During the California Independent Booksellers Alliance annual meeting in South San Francisco, Calif., Wednesday night, CALIBA board president Melinda Powers reported that the association is finally returning to some of the transition goals it set before the pandemic.
Powers, who is also head buyer at Bookshop Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, noted that CALIBA is only three years old--member stores voted in October 2019 to dissolve the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association and merge with the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. In January 2020, CALIBA was officially formed.
Mimi Hannan, CALIBA treasurer and bookseller at La Playa Books in San Diego, announced that the association's financial situation is healthy, and a rainy day fund is being created to ensure there's plenty of money in the bank "in case of any further craziness."
During the meeting, member stores voted in favor of a bylaw change that will expand the definition of a member bookstore to include non-traditional models like pop-up stores and mobile bookstores. Previously, the bylaws specified that a full voting member of the association had to have a physical storefront, and because of that language, pop-up, mobile, and other non-traditional bookstores could only be provisional members, which had program rights but not voting rights. Going forward, there will be no language in the bylaws barring non-traditional bookstores from becoming full voting members.
The board also announced the creation of the CALIBA advisory council, which will meet virtually four times per year to provide feedback to the board as well as suggestions for education, programming, projects, and more. The council will take effect in 2024, and Powers said the goal is to make sure CALIBA "better serves the entire state."
Member stores also voted to officially congratulate Paul Yamazaki, principal buyer at City Lights Booksellers & Publishers in San Francisco, on receiving the National Book Foundation's 2023 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.
Alison Reid, co-owner of Diesel, a bookstore, with locations in Brentwood and San Diego, wondered if there was any way for indies to unite and have a collective voice "without breaking any laws." Powers remarked that as a single, state-wide association, CALIBA will "have more clout" within the state than either the NCIBA or SCIBA did, and board member Vanessa Martini (Green Apple Books) said it was an "extreme goal" of hers to get the association "more involved in Sacramento."
Finally, Powers announced that next year's Fall Fest will take place in Pasadena, September 17-18, 2024.