were less than the revenues, giving net revenue of $388.90. Although there was greater net revenue last year, the association is doing just fine.

• Page 2: Shows the reconciliation, coming into the year with $28,818, ending the year with $29,207.

• Page 3: The sustaining memberships are now at twenty-three. In the 1991 column the names which are followed by dashes have not yet paid their renewal. Of the four who have not renewed, Professional Book Distributors did not renew the previous year. San Francisco brought in Larson-Pomada; New York brought in Bantam, Penguin, Scholastic, Publishers Weekly, Avon and, after the books were closed, Simon & Schuster.

Glatfelter paid two years of dues during 1990 which is reflected in the $1,200 while the 1991 payment is $600. This year H.W. Wilson sent in two checks, one in October and one in February.

• Page 4: Chapter membership is represented in per capita dollars which dropped $30 from last year. Some chapters have done a terrific job in coming in with the dollars they actually estimated for membership gain.

Since the early ‘80 the per capita has been $5.00 but since early ‘80s the cost of producing The Bookwoman has almost doubled. The Bookwoman is just one of the items the per capita money from chapters is used to defray as far as national expenses are concerned. For a number of years the board has thought of raising the per capita payment by chapters. This needs to be seriously considered because even though we are doing an efficient job of keeping costs down at the national level we cannot continue to produce a decent Bookwoman which is our one visible public relations piece. Postage also has increased from 16.5 to 23 cents.

At previous board meetings when the subject of a per capita increase was proposed, a one or two dollar rise from five to six or five to seven, it was realized that it puts a burden on the chapters who are only charging ten dollars for membership. Chapter presidents should be strongly urged to find ways to increase their own revenues by enough to take-care of the national need.

The subject of increasing the per capita charge to chapters was opened to discussion.

There may be a problem with raising per capita this year since some chapters have already been accepting next year’s dues. Therefore, the recommendation should be an increase in the per capita but make it affective next year. Make it significant make it appropriate for the future. Everyone should leave the meeting knowing it is going to happen next year so that the chapters can discuss what their chapter rate should be to compensate for the increase into national. The fee should be raised for fiscal ‘93, June 1, 1992. Recommendation was made that fee be raised from five to eight dollars.

The charge could be put in gradually. For example, one dollar and then two dollars later so that the chapters themselves have a chance to find ways to increase revenues to make up for the increase. It could be one dollar a year for the next three years.

In San Francisco the dues were raised from $15 to $25 and the chapter lost a number of members. This required a lot of hustling to get people back. For most, it was not a problem, but for some there were situation which had not been thought about. Now, the chapter has a $15 membership for students and retirees and special cases if they want to plead their case and $25 for those who are fully employed. Remember all expenses like postage have also increased for the chapters. Looking at

chapter financial reports the money has gone done basically because expenses have increased. So if the increases were one, two, and then three dollars total it would be easier.

Binghamton is the smallest chapter and the dues are $10. There is a meeting in June and if national decided to go up to $8 there probably would not be any problem at the meeting to say there is going to be an increase and the dues should be raised to $15.

If The Bookwoman needs to be self-supporting and, if it costs approximately $7,500 and, if there are roughly 1,000 members, that is $7.50 per member. Speaking as a chapter with a large membership, it sounds like a lot of money to pay out unexpectedly in one year without raising the chapter dues. The chapter has already begun taking members for the ‘91/’92 year at the old rates and for internal budgeting an increase in an assessment from $5 to $8 represents a big difference, a $600 difference. That is over one-third of what the chapter usually has in its bank account. It would be hard to pay $8 this fiscal year, would prefer either a graduated increase or a one year delay.

A compromise would be to do a one dollar increase starting this year and a two dollar increase starting fiscal ‘93 which would give the chapters a chance to raise their dues structure. This would be a total of $3 over a two-year period. The first per capita payment which is due January 7th would then be for $6.00/capita.

For some it is not possible to justify a raise in the chapter dues. For Boston, there is a large number in the $15 scale for unemployed, $25 for the lowest scale and the sliding scale of $35 has very few. The chapter is thinking of voiding the sliding scale and having a flat $25 fee for the unemployed. Eight dollars is over a fifty percent increase immediately. Would prefer $1 for one year and then re-evaluate next year. It is possible for the money from the increase in the number of sustaining memberships to be used to subsidize association activities. It is hard for chapters to pay with more expenses for their own newsletters and postage. An additional two dollars next year could then be considered.

If the board waits to reevaluate next year it is not enabling the chapters to put dues in place that will anticipate what reality will be. The board knows that in order to cover costs of The Bookwoman the dues have to be $7.50, add the stationery, and it is up to $8.00. So, if you know now it is going to be $8 the chapter can put a dues structure in place that works to cover the increase.

There is a sense that the chapters are in a much tougher economic condition than national. If dues have to cover The Bookwoman then obviously the chapter dues will have to be raised. Four or five years ago the balance in the chapter treasury was very tight and due to the work of many people there is a healthy balance. It is a question of balancing one set of needs against another and, at least from the Boston perspective, the economic situation is much tougher if you look at Boston’s balance sheet compared to national.

Why do dues have to cover The Bookwoman? If national is getting additional revenues from sustaining memberships cannot those funds be diverted? Who has made this decision that the dues go into publishing The Bookwoman? It was not a firm decision but just a matter of comparing costs. The subject of sustaining memberships has been the rationale the last several years for not raising chapter per capita payment but this is the very first time that there has been a substantial increase in the number of sustaining memberships.

National budget is tight too, even though there is a substantial reserve. The Bookwoman is what is sent out to every chapter member and it represents one of the largest chunks of money. Right now there are 822 members so even if the per capita is raised only $1.00 per member, it will bring in only $800.

Los Angeles supports a $1.00 raise this year, and probably a $2.00 raise next year. The chapter has a large membership and the graduated increase would probably go over better. A three dollar jump would be rather difficult. The more activities the chapter does within the community the more depleted will be the chapter funds. Expenses have gone up on the dinner meetings and they are not held to necessarily make money. An increase for The Bookwoman is probably necessary with an expense of $5,000 and an intake of $4,000, the budget is off by $1,000. If we are talking about a membership of one thousand and per capita is increased by one dollar we will cover Bookwoman expenses.

In every city that there is a chapter there is at least one publisher or supplier that could be approached for a sustaining membership. The biggest members are paying $600 and the smallest are paying $200. If the chapter could get $100 of the $200 for the smallest supplier that would defray chapter expenses for per capita since most chapters are 100 members or less. The chapters need to focus their efforts on approaching individuals, using your network, using Diane Roback’s letter to get a sustaining membership, explaining WNBA is a fine organization, and we need some help. (A copy of Diane Roback’s letter was distributed with the New York report.) Chapters should be encouraged to use the letter to solicit other sustaining memberships.

Sustaining membership incentive for chapters is only a one time advantage and these are local people who the chapter usually approaches and they have the impression they are continually supporting the chapter activities. Would it be possible for the chapter to get more incentive, that every year the chapter gets a percentage back? This should be discussed under the sustaining membership agenda item.

Concern was expressed about depletion of chapter resources with everything the chapters are doing. The board needs to take a long look at The Bookwoman and other areas as revenue enhancers. Years ago The Bookwoman was a wonderful publication and reading The Bookwoman was what persuaded me to belong to the organization. Within the last few year that would not have persuaded me. It is beginning again to look like something that might persuade me to join and improving The Bookwoman is a proper goal and something that should lead to increased membership for the chapters. It ought to be a tool to get more people to join, to make more money, so we can afford to enlarge The Bookwoman.

Motion: Moved by Sylvia Cross, seconded by Lillian Ruf “That national dues be raised by $1.00 for 1991/92 and $2.00 for 1992/93.” Motion approved: 10 Yes, 1 No

• Page 5: Is a recap of the Pannell Award Fund, including a statement of income and expenses for the years ending May 31st ‘90 and ‘91. This is a different set of figures than the way Pannell reports figures. The Pannell figures are kept by program year, August 31 to August 31, because that is the logical time frame in which most of their expenditures take place. There was less income received this year, the trust fund check was $4,927 and the interest was estimated at $696. Expenses during this fiscal year were $10,988, which is about double the income, so there was a deficit of $5,300, which is slightly less than the deficit last year. The fund balance last year was $10,354, right now the money that is in the check book and what remains in. the CD is $4,990. This is the amount WNBA has to work with until the trust fund check comes next March at the earliest. In 1990 the Pannell jury expenses of $2,631 was made up of expenses which had lagged from the previous pay period, making it about double what is normal.

Revenues, Expenses and Cash Position: Quarter Ended 5/31/91

The purpose of this report is to show how the organization has done vis a vis the budget.

• Page 1: The first three columns give prior year totals which provide information to compare this year’s revenues and expenses against. The middle column is what the organization budgeted for expenditures and revenues this year. The outside right-handed column shows whether income actually came in over budget or under budget. The total paid this year is the second column.

Looking at the last line (Total Revenues) of the budget column and year-to- date actual (second from right) the budget projection indicates $14,958 in revenue but actual revenues of about $13,800, which is about a $1,000 less than anticipated.

Expenses were projected at about $17,800 but were $13,400 actual. A deficit of $2,820 was projected but a $388 plus is indicated.

Sustaining membership revenue was $7,500 where actual was $8,350 of which $1,175 went back as incentives to the chapters; there was projected $4,760 income from chapter memberships but actual was $4,110; corresponding memberships were projected at more than was collected ($510 vs $355).

• Page 2: Expenses were really flat. The current year’s WNBA Award Ceremony was budgeted at $3,500 but was actually about $3,900. No money was spent on last year’s board meeting; the president’s expenses were under budget; overall officer expenses were under budget. Many of the chairs had money budgeted but did not spend any. The Bookwoman was budgeted at $8,000, $5,000 of which has been spent and another issue is still to come. Overall, it should come in at about $7,500 for the( three editions. Office administration expenses came in under budget. Expenses for officers and events came in $4,200 under budget.

• Page 3: Shows a recap of the opening balance for the last three years and the opening balance by quarters for this year. The $29,207 is the balance at the end of the fourth quarter. The interest figures under revenues were projected estimates from the bank so when the numbers come in these figures will be changed to reflect the actual interest.

Lucile Micheels Pannell Award Trust Fund

These figures are by program year. The left column is what is budgeted. Page 2 is the budget submitted by Anne Eastman and the $11,200 requested is what is reflected in the left column of page 1. Page 2 reflects a cash flow projection of expenditures during each quarter of the year.

• Page 1: The 1991 Award of $4,000 is actually two $1,500 cash awards and two pieces of art at $500 each. The program year expenses to support jury activities was $1,183, a substantial amount of money is expended each year to bring people in from out of town to jury. The chairs non-jury expenses are fairly low, $174. The other rather substantial, expense is $1,500 to print the three-page application in the ABA Newswire In the future it will be printed for WNBA without charge if the application is only two pages. This will allow for the reduction of $1,500 in expenses, which will help the overall fund. However, the total expenses were $9,488 which is under budget, but it is still difficult to resolve the ever diminishing funds available in the account.

Question was posed as to what is the $2,000 administrator fee. The organization pays Marilyn Abel, the administrator who has an office in New York. She does the publicity and promotion, all the paper work, photocopying of any materials out of the submitted scrapbooks which is necessary, makes sure all materials get to ABA for the jury, and arranges for the art work. Her expenses are also paid.

Pannell Trust Fund: Comparison of Key Revenue and Expense Items: Program Years Ended August 31, 1987-90

Document compares expenses from 1987 through 1990 program year. The board needs to be thinking about creative solutions because we will be facing not giving a Pannell Award or living within the incoming and letting the reserve rebuild. In 1987, there were revenues of $9,440, ‘88 it dropped to $8,000, ‘89 to $7,800, ‘90 dropped to $6,200, and ‘91 is estimated at about $4,000. A letter from the administrator of the trust fund states for budgeting purposes estimate an income for the next year of $3,500. This year it was $5,300.

The trust fund income is sent to WNBA once a year in the spring. The bank interest is what WNBA earns as the money sits in the bank. The $7,000 CD had a healthy interest and the checking account had about $3,000. The combination of the two accounts is $4,990 current balance. Money had to be rer4oved from the CD in order to pay for the prizes and art so that the CD account dropped below where it will be earning decent interest. It is now earning 4.75% like a saving account.

Over the years the expenses have crept up to where they are $11,066 this year. If WNBA continues to spend at the current level, approximately $10,000 a year with $4,000 interest, the account will be wiped out next year.

In summary, the general balances are: WNBA checking account has $5,495.50, the CD $23,424.95 plus some accrued interest of about $286; the Pannell checking account has $991.94 and the Pannell CD $3,993.01 plus some interest.

Treasurer then distributed budget preparation packets. Fiscal 1990/91 figures are part of the financial statement previously discussed at the meeting. Sheets are to be returned to the Treasurer by July 1, 1991 thus allowing sufficient time to work with the finance committee and get final approval before first quarter reporting. The finance committee for this year still needs to be appointed by the President.

E. Past President Report: Marie Cantlon reporting.

A funny thing happened on the way back from Chicago. Or, more precisely, after the 1990 WNBA Board meeting was adjourned and my term of office officially ended.

As all who attended know, it was a productive meeting, with the theme and the plans for the 75th anniversary well launched. Still there was disappointment that Barbara Bush did not address the ALA as hoped, nor was WNBA able to present its 1990 WNBA Award to her in person there.

We had done much maneuvering with the ALA to time our award into her Chicago appearance and our alternative seemed to be to mail the citation to the White House. On my answering machine, when I returned, a message was left requesting me to call Julia Cooke in Mrs. Bush’s office. I returned the call the next day and Julia asked for more information about WNBA, the Award, and what kind of reception we were thinking about. Anne Eastman had held out hope for a presentation at a White House tea. Her response to that suggestion was cool. I desperately recalled Effie Lee Morris’ award in Washington a few year before at the Library of Congress. My memory was faulty, but fortuitous. An award to Barbara Rush for her contribution at the Library of Congress seemed attractive.

We then discussed dates, one four weeks and one five weeks away. When I gulped, Julia said it was up to us but she always recommended that people take the date offered as no later date could be guaranteed. She also said that Mrs. Bush didn’t want our organization to go to any extraordinary lengths to make arrangements but would be pleased to accept the award.

Since WNBA, in a sense, was in an interregnum period and Patti Breitman was not able to come east, I tapped into every available WNBA resource and, after astonishing efforts on everyone’s part, had the special experience of presenting for the first time the WNBA Award to a presiding First Lady in the James Madison Room of the Library of Congress on July 17.

It is impossible to recapture in words or thank adequately everyone who contributed to this event. Carolyn Wilson, the Award Chair, was a source of wisdom and reassurance whenever called upon. She had the citation beautifully hand-lettered and the food and drink tastefully and economically served.

Anne Eastman, luckily was at her summer home in New Hampshire, and shared her contacts at the Library of Congress and Center for the Book, her political savvy, as well as her invaluable experience with previous ceremonies.

From the Boston chapter, Adeline Oakley and Bob Hale selected a group of children’s books to be presented as part of the award. Chris Reynold turned out elegant invitations overnight, and Jane Mathorne produced the handsome program in an impossible time span.

Meanwhile in Washington the members went into a full court press. Barbara Webb arranged for addressing and mailing invitations. When Diane Ullius returned from vacation she practically commuted between the White House and the Library of Congress, attending to the innumerable details that had to be done on the spot.

In New York, Claire Friedland, the previous WNBA awardee, wrapped up the Constance Lindsay Skinner Rob Roy to be passed on to Mrs. Bush and Cathy Renstchler coordinated news coverage with the PR office of the Library of Congress.

Every job and title of the arrangements had to be checked and Ok’d by Mrs. Rush’s office, a pleasant and super-efficient group. Every move, from the arrival in the garage, to the security arrangements, to the end of the reception was as tightly choreographed as a Balanchiane ballet.

The glorious day arrived and everyone, including the weatherman, cooperated. After a slight delay, Dr. Billington, Head of the Library of Congress, ushered Mrs. Bush in, she greeted the eight WNBA members in the reception line who had contributed so much to the events success.

Diane Ullius welcomed everyone on behalf of the Washington Chapter. I gave a brief history of the award, and Bob Hale in his inimitable way gave a wonderful tribute to Barbara Bush’s contributions to literacy as a prelude to the actual presentation. Mrs. Bush’s warm acceptance spoke of her lifelong love of reading, her involvement in RIF, and the importance of literacy efforts.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, Barbara Bush insisted on greeting friends in the audience and, to the delight of everyone, came down from the podium and mingled at the reception.

The most satisfying moment for me came after the awardee departed. Mary Levering hugged me and said, “I’m so proud.” I knew we had done things right and indeed all WNBA members (most chapters had a representative) were proud to be there that day.

IV. REPORT OF CHAPTER ACTIVITIES

President reports from each chapter were made available to those present. President Breitman requested that each representative summarize her chapter’s activities.

A. Binghamton Chapter Lillian Ruf reporting. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

• Presented first of annual EXCELLENCE IN WRITING AWARDS to two sixth graders. Award is to encourage young writers who show an aptitude for writing to continue writing.

• Participated in downtown July Fest, selling books donated by members and friends.

• President Ruf reported on trip to Washington for presentation of WNBA Award to Barbara Bush.

• Speaker historian of the town of Johnson City and expert on local carousels.

• Visited bookstore with collection of antiquarian books and maps; also specialized in stained glass drawings.

• Attended Woman of Achievement Dinner sponsored by Broome County Status of Women Council at which member of chapter was honored with the award for efforts in community.

• Holiday tea at president’s home where one of the recipients of the Excellence in Writing award read some of his original fantastic fiction.

• Scripts for a one-act play were distributed, parts assigned and members participated in a “happening.”

• Member shared slides on a Literary Tour of New England.

• Co-sponsored with Broome County Status of Women Council program titled, Women in Poland - Past and Future.

• Co-sponsored Affirmative Action programs on topics such as “Asian Americans” and “Racial/Ethnic Stereotypes.”

• Discussed Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities and read selections from James Merrill’s The Inner Room.

• Speaker shared perceptions about the people and literature of Binghamton’s sister city Boroviche, USSR.

B. Boston Chapter Josephine Fang reporting. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

• Membership increased from 74 to 111. Promotional efforts included mailings to past members with a personal note of invitation from the president; chapter brochure was redesigned and membership application form attached as a convenient tear-off sheet; membership directory prepared.

• Fund-raising activities included sale of large donation of children’s books, reducing expenses by having board members donate refreshments at programs, and combining directory and meeting announcement mailings.

• Wine and cheese with twenty local literary personalities who read from their works and autographed their books.

• Vice President for External Affairs, Houghton Mifflin lectured on Publishing in the Nineties: One Publisher’s Perspective.

• Mass Media and the News: What Information Reaches the Public, a panel presentation with news editor and media critic.

• Victorian holiday tea with children’s book authority talking about Trends and Titles: What’s New in Children’s Books.

• Who Reads What in Boston included distinguished people active in Boston’s cultural life sharing their impressions of books they especially enjoyed reading.

• Toured library computer facilities of Boston College, latest academic library building in Boston area and uses of new technology.

• Panel of writers and booksellers discussed the challenges in providing literature and services for the needs of our society of ethnic and cultural diversity.

• Panel discussion of women who started writing seriously after the age of 45.

• Group of literary and scholarly translators and writers talked about their work and read some of their translations.

• Author and columnist will speak (June meeting) on “Besotted by the Word, or What Reading Means to Me.” First Dr. Adeline Oakley Award will be given to a WNBA Bookwoman.

• President Fang published World Guide Library Archive and Information Science Associations an update of an earlier publication in which WNBA as a national organization is extensively mentioned.

• National President Breitman was presented with a Boston Chapter book bag. Fang noted that every chapter speaker is awarded a bag.

C. Detroit Chapter: Margaret Auer reporting.

• Librarian presented slide-lecture program on Black women in the arts and. literature. This was a good follow-up on the interracial theme the National Council of Women requested be integrated in association programming.

• Chapter contributed over 300 books to a center for abused women and their children.

• Chapter newsletter was distributed.

• Edith Phillips announced her retirement from the Library Science Program at Wayne State University. (The Board directed that a wire of congratulation on her retirement be sent to Phillips.)

• Concern was expressed about the Detroit Chapter and its lack of response to requests from national, e.g., articles for Bookwoman, annual reports, financial requests, officer roster, etc. President Breitman volunteered to travel to Detroit for a fall meeting which could be advertised as a “gather more membership” session. Breitman would be delighted to speak about the opportunities of WNBA.

D. Los Angeles Chapter Sue MacLaurin reporting. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

• Most monthly meetings are attended by 35 to 40 members. Chapter

• Re-instituted at the beginning of each program a self-introduction of those in attendance.

• Board meeting attended by President Breitman which included readings by two members who recently published books.

• Celebrated children’s literature with a “Here’s looking at you, kid program.

• Annual conference titled “Storytelling: Writers Reveal Their Secrets.

• Judy Lopez Memorial Award given to Avi Wortis for The True Confessions Charlotte Doyle for a work of literary excellence written for nine to twelve year olds. Award includes a bronze medallion and a cash prize.

• The Lopez Foundation has asked the chapter to take over the administration of the award. The administration proposal has been approved by the board and is at the Foundation being reviewed. The deadline is July 1st for the foundation to say yes or no. If yes, the legal documents will be drawn up. If no, the chapter will drop the award putting focus on scholarships or another area.

• Goal of chapter was to further develop liaisons with other book and publishing groups. PEN Center USA invited chapter to participate in their annual garden party and literary auction. PEN would make a marvelous target for sustaining membership in the $200 range. Question was posed whether PEN West was a separate group from PEN or should all the different PEN groups be approached. Not knowing the answer Sue MacLaurin volunteered to call Richard Brea.

• Membership is at 133, down from 147. It has been suggested that the chapter try to attract people in fields other than writing. For example, UCLA, USC publication departments, small publishing groups, and libraries.

• The chapter has established the following goals:

o establishment of an advisory board

o increased membership through outreach campaigns

o re-establishment of a formal scholarship committee

E. Nashville Chapter Etta Wilson reporting. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

• Year began with an all day planning meeting discussing membership and what to do about growth. Membership is changing from one which was primarily librarian to one which is more diversified with a great many people from other parts of the publishing world. A two-tier level of membership was determined.

• Had author of fifteen books on costume design, dolls, and toys who spoke on “Bears as a Hobby.”

• Involved in Southern Festival of Books held in the downtown area. WNBA not only maintains a booth but Carolyn Wilson heads the all-volunteer services.

• Brochure which describes the chapter programs for the year was produced and available for the festival. Over three hundred people responded with interest in membership.

• President Breitman visited the chapter describing her work as an independent book producer.

• Christmas dinner meeting with speaker on The Little Prince

• Chapter worked on Tennessee Writers Alliance project.

• Chapter has become more closely involved in the Book’em project with more than 250 books obtained.

• Member and president of Incentive Publications described educational materials publishing.

• Director of programs at The Hermitage, home of Andrew Johnson, spoke on their publications.

• One of the seventy women honored by WNBA, Carol Wallace Orr, head of UT Press spoke about academic publishing but particularly her work in WISP.

• Began plans for the purchase of a book bag, taking orders, soliciting orders.

• Chapter is undertaking the studying of rewriting the bylaws.

• Nashville has for years been involved in the book and author dinner sponsored by a local newspaper and the Nashville Book Publishers Association. For the first time the chapter president was asked to sit on dias representing WNBA. This was a milestone since the chapter has been trying to get this type of recognition for years.

F. York Chapter: May Wu reporting.

The Board was officially welcomed to New York by May.

• The target for membership was 140 but the chapter has only reached 119.

• The chapter has a Member-Get-A-Member program. More than half of the new members this year came from this personal referral program. The advantage to the current members is they are supposed to get five dollars off their dues.

• Diane Roback produced a letter to solicit sustaining membership. Wu read the last paragraph of a telefax she received from Diane: “I strongly urge the national board to extend the sustaining member challenge for chapters for another year. If our success proves an encouragement I’m sure we can increase the number of sustaining members even more next year.” Wu supported Diane’s comments and requested that the board consider the recommendation.

• Attorneys presented program on “What is fair use,” current legal issues and judicial decisions you should know about.

• Book Club representatives spoke on issues and options book clubs have as marketers. Second part of program was on trends in children’s books.

• Holiday program titled, “Lending a Hand” where representative from three organizations, Women in Need, City Harvest, and Partnership for Homeless spoke about their organizations. A book raffle was held and a small donation was given to each organization.

• Sponsored a joint theatre program with American Women in Radio and Television.

• Wu spoke about WNEA and publishing at a career awareness evening at the YWCA.

• Chapter was invited to attend a screening of the film “An Angel at My Table.” Chapter had a one-time rental of the membership addresses so theatre agency could send invitations.

• Chapter sent out a survey to its members, with twenty-three responding, and responses were very insightful.

G. Francisco Chapter: Linda Mead reporting. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

• Chapter now refers to itself as the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter

because chapter encompasses the area as far south as San Jose to as north as Sacramento. Membership is over 130.

• Policy for Jessie Boy Award has been changed. Money was originally given to individual student who would purchase books, usually in the area of library science. These individuals came to receive the award and were never seen again. Chapter decided it wanted more exposure for this award. One of the board members is an ex-parole officer and she suggested the Elizabeth Fry House where women can go to spend the rest of their prison term and are allowed to be there with their children who are usually six and under. A committee of three people selected books for children and presented them to the Fry House. Chapter will continue to participate in this project and encourage these individuals to join literacy programs.

• New dues scale was introduced, from a membership fee of $15 to $25 for full-membership, to those who are students or retirees which remained at $15.

• Focused on women writers as presenters, with November’s meeting centered on children’s books.

• Collected children’s books for presentation to the district attorneys office for their children’s witness/victim room, “The Teddy Bear Room.” The books are utilized when children are working with social workers or the district attorney. If the child becomes attached to book, the child is given it.

• Sponsored with the National Organization for Women a poster contest, contributing money.

H. Washington Chapter: Diane Ullius reporting. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

• Chapter focused on three areas: cleaning up membership records and status, getting more members actively involved, and improving the newsletter, both the schedule and the content.

• Official membership is 211 and since that figure was tallied in April seventeen new members have joined.

• For the first time chapter had program planning meetings. Two future programs were noted: 1) to focus either on a fund raiser for some of the literacy councils in the area or as a membership volunteer drive for literacy councils; 2) a “Women Who Succeed” night--after a brief introduction of the “Women” registrants will be given an opportunity to talk to somebody great.

• Newsletter has grown and published a wonderful set of feature articles on women owning bookstores in the area. There are thirty-three current volunteers interested in working on the newsletter alone.

• A number of areas were not addressed. Chapter has done nothing with sustaining members, did not invited President Breitman to come for a visit, idea for a finance committee did not get off the ground, chapter has not produced a brochure, there has not been any active recruitment, thought about an advisory board but nothing ever happened, have not done anything real in terms of coalition, but chapter is beginning to see hints of some of these things happening.

• The chapter is going to strengthen its connection to George Washington University which has a publication specialist program. A new director wishes to institute a book publishing track in there program.

• The chapter will attempt to increase the paid membership by ten percent. Paid membership is emphasized because the chapter is carrying a lot of complimentary members and they are going to be targeted for paid membership.

• The board has made a commitment to establishing three strong committees: 1) membership, 2) publicity, and 3) hospitality.

Meeting adjourned for lunch at 12:30pm and reconvened at 2:00pm. Marilyn Abel, Publicity Chair, and Jean Freidman of the New York Chapter joined the meeting.

V. STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

A. Pannell Award

President Breitman announced that Pannell Winners will be presented with a ribbon “WNBA Pannell Award Winner” to wear on their ABA badge. The question was asked whether the former winners should also receive a ribbon. It was decided that at the ABA/WNBA breakfast it could be announced that all former winners would be honored with a ribbon.

Due to health reasons Ann Eastman was not able to attend the board meeting. The members of the board wish her well and miss her. President Breitman read into the record Ann Eastman, Chair, Lucile Micheels Pannell Award Committee report.

The major points of the letter are:

• Two Pannell Award winners are Rosemary and Michael Stimola of A Child’s Story of Teaneck, New Jersey and Janet E. Crojean of Little Professor Book Center in LaVista, Nebraska.

• The Stimolas will receive art by Lane Smith who illustrated The True Story Three Little Pigs. For Ms. Grojean there is an original drawing by Martin Handford.

• The jury discussed reducing the fee or again trying to get free art but strongly recommended present system be retained.

• The art, the presentation of the awards at the ABA breakfast, and the publicity for the winners seem to be the most important elements of the Pannell Awards.

• Twelve submissions were received this year, six in each category. The jury strongly urges retaining two categories whatever cuts have to be made in the award budget.

• The jury recommends that the 1992 awards be $500 each for the winners plus $500 for each piece of art. Each prize then would be, in affect, $1,000.

• When the application and rules are condensed to two sides of a single sheet, it will be run gratis in ABA’s Newswire

• The Pannell estate fund is about $43,000, invested in a few mutual funds. Percentage of yield is the lowest ever. The trust has clearly been well managed.

• Once the checks are written for the winners and artists the Pannell account will have about $3,200. The corpus will earn about $4,000. It is recommended that the $7,000 be used to conduct the 10th Pannell Award (verified the 1992 is 9th annual award) as in the past. Then a hard look should be taken at the award and what it is achieving and decide whether to continue it. It was recommended that President Breitman appoint a committee, perhaps to include either Marilyn Abel or Ann Eastman since they have the history and facts of the award, to consider the future of the Pannell. Award.

• Honoring two booksellers who have shown special talent at selling children’s books has helped educate other booksellers, stimulating them to conduct programs they might not otherwise have thought of, and focusing their awareness on children’s books as a source of profits. Educating booksellers seems to be the point of all this hard work. Good publicity for WNBA is a by-product.

• PR for the Pannell Awards takes a lot of time and needs to be carefully coordinated with the winners. No volunteer would give it the care and attention it needs, PR volunteers and WNBA have little relevant track record and none on a major project. Another reason paid staff is important is that booksellers and the media know they can get professional advice from Marilyn. She has the time and information to be articulate about projects and to promote the award so that booksellers will apply and then to do the follow-up work.

• While employed many jury member’s employers pick up their expenses for juring this award. Ann Eastman and Bob Hale often absorb their own expenses.

• Perhaps the board should again try to have chapter representatives on the Pannell Committee. During the project’s first four or five years, we asked chapters to identify possible representatives.

• Jury members have entree to leading editors and publishers and when procuring art they can make calls to artists, agents, and other publishers on our behalf.

• Marilyn Abel and Ann Eastman do not recommend rotating this project among the chapters. One of its chief strengths is that it’s known to be in New York, where most of the jury members are, where the ABA is, and where many children’s book publishers are.

• The jury meets in Marilyn’s apartment and if there is need for lunch the costs have been minimal.

• ABA receives and stores the scrapbooks and let’s Marilyn use their photocopy machine without charge to copy parts of entries for the jury.

• One of the options after 1992 is not to give the award for a few years so that our account can build up. It would be dangerous to give up our time at the children’s book breakfast, for we might not be able to get back on the agenda.

• Several people have suggested that the WNBA raise money to support the Pannell awards. Anyone who has the contacts and wants to undertake writing a proposal will get necessary encouragement and help from Marilyn and me. Neither of us can take on that job. Somehow what we solicit another’s money for seems to potential donors to be the kind of project we should be supporting ourselves.

• Next year is the 10th year for the Pannell Award (verified that 1993 is actually 10th anniversary). Marilyn and I would like to persuade some friends of the award to host a party at ABA in 1992 for winners across the ten years. We would like to have someone else honor the WNBA and the awards for their importance in the world of selling children’s books. I have had a few relevant conversations and think, with the right touch and anticipation of a rather small but special audience, we very well might get this done. We’ll need to start on this soon, however. As many of you know, what Marilyn and I have done is call in chits for the WNBA. Most people don’t have an endless number of chits!

The board discussed alternatives to continuing two awards, the amount of the awards, and the administration of the award.

A book industry study has just published its first ever report called “What’s Hot, What’s Not,” which is a look at what is selling in non-chair retail bookstores by content. In the fourth quarter of 1990, over 50% of the hardcover books and over 50% of the trade paperbacks sold were children’s books. The Pannell Award should not be stopped. If WNBA gives up its place on the ABA children’s breakfast we will lose the value that this award has created, the image of WNBA. WNBA was ten years in advance of this phenomenon, children’s book in the forefront.

Establishing a committee to look into the future of the Pannell is not controversial but, for the immediate future, the board has to decide what will happen next year. At the ABA children’s breakfast on Saturday morning applications for next year’s Pannell will be placed at every table and that application announces what the prize is. WNBA has to be able to tell people what they are getting.

The Pannell Award should be continued, it is a prestigious award, the one place where WNBA gets national notoriety. It is of concern that the interest earned has decreased while the principal has stayed the same. The treasurer responded that is was not clear why Mr. Engledinger projected that WNBA would only receive $3,500 for the coming year unless he was giving the most conservative estimate. In as much as WNBA received a little less than $5,000 this year, another $1,500 drop sounds pretty drastic. Things are going to turn around a little bit and, if anything, interest received should go up a little next year. But, WNBA cannot count on that and the board has to look realistically at what is in the bank now and what might be received next year.

This is very valuable award and as a member of WNBA am proud to be associated with it. The board needs to figure out a way to make this thing work, not to have a gap in its presentation. The dilemma is one of seeing the prize money go down each year, from $2,500 to a single awardee the first year, to maybe just $500. WNBA demands a tremendous amount in preparation and presentation from the people who submit their materials. No one has reaffirmed Ann and Marilyn’s comment that the money isn’t the important thing, but time is money and applicants do put a lot of time into planning their program for the children. After it is all finished, (applicants have to document what they did and there are criteria which they have to meet in there presentation. And, the prize money dwindling down and down is a dilemma. Perhaps one winner again, to tide us over for a year or two, is possible. Dropping it to $500 could adversely effect the submissions and we need to get as many submissions as possible, so that we don’t just atrophy.

Receiving the piece of art work to these booksellers is very important. Standing up at that breakfast is very, very important. It could be $100 and they would still be honored. They are going to do this program for children and books anyway. They don’t do it for us, they do it for themselves, because they want to do it. The documentation they have to prepare is something they might not ordinarily do but, if the experts who have been face to face with these winners, who talk to them at the time they win the award, say $500 is adequate, should the board try to better judge that? If the choice is cutting someplace else or cutting the award money, there is no question that cutting the award money is appropriate. Applications will still come in as long as the art work is there.

Part of the reason WNBA honors the booksellers who have done so well is to encourage other bookstores to emulate them. WNBA should care more about bringing children and books together then with giving a cash award. What is important, is the booksellers who don’t have time to be creative but can just imitate what the winners have done. This is part of the benefits of the Pannell, to show everybody, look how you can bring children and books together.

With only twelve to fifteen applicants throughout the country the odds are very good of being honored.

If the awards were cut down to $2,000 and we assume that all the other expenses are going to be the same except for that $1,500 publicity and promotion (the $1,500 pays for Newswire which, if the application is a single page, WNBA will not be charged) that comes to $7,000. $2,000 for the awards, $2,000 for the administrator’s fee, approximately $1,000 for the administrator’s expenses, $1,500 for the jury expenses, and then about $500 more in the miscellaneous categories comes to seven thousand dollars.

The account should have about $8,900 and if the Award costs $7,000, there are sufficient funds. The budget sheets indicate there is $4,990 and $4,000 is expected in interest, so that would be $8,900.

A question was asked about monies that are coming in from this trust fund; that is, how is the money being invested.

Ann’s report indicates the fund is being well managed, but it seems that it’s not being very well managed, it is just sitting somewhere. Ann said the fund has been earning 11%, however, if it were earning 10 it would be earning $4,000. It should also be noted that the fund is not compounding and when you take out the interest and spend it, it is not going to compound. Interest rates have also been falling.

The treasurer in conference with Ann Eastman, should decide whether or not the Menominee Bank representative can be approached. They could be more helpful about where the money is invested and whether it needs to go into some other kind of fund. The trust officer would know what our contract or agreement with Bud Micheels and the rest of the Micheels family is and how changes could be handled.

The crux of the matter is WNBA cannot continue deficit spending to the extent that we have the last few years without spending ourselves into an empty pocketbook. So we have to do some creative thinking about how to cut wherever we can to salvage the prize and to keep the mechanism going which gives us a tremendous amount of publicity and accomplishes the purpose of bringing children and books together, at the same time.

Other WNBA standing committee chairs have their expenses paid by WNBA. The bylaws read that the national officers plus up to three committee chairs, to be decided by the executive committee, should have their expenses paid to the national board meeting in order to give their reports and get report input. It is suggested that WNBA take over the payment of this chair’s expenses so that amount could be a deduction from the Pannell expenses. There would have to be a budget set on assumed expenses and a cap placed on expenditures just like other committees.

There was a question as to whether a cap should be placed on this chair’s expenditures. The bylaws state that three committee chairs are sent to the board meeting but do not specify the dollar amount because that is going to change as WNBA evolves and as the economy changes. It might be better to make the motion without the dollar cap and just plan the budget the way the treasurer does with other chairs. This amount is for the chair, non-jury expenses. As an alternative, the board could amend the bylaws to put a cap on all chairs expenses.

Moved by Sylvia Cross, seconded by Sandra Paul: “That the Pannell Committee Chair’s expenses be paid by WNBA general funds.” Approved: 10 Yes 0 No 1 Abstention

There are two decisions which have to be made. First, is to determine an amount to put on the application, and that is to be done immediately. Second, is to form a committee to take the rest of the ideas being given and use them as the basis for making recommendations on the future years.

The way the award was structured the winner was given a choice of which artists to choose and WNBA obtained a piece of art free from that artist. Is it impossible to obtain free art again so that the prize money could stay up a little higher? First of all, we have connections with publishers of children’s books, could we use our contacts within a publishing house that has art that is being used in their current books. Perhaps the art would be by somebody who is not as well known yet but the art could become investment art because the person will grow as a children’s book illustrator. The donation of art would help publishing houses support the Pannell Award which is to their advantage because it could be publicized. Publishers could talk to artist about donating a piece of art but many artists feel they have to be paid. The publishing house pays for one time use or reproduction rights so it would actually be the artist who is making the donation.

The whole point is if the winners are willing to take less money and get a wonderful piece of art and it costs $500 for the art why do we have to come up with something else? The board needs to agree whether or not the money is more important than the art. Everyone who knows the winners and has dealt with them is suggesting that that is true. The dollar amounts on their own, are not as significant as we are making it seem. The issue is the amount of the award relative to the amount spent on administering the award.

The jury is only getting twelve submissions and it is harder to make the determination of one rather than two. But giving two awards waters the award down. Wouldn’t it be more meaningful to say this is this year’s Pannell winner, not here are two winners, when the jury knows there have been twelve applicants from the whole country? If you have a children’s book store you spend all year long bringing children and books together, everything you do has to do with selling books to children. So, doing something extraordinary is really extraordinary for a children’s bookstore. (Whereas, if is you have a regular full-charge bookstore you are catering to adults and to teenagers and to everyone, and if you do something exceptional for children it is a very different caliber than having a whole store that’s devoted to children’s books.

When the jury began looking at two kinds of submissions the winner was always the children’s bookstore because they always had more time to devote. The other stores never won and they had some really good projects.

Six applications are really good when you consider the amount of work that is involved in the application and the degree of creativity. Applicants have to prepare a scrapbook in which is recorded in very great detail the amount of work that went into the project, several paragraphs or pages on how the program affected the community, how it influenced the community, how they organized it, what its boundaries were, and whether the program made money. The program has to sell books, it cannot be just nice. The program has to be documented and the guidelines leave them with a lot of freedom. Nothing in the rules and regulations is meant to constrain too much or limit the integrity. They are required to have testimonials from customers, or teachers, or librarians in the community, photographs or other documentary evidence, programs, and printed materials. Idea that it is replicable is very important; it should work not just in the one town.

Six to twelve is probably about tops in what is really a rather small field. Out of the trade bookstores in the United States not that many sell children’s books to the extent needed to support a program like this. Children’s only bookstore number around 300.

Might it be possible to continue the cash award for the general bookstore and the art award for the children’s bookstore? By doing that is WNBA saying that it cannot afford the award? Would an award of $2,000, $500 each for art and $500 each cash award be acceptable? Put the amount in the application at $500 and, except for previous winners, no one will notice it has gone done. It certainly should not be announced at the breakfast but just put into the application.

The choice seems to be, reduce the award or discontinue with the administrator. The board could probably get volunteer help for administration of the award but it would not be the same quality.

But these are not the only options. The board has already voted to take the chair’s expenses out of Pannell and put it into the national budget. Perhaps national should be augmenting further; perhaps the sustaining memberships which come into the national budget should be marked for Pannell. There are other options.

We have two experts who are recommending that the cash award be $500 because the important thing is the art and publicity, not the money. Why should the board be second-guessing their opinion?

The organization has never funded the Pannell Award except through the Trust fund and, if people are that uncomfortable with the award being only $500 then is the board willing to take $1,000 out of the operating budget to keep it at $2,000. There are sufficient funds in the reserve fund but that account will go down very rapidly and it will change the whole tone of the program. It does not have to be an annual contribution, a one time contribution, until the committee looks at the alternatives.

When making the scrapbook and doing all that extra work, $500 does not seem to be enough. Looking at the winner’s application it seems the project is being done by bookseller for their own business, they have already experienced a financial gain before we hand them money, $500 is not much but they have already made money.

The board should go ahead with $500 and see if it makes a difference. If the response does not change and is as enthusiastic, fine; if the response drops off we will see it. Booksellers will know going in they will only get $500 cash. The people who respond are truly people for whom the money does not make a difference. The jury will also be able to tell from the quality of the submissions whether that also has dropped. We may have to review it again next year and see whether there was an adverse affect on the whole program. In the meantime the committee can be evaluating the program.

Motion: Moved by Diane Ullius, seconded by Sandra Paul “that the Board accept the Eastman recommendation for next year, that two cash awards of $500 each plus $500 each for art be given. Approved 10 Yes 0 No 0 Abstentions

President Breitman asked Marilyn Abel to communicate board action and discussion to Ann Eastman.

It was asked whether the committee could handle more entries or would it help if the directions for submission were streamlined. The guidelines provide a lot of freedom. Does calling it a notebook encourage bulky? Can it be called it an 8 l/2Xll, 3-ring notebook? It would not be good to limit size because if the project materials were large to say everything has to be folded down would enlarge the notebook and does not allow applicants to use size which best fit their program needs. There is small expense transporting the scrapbooks from receipt where jury meets to ABA.

WNBA should take great pride in the people who have won. Two years ago at ABA there was panel with Pannell winner who has gone on to do even better. It was impressive. There is a tape of the presentation in the national office which should be viewed by the jury members, by the review committee, and information published in The Bookwoman.

In the ABA program, where the Saturday morning breakfast program is listed, WNBA never appears, it reads the Lucile Micheels Pannell Award. No one knows it is a WNBA related event and if this program is meant to help publicize WNBA, it is important that we officially call it the “WNBA Lucile Micheels Pannell Award. Marilyn was asked to find out from Ann Eastman whether there was any stipulation in the agreement with Pannell that would prohibit such action. The citation given does have Women’s National Book Association.

A funding option could be each year a children’s publisher is approached to match the money with their name attached. Soliciting a matching amount could lead the publisher to want their books to be sold more prominently in the winners’ bookstores. And, what if a piece of art is chosen but not from their books? Another option could be approaching printers who specialize in children’s books. Printers could be asked to contribute to the 10th anniversary party.

When the initial discussions took place on what to do with the Pannell money it was not determined that booksellers would always be honored. There was some consideration of honoring teachers. Even though this award is so well established and the program has been received beyond what had been envisioned, the committee should still look at other possibilities. The committee could also consider publishers, or editors, or writers.

President Breitman asked for recommendations on the committee’s composition. The committee should be broad based, a person who has worked with Pannell before, a person who not been involved, some reflection of new people on board, some people from the library community as well as people from the book trade, and a Pannell winner.

It was suggested that the committee membership be: Ann Eastman, Marilyn Abel, Sandy Paul, Sylvia Cross, Etta Wilson, a former Pannell winner, children’s book editor (Liz Cordon), Lillian Ruf, literary agent (Andrea Brown), and Diane Roback. Committee will determine its own chair. President Breitman will make final appointments.

B. Corresponding Membership: President Breitman read into the record to report of Dayna Macy, Chair of Membership.

Solicitations went out on May 15, 1991. One was sent to those for renewal and another was sent to those whose membership lapsed in 1989/90. There has been some confusion regarding corresponding membership year so it has now been defined as running from June 1st to May 31st of the following year.

The system for renewal for corresponding membership runs as follows: committee chair sends out application renewal, checks are sent directly to treasurer, treasurer sends notifications to Sandy Paul and Sandy notifies chair of renewal. Sandy updates her database and arranges for a copy of The Bookwoman to be sent. Chair sends an acknowledgement letter to the corresponding member.

With this last mailing Dayna resigned from her position as Corresponding Membership chair. President Breitman indicated the need to appoint a new chair. For this year there still will need to be a follow-up mailing: for those who did not respond and had not renewed for 1989/90 nothing more should be done, for those who were solicited for the first time for next year there should be an additional mailing in the fall. There should also be a campaign to get more new corresponding members, promotion and publicity.

The chairmanship involves generating a letter twice a year, initial mailing and then follow-up, sending thank you notes, and identifying potential members (retirees who move, contacts at ABA, relatives, friends). There are currently sixty corresponding members of which twenty have already renewed. President Breitman “cornered” Etta Wilson, who accepted assignment to be Corresponding Membership Chair.

It was suggested that if there is a cluster of corresponding members from one location corresponding chair working with development chair should determine whether a new chapter should be formed. In the future, when a letter of interest in WNBA is received where there is not a chapter, Secretary should copy her response to Corresponding Membership Chair for follow-up.

Etta Wilson accepted assignment request from President Breitman to be Corresponding Membership Chair.

It was strongly recommended that prior to holiday season chapter newsletters suggest giving a corresponding membership as a gift. The newsletter would describe corresponding membership so that members can explain value. New corresponding member must receive from national a letter or card of explanation of what membership is, what they will be receiving, and with the letter, a WNBA brochure and the last most recent issue of The Bookwoman. Sandy, Etta, and Sue agreed to work up a reproduction copy which could be sent to each chapter for publication in their October or November newsletter.

President Breitman inserted in the agenda the subject of the WNBA Award. All subsequent agenda items were re-lettered.

C. WNBA Award: Carolyn Wilson reporting.

With both a report in The Bookwoman and the Past President’s comments earlier, the Award chair felt the subject of the award presentation had been thoroughly covered. The chair did share with the board a photocopy of the citation given to Mrs. Bush.

The chair indicated that there were changes in the procedures manual’s guidelines for the award which were approved during the 1990 board meeting. The first part of criterion one says the candidate derives all or part of her income from books and allied arts. It seems that this criterion has been frequently ignored in giving the award and, if it is going to be ignored, it should be removed.

Moved by Carolyn Wilson, seconded by Sandra Paul “that 2.a.1 of the guidelines be deleted from the criteria for the WNBA Award.” Motion withdrawn.

The procedures manual repeats and expands upon what is in the national Bylaws. The board cannot change the criteria for the winner in the procedures until the Bylaws are changed. In order to delete from the procedures manual the board must follow the procedure for an amendment to the Bylaws which states that a proposed change has to be published two months in advance before a vote can be taken of the board.

The main concern is will WNBA continue to restrict this award to book women and reward the women who spent not only their lives working in the book industry but also have devoted free time outside their normal duties and responsibilities. Since the bylaws on this issue have been narrowly interpreted, with only two exceptions over the years, there may not be a necessity to make the change.

The most important criterion is “has done meritorious work in the world of books” and lots of people who don’t derive part or all of their income from books would fit this criterion.

Since the motion contradicted current bylaws the motion was withdrawn.

Call for WNBA Award nomination in The Bookwoman should be in the Fall 1991 (both August and November issues), nominations closed by February 1, 1992, voting completed at 1992 Board meeting.

Because both the WNBA Award and the 75th Anniversary celebrations will potentially have expenses we must carefully budget for each, for the revenue and for expenses, to break even for any WNBA Award reception and how to defray expenses for 75th celebration.

D. The Bookwoman: Sue MacLaurin, Co-editor, reporting. Copy of LaVonne Taylor Pickell, Co-editor report was read into the record by Sue. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

Salient points from the report include:

• Newsletter grew from 16 pages to 24 pages in most recent issue.

• Unsolicited materials arrive chiefly from other women’s organizations; many announcements of new book releases or books in progress arrive.

• Chapters should encourage membership participation and article proposals for The Bookwoman.

• Magazine has had a diversity of articles and information including reports on the WNBA Award to Mrs. Bush, the Pannell Award winners for 1990, a tribute to Helen Hoke Watts, articles on English as a second language and innovated efforts of ESL teachers to stimulate literary creativity, the Freedom to Read statement, a report of the 1990 National Board of Director meeting, report of the 1990 women award winners of the would mystery writers convention, the Judy Lopez Memorial Foundation Award winner, and possibility of new chapter in Santa Barbara.

• Focus of magazine is to encourage networking and the dissemination of information to the national membership.

• Editorial philosophy is to maintain as broad a scope on women’s issues as space allows and not limit information only to the publishing field. Wide knowledge and far-reaching vision that go beyond the borders of the female literary community are important in keeping that same community a healthy, functioning entity.

There will be an effort to return the issues to sixteen pages. Co-editor requested suggestions of other types of information and people to contact for articles to put into The Bookwoman. It is important that the issues be representative of the eight chapters and highlight member accomplishments.

Since there is no reference in the bylaws selling ads for the national magazine could be a way to defer the cost of each issue. It is expected that advertisements would have to be attractive and not deter from it being a literary magazine.

Advertising space should be limited and the ads limited to books from publishers. Especially for the members who are writing a book this provides a perfect opportunity for them to put pressure on their publisher to take out an ad. The ad would promote their book to a network of people who will recognize their name and who will buy the book.

WNBA has done this before and the space was limited to business card size space. What is hard to turn down, if you do not have defined limits, is people who want to evaluate manuscripts for money. What has to be limited is the number of pages of ads not necessarily the size. The price paid must justify a half page or a full page; maybe size should be limited to quarter and half page for now.

Co-editors were asked to develop a planned formula of size and cost. In the front of an announcement could be placed that says, “The Bookwoman, the national publication of WNBA, is now accepting advertising of half-pages for “x” amount and full-pages for “x”.” This could also be placed in LJ and SLJ. When costing out consideration should be given to whether publisher gives copy-ready material of the appropriate size. Written guidelines as to what will be accepted should also be developed. Sue agreed that co-editors will develop formula and guidelines.

Co-editors are following the conventional way the chapter news has been included in the magazine. Sometime there are activities (e.g. Book’em, Excellence in Writing) which merit more highlighting. It is up to the chapter officers to point out to the editor when sending in chapter news there is something significant that reflects well on the organization. Chapter presidents must make this clear with the chapter correspondents to magazine editor.

Extra copies of The Bookwoman can be sent to chapter presidents and board members. Each was asked how many additional copies they wished to received. If additional copies of a specific issue are desired, just call Sue.

E. President Breitman inserted in the agenda the subject of the ALA Breakfast which was originally listed under New Business. All subsequent agenda items were re-lettered.

ALA Breakfast: Cathy Renstchler reporting.

The ALA Yearbook has ceased publication in lieu of something different. WNBA was not asked to write for the new publication, however, Cathy will contact Ann Eastman who is on the ALA publications committee about it. A flyer inviting people to the WNBA/ALA breakfast in Atlanta was distributed. Speaker, Margaret Walker, is a Pannell winner.

F. Development: Sandy Paul reporting

Development committee in addressing the issue of how to come up with more sustaining members developed with the idea of rewarding chapters for finding sustaining members for national. The program met with very little initial success. At the 1990 board meeting it was agreed that the program had not been given ample time to develop and so it was extended for another year. Having seen the success of the New York chapter, Development Committee chair recommended the incentive program be continued for another year.

Motion would be retroactive for current year only; that is, any sustaining members brought in under this chapter incentive program in the current year would be included but the two who came in previous to the current year would not. If a sustaining member does not renew its membership and the chapter has to re-solicit the chapter begins again at the 50% payback.

The president sends out renewal letter in fall, for those who do not respond another letter goes out in Feb/March, and a third letter goes out May/June. The sustaining membership year is a calendar year but companies tend to send checks in the spring. The company name remains on the stationery and they receive The Bookwoman for at least six months after the lack of renewal.

There is a scale that ranges from $200 to $600, based on the sustaining member’s income, for corporations. Since WNBA is a 501(c)(3) status organization, the amount is tax deductible. There is nothing that precludes an individual from joining as a sustaining member.

Moved by Sandra Paul, seconded by Josephine Fang “that WNBA continue the incentive sustaining membership solicitation by chapter but incorporate a payback schedule of 50% (first year), 25% (second year), 10% (third year), and 5% each year thereafter. The motion would be retroactive for current year only.” Motion approved: Yes 10 No 0

WNBA has a planned giving program, that is, it is possible for WNBA to be written into someone’s will as a beneficiary of property, insurance, or cash. The chapter presidents should make their members aware of this program. A way of introducing this delicate subject is through the example of the Pannell Trust Fund and how it allows the association to further its good works.

C. UN/UGO agenda item was moved to Thursday (May 30) morning. Sally Wecksler joined the Thursday meeting at 11:40 for purposes of giving her report.

Most of the U.N. meetings regarding women have to do with developing countries--shortage of water, women who are running farms in remote places, self-development projects -- and, although interesting, they are not pertinent to the WNBA purposes.

On May 8th there was an International Women’s Day: Making Women Count in the 90’s. Several speakers talked on interrelated topics but the one theme that tied them together was that women should participate directly in the political system. They should be called to participate in anything, regardless of whether it affects women or not, but particularly anything that might affect women. Speakers all agreed that women still do not have the equal opportunity with men. It was felt that this was due to education, participation and financial support for women candidates. Women are overlooked in most documentation and they are not given credit for their work, even though it may be at home, but it should be included in any economic benefit. In many countries girls are not educated and neglected in nutrition/health benefits. A lawyer speaker pointed out that the U.N. was one of the worse cases of discrimination. In the refugee system there is lack of focus on the women’s concerns. There are ten million women and children who are displaced within their own countries.

Sally will submit an article on the U.N. panel presentation for the next issue of The Bookwoman.

In 1995 there will be a follow-up to the Nairobi conference to evaluate the strategies and actions taken since the conference on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

President Breitman must write a letter on WNBA stationery indicating that Sally Wecksler is the official representative that she should receive all final reports. There is a U.N. membership fee which should be paid by WNBA, bills to be sent to the treasurer. Beth Lieberman agreed to share attendance at meetings as a liaison from the New York Chapter. President Breitman will notify the U.N.

H. 75th Anniversary: Carolyn Wilson reporting. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

Two hundred thirty-two total nominations for the 75 WNBA honor books were received, about twenty of which were duplications. Chapter presidents and jury members have a working list from which to select the final titles on Friday [June 1]. There was no direction given on what is to be done with the list once it is finalized. WNBA has a commitment from Ingram that they will spend money and back the dissemination and promotion of the list but we have to decide what we want to do. Our representative on this project is Ingram’s Marketing Manager.

It was suggested at the last board meeting that ‘bookmarks be produced. They would be sent to bookstores to give away free and would list WNBA’s 75 most important books by women. It would mean doing thousand of bookmarks and some bookstores may give them out and other won’t, and we would be competing with publishers who have there material there which the booksellers are going to give out because they go with the books. It seems we would be throwing money away on bookmarks.

Marketing people at Ingram prepared some possible vehicles in a brainstorming session which could be used for promotion.

• In-store methods included: posters; bookmarks; microfiche flyer; shelf- talkers; POP kits; infofiche portion of microfiche; consumer brochure; and stock checklist with order form. These are things they do from their end.

• Direct-mail letter to targeted groups or institutions; through existing catalogs e.g., Ingram Backlist Review; onesource article in Ingram newsletter to retail, libraries, and college accounts; articles in relevant trade journals, library, retail, publishing, etc.

• Trade advertising is a question mark.

• Possible event and location promotions include: kick-off publicity drive; regional book festivals like Southern Festival; retail and library trade shows; regional book and library trade associations e.g., SEBA, NEBA, etc.

• Library promotions

• Publisher-funded vehicles e.g. mention in their trade ads of nominated titles, stickers for the covers of nominated titles; through the authors themselves for promotional signings and appearances.

• Through authors themselves: appearances, author signings

• Listed under general consideration:

• Involve chapters as much as possible in publicity campaigns to promote titles locally.

• Logo, design or color scheme be designed to pull together the publicity efforts and create a sense of continuity or familiarity.

• A title, phrase or catch-name for the project to stimulate recognition when people see/hear it.

• Publishers should be brought in early to solicit their commitment in publicizing the project.

• Potential national TV coverage tied into other efforts like literacy, women’s causes, and women’s history.

WNBA’s official anniversary is during 1992. The celebrations should be all year with high points and chapters involved. November is National Book Week and could be used as the focus of some activity. There needs to be a consistency in the program, a name, and a logo. There should be an article in PW, not just a press release, but an expanded story about WNBA. Bowker and Library Journal have issues on specific subjects; they should be contacted for an article.

Initially list of winners should be checked to see who published, what editions are still in print, what authors are still alive, and then contact those publishers and tell them they have won an award.

A list needs to be prepared, not on a bookmark, for dissemination to women’s colleges, libraries, bookstores, women’s studies classes. An annotated list, including comments from people who nominated the books, would be useful.

It would be good to have a poster similar to the Newberry or Caldecott Awards so that they could be passed out to libraries. These posters have miniature book jackets with date of publication.

Meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.

Thursday, May 30, 1991

WNBA Board Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 9:05 a.m. by President Patti Breitman. May Wu was officially thanked for arranging the wonderful dinner the previous evening. Additionally, President Breitman thanked Laura Connelly of Wiley & Sons for making the conference room available for the board meeting.

75th Anniversary discussion was continued.

Because it will be very difficult to discuss every title which was submitted when the selection jury meets on Friday there will be an initial tally of support for individual titles. There are some decisions which the jury must make but input was requested of the board.

Members of the jury who were children’s books specialists have expressed concern that the nominations received were not representative of children’s books. They said rather than there be a few titles they suggested it would be better to take children’s books out of the list, and consider them at a different time.

For the 10th anniversary (verified to be in 1993) of the Pannell Award the Pannell winners could be asked to nominate their ten favorite children’s books. We would then not compromise the 75th anniversary list because we are doing something special for next year. The board supported children’s books not being part of the 75th anniversary list.

A number of individuals nominated their own works, a number of publishers submitted numerous nominations of their own publications, and some titles are very new. Other concerns expressed were how general informational books which contain very dated materials can be considered as enduring, anything published under five years has not had an opportunity to endure the test of time and must be extraordinary, and there must be a balance between literature from popular.

It was clarified that nominations from the membership are closed but members of the jury are free to add additional titles if it is deemed necessary.

75th is the diamond anniversary and the qualities of diamonds are hard, brilliant, and enduring and these seem to lend themselves to developing a logo. The descriptive phrase about these award winners must include the word “women”; it cannot say just books that expand human awareness. Some suggestions were: diamonds of women’s literature, WNBA’s diamonds are forever list, 75 women’s 75. Using diamonds are forever could cause an association with flashy, glitzy, all negative connotations. Additional recommendations included: 75 Best Book: Women’s Words; 75 Best Books: Women’s Voices; Women’s Words: 75 books that have made a difference (this may be too close to Library of Congress Books That Make a Difference Program); WNBA 1917-1991 Women’s Words: 75 Books that expand human awareness.

Promotion ideas of the winners were outlined by type: bookstores, libraries, publishers, educational institutions, and media.

Bookstores: Ingram has the best mechanism already established to deal with this area and they have offered financial and staff support. Baker and Taylor should also be given the opportunity to provide matching funds, however B&T should not be contacted until Carolyn Wilson has an opportunity to talk again with Ingram. Sandy offered to contact B&T for a sustaining membership. Blackwell is another possibility as a funding source.

Large chain bookstore would be least likely to promote these books because they are least likely to have the classic backlist. Ingram should be approached for design, production, and distribution of a poster to retail stores. B&T could be asked to fund distribution of the same poster to libraries. WNBA could help provide the basic concept of the poster and request that it also contain the organization’s name. The board did not support the concept of a bookmark since it would be in competition with other bookmark displays and it implies children’s books.

Libraries: A three-part folded flyer for libraries, colleges and universities would be a good public relations piece. It could be sent to women’s studies and English departments as well as the libraries in the educational institutions. The front would have all the WNBA information and the back could have the poster design. This is where an annotated bibliography would be most helpful.

The major library in each city with a chapter could be asked by national to have a display of the award winners. The Center for the Book could distribute information on the winners in their public relations releases. At the ALA conference publishers of the titles could be given ribbons or something to focus attention on the winning title in their booth. Libraries could arrange for programs featuring readings from the honored titles.

Publishers: Publisher would want to know immediately if one of their titles was to be honored. If the book were out-of-print this would give them an opportunity to reprint a special edition as well as focus attention on the author’s other publications. The Book-of-the-Month Club could be contacted to see if they would reprint any of the titles or have a special edition or facsimile. The Club also provides for its members lists of titles to read and they should be asked to distribute a list of the 75 winners. Also, they could be asked to mediate getting the title for subscribers. President Breitman will contact Brigit Weeks, editor and chief, to open discussions. She will also make contact with Susan Sandler at Doubleday and the Literary Guild Book Clubs.

Educational: Work in this area should be done mostly on the local level. Each chapter should make contact with the state library association, ACTE, and the state ACRL chapter of ALA for promotion of these titles. Diane Ullius will contact the National Women’s Studies Association at the University of Maryland. WISP at ALA is very scholarly oriented and probably would not be helpful for this program.

Media: It would be newsworthy if Ingram and B&T collaborated in celebrating the 75th anniversary of WNBA. For getting sustaining memberships it would be wonderful to show that WNBA is doing something terrific for the publishing industry. By selecting the 75 winners and promoting the titles more books will be sold.

We need some press releases, some promotional articles written and know to whom they should be sent. We need to know how to launch this celebration. Launching this promotional campaign will be more difficult than launching a new book, it is unique and the scope and purpose is broader. Promotional letters to libraries and promotional letters to publishers must be developed. We need to hire a professional who understands the promotion of books and is sensitive to the promotion of women. The New York chapter has a member, Suzanne Greenburg, who runs her own Marketing/PR business and is interested in doing something for WNBA. There might also be others in the chapters who are willing to help. President Breitman offered to write some of the releases or letters.

There was a strong sense that a professional should be hired to guide us through this project. Sandy Paul will develop an RFP within two weeks and send it to Carolyn Wilson and President Breitman for review. The person selected needs to be a real pro, creative, and willing to start immediately. It is a one year project and we could probably hire someone who has an interest in WNBA for $200/month.

The timetable for the project is all of 1992. Possible consideration should be given to timing with ABA and ALA conferences. Professional should advise us on when to announce the list and naming the award winning list. Possibly there could be an end of year culmination ceremony. For 1992 the national stationery should have “75th Anniversary, 1917-1992” included.

The Awards Committee needs a treasurer and to put together a finance committee, getting the best and most creative finance people in the organization. Each should be given specific responsibilities. For example, the committee should try to get as much donated as possible, whether it be services, staff assistance, or cash; committee cannot budget for publishers income because they may not respond but one person should be assigned with responsibility for making the contacts; ads could be sold to publishers for any programs being planned, whether national or on the chapter level; and, anticipate additional expenses which were not planned. It would seem that there should be a planning committee, a finance committee, and an executive committee, all of which work together to develop the budget. The development of a logo for the year-long celebration was well received by the board. Committee chair should work with Ingram and their professional design staff in the development of the logo. Work cannot begin on this until the name of the list is finalized.

Chapters are not to make the list of the 75 titles public until notified by national or the Chair of the 75th anniversary committee.

In summary, the board agreed that: an RFP would be issued for a profession public relations person, 75 titles would be selected, a committee would be appointed by the anniversary chair to coordinate planning, a finance committee would be appointed by chair, each chapter would assign local anniversary celebration responsibilities to someone, chapter public relations efforts should be handled on a local basis, President Breitman will contact the Book-of-the-Month Clubs, and Ingram representative will be contacted before solicitation is made to Baker and Taylor or any other company.

VI. OLD BUSINESS

A.l Sustaining Membership: Sandy Paul reporting.

Much of the information on the sustaining membership was discussed previously in the meeting. As a reminder, sustaining members receive one or two copies of The Bookwoman and are able to nominate individuals for the WNBA Award. It is up to the chapter in which the sustaining member resides whether they are extended the privilege of attending local events or programs.

A.2 Honorary Membership/Complimentary Membership: Sandy Paul reporting.

Honorary membership is a lifetime membership for outstanding service to the world of books. These members do not pay dues but receive all the national mailings. Given by the local chapter, complimentary membership is for one year in which individual receives chapter and national mailings. Chapter is responsible to national for the per capita fee for these individuals.

A.3 Corresponding Membership: Sandy Paul reporting.

Membership is open to individual who wishes to be member of WNBA but does not live within fifty miles of a chapter. Individual pays $10.00 and receives mailings from one chapter, if chapter is identified. There are currently four corresponding members living in New York which should be targeted for individual membership. If at any time there is a question about a chapter’s corresponding memberships it should be addressed to Sandy in the national office.

B. Brochure Update

The national brochure is outdated. It needs to be revised, a more attractive cover designed, and camera-ready copy prepared. Marie Cantlon offered to revise the text by July 1, 1991 and try to provide the camera-ready copy. If necessary, Auer will prepare camera-ready copy. Auer will have brochure printed and distributed.

C. Publicity

President Breitman questioned why the Publicity person’s name is on the letterhead since this was a paid position and the publicity responsibility is only for the Pannell Award. The board was in agreement that the position and name should be removed from the letterhead.

The question was posed whether we need a national publicity coordinator to keep WNBA and its members in the news. President Breitman volunteered to take on this responsibility for the Association and asked that all local news (promotions, awards, etc.) be sent to both the editors of The Bookwoman and herself.

Inadvertently the agenda did not include a VI.D. or VI.E listing. All subsequent agenda items were re-lettered.

D. Archives Reminder

Chapter and officer documents, minutes, programs, announcements, and artifacts should be sorted, labeled and sent to the WNBA Archives at Columbia University.

E. Women in Scholarly Publishing incorrectly titled National Council of Women Report on the agenda: Marie Cantlon reporting.

WNBA and Women in Scholarly Publishing (WISP) planned to co-sponsored a panel presentation on the state of foundation grants for women. Unfortunately, due to funding cutbacks, speakers notified the planners too late that they were not able to travel to Chicago so the program had to be canceled. In December, 1991 there will be a program in San Francisco on how decisions are made about manuscripts, more specifically, how agents can help academic writers. University press representative, Sandra Dyjkstra, will be speaker. Marie will send further information to San Francisco chapter and The Bookwoman.

F. SLA Women’s Issues Caucus Report: No report given. -

G. Per Capita Payments from Chapters: Report and discussion took place as part of treasurer’s report.

VII. NEW BUSINESS

A. ALA WNBA Breakfast Sunday, June 30: Agenda item was moved to Wednesday’s meeting and is recorded in minutes as V. E.

B. Charter Follow-up: Sue MacLaurin reporting. Copy of written report attached to official minutes.

There is a group of ten women in Santa Barbara, California, who have a strong interest in forming a new chapter of WNBA. The have an organizing committee which has put together programs for June and July. Sue plans to attend the June meeting to continue encouraging them in their efforts and to make sure they are making progress on their bylaws and establishment of a dues structure. President Breitman will fly down to further encourage their efforts. When the organizing committee completes all of the start-up tasks they will request “chapter” status. Approval by the board can be solicited through a mail ballot.

C. Meeting Friday Night Marriotte Marquis “Astor” Ballroom: Sandy Paul reporting.

The cocktail party is scheduled from 5:00-7:00pm. However, there is a meeting of the Book Industry Study Group between 4:00-5:00pm. in the same room. Representatives from both U.S. based and foreign publishers will discuss cooperative efforts, such as, group rates for travel.

D. Children’s Breakfast Saturday Morning: Sandy Paul reporting.

The breakfast, at which the Pannell Award is given, has two tables reserved for WNBA members. Five members of the board and three members of the New York chapter will be in attendance to represent WNBA.

The following items were discussed as new business but were not listed as part of the agenda.

E. Chicago Women in Publishing

When WNBA met in Chicago in conjunction with the ALA conference, the Chicago Women in Publishing always hosted a joint dinner for WNBA. Since ALA will not be meeting in Chicago in the near future, it is important that we continue the relationship with this group. WNBA should be exchanging newsletters and keeping one another informed of activities. Sandy has written them concerning this but did not receive a response. President Breitman offered to write, President to President.

F. Fund Raising

President Breitman requested that chapter presidents share successful fund raising efforts other than individual memberships and sustaining memberships.

New York chapter found three opportunities: 1) When there is an author reading, the chapter arranges with the publisher to provided copies at a 40% discount. The chapter is then allowed to sell them at bookstore price. Unsold copies are returned to the warehouse. 2) A raffle of donated books can provide a nice income. 3) Chapter rented its chapter membership list. Chapter must be very cautious about who is renting or buying its list.

Boston members donated children’s books, so we had an event where there were door prizes, raffles, and actual sales of these books. The chapter also produced a chapter book bag.

Los Angeles put together an all day conference where there were about fifty writers networking and, due to contacts, the brochure type-setting and printing was done very inexpensively. Members and non-members pay a different rate, speakers can bring a guest free, and members can bring a guest at member rate.

Local book reviewers and people in publishing houses have numerous books that could be requested by WNBA chapter for a raffle.

National should consider producing a book bag during the 75th anniversary year. An article could be put in the newsletter soliciting orders from each chapter and they could be advertised in chapter program announcements.

G. Membership Directory

A question was asked as to whether there was any possibility of publishing a national membership directory. It would require all chapters who are the maintainers of the mailing list to provide that data to a central source in a timely fashion. If the intent were to put out a one-time directory, it would be very expensive. Also, because people move so frequently it would be quickly obsolete. As an alternative, chapter presidents and chapter members should be made aware of where the chapters are and who the contacts are. Each chapter shares their chapter roster with the other chapter presidents. President Breitman welcomes news from the chapters which she can share with others in her national newsletter.

H. 1992 Annual Board Meeting

The ABA starts on Saturday, May 23, 1992 and the Friday before is normally children’s day. Since 1992 is going to be the 10th anniversary of Pannell (verified that 1993 is 10th anniversary) and the 75th Anniversary of WNBA, Sandy suggested that we quickly get a children’s panel program on the Friday calendar to celebrate WNBA. The Board meeting will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, May 20-21, 1992 in Anaheim. The Los Angeles chapter will be pleased to host a dinner for the board.

I. Adjournment

President Breitman thanked board members for their help, support and inspiration. She is astounded, amazed, delighted, and proud that so many individuals in so many different places around the country really get things done. So many people with so many different backgrounds accomplish an incredible amount. She is thrilled and proud to represent everyone.

Meeting adjourned at 12:12pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Margaret E. Auer, Secretary

Approved

Pattie Breitman, President

7/7/91

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