President's Message

Board Takes Action
by Margaret Auer

The WNBA team is on the move. The team, consisting of the presidents of the nine WNBA chapters, committee chairpersons and national officers, at the national board meeting in June authorized a communication plan that will create a consistent identity for the organization and launch a completely redesigned WNBA national Web site (please see the article on Web site construction). Sample WNBA logos were reviewed by the board. One was selected and, with recommended tweaking, now appears on the national Web site. The logo has been approved by the board and will be used in some way to brand the organization’s stationery, brochures and The Bookwoman. As part of a national organization, each chapter will also be able to place its name on the logo and use the logo locally as deemed appropriate.

Let me bring you up to date on what else your WNBA team is doing. WNBA relies on the contributions made by the Sustaining Members to fund national programs such as the WNBA Award. In place for a number of years has been an incentive program that returns to the chapter a portion of a sustaining member’s contribution in situations where the chapter was instrumental in attracting the member to the organization. The board voted to change the formula from a declining percentage to an automatic 25 percent payback each year of renewal. The new formula became effective at the end of the board meeting, 2002. In this way, chapters have a better reason to be involved in getting new sustaining members and to keep in contact with them once a sustaining member joins WNBA.

The Ann Heidebreder Eastman Award is given annually by WNBA to a librarian interested in learning about the publishing end of the book industry. The purposes of the award, the composition of the award selection committee, the time of the presentation of the award and the reporting required of the award winner need to be reviewed. The criteria and process are meeting the needs neither of librarians nor of WNBA. Joan Elmouchi (Detroit), Chairperson of the Review Committee, agreed to chair a committee of Sylvia Cross (Los Angeles), Michele Leber (Washington), Katherine Dibble (Boston), and Jane Pinkston (Nashville).

The national board meeting provided an opportunity for the chapter presidents to share with one another and the other members of the board the successes experienced by the chapters in the previous year. The presidents shared strategies for attracting and keeping new members, fundraising opportunities to enhance local budgets, community outreach programs and partnering with other organizations and how the chapters promote themselves to the public. This part of the board meeting is so invigorating because the reports and sharing take us to the heart and mission of WNBA—to promote reading and to support the role of women in the book community.

The board meeting ended with the passing of the gavel of the presidency from Nancy Stewart to myself. During Nancy’s term, she brought the issue of communication to the table and helped us lay the foundation for how WNBA should move forward. We are grateful for her foresight. As the new president, I shared with the board the areas where I would like to dedicate my efforts. First, certainly, is the development of the Web site; second is the implementation of the communication plan with better communication and links with the chapter presidents and chapters; third is the enhancement of the Sustaining Memberships; and fourth is the continual improvement of The Bookwoman. So, it looks like an exciting and potentially good year ahead for WNBA, both locally and nationally. The leadership of WNBA will try its best to fulfill all of our goals.

In this Issue
President’s Message 1
The Changing Roles of Libraries and
Librarians 1
Winner of the 2002 WNBA Award:
Patricia McKissack 1
WNBA Member Books 2
Member Profile:
Kay Brandow, Binghamton 3
Welcome to the United Nations 4
Who Is Your Favorite Children’s
Bookseller? 5
WNBA Web Site Under Construction 6
Corresponding Members 7
Changes 7
San Francisco Chapter Honors
30-Year Member: Adele Horwitz 8
Board of Directors 10
Sustaining Members 10