Stockholm 2002
ILAB PRESIDENTS' MEETINGS
MINUTES OF THE EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
followed by
MINUTES OF THE ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
Scandic Hotel Anglais, Stockholm Sunday 8. September 2002
At 11.10 am the President, Kay Craddock, in the chair declared the Extraordinary General Meeting open.
Present were :
- Kay Craddock (ILAB President), Bob Fleck (ILAB Vice-President), Poul Poulsen (ILAB Treasurer and President of the Danish Association), Keith Fletcher ILAB Secretary), Walter Alicke, Frédéric Castaing, Arnoud Gerits and Michael Steinbach (ILAB Committee members), Alain Nicolas (ILAB Immediate Past President), Anton Gerits (ILAB President of Honour), Eric Speeckaert (Belgium), Alain Marchiset (France), Adrian Harrington (Great Britain), Robert Muir (ANZAAB), Marcus Benz (Switzerland), Anders Guldhaug (Norway), Ulrich Hobbeling (Germany), Ton Kok (Netherlands), Ken Lopez (U.S.A.), Tsukasa Maeda (Japan), Johan Redin (Sweden), Manuel Ripoll Billòn (Spain), Timo Surojegin (Finland), Bjarne Tokerud (Canada), Steven Temple and Dieter Tausch (imminent committee members) and, after lunch, Jelle Samshuijzen (ILAB webmaster)
Apologies were received from Francesco Chellini (Italy), Hans Dieter Paulusch and Norbert Donhofer (Austria), Henri Godts (Belgium), committee candidate Emmanuel Lhermitte, and Presidents of Honour Anthony Rota and Bob de Graaf.
Proxies were held for Austria by Ulrich Hobbeling and for Italy by Keith Fletcher. There were therefore a total of twenty-one votes present at the meeting. Michael Steinbach and Dieter Tausch were appointed scrutineers.
ILAB Manual
It was proposed by Alain Marchiset and seconded by Poul Poulsen that the
newly drafted Constitutional By-laws of the League, recently circulated to all associations, be formally ratified by the meeting, and a copy deposited at the Register of Commerce in Geneva as required by the Swiss Civil Code. Motion carried nem. con.
The President, Kay Craddock, wished it to be put on record what an immense debt of gratitude the League owed to Nevine Marchiset. Her work in framing our rules to accord with the requirements of the Swiss Civil Code had been invaluable. These sentiments were greeted with a prolonged round of applause.
At 11.34am the Extraordinary General Meeting was declared closed.
At 11.34am the President, Kay Craddock, in the chair declared the Ordinary General Meeting open. She suggested that it was unnecessary to reiterate the preliminaries which had been established at the beginning of the E.G.M. a few moments previously.
Approval of the Minutes of the Presidents Meeting in Boston, 2001
It had been pointed out that the two motions presented on page 9 of these minutes had been proposed by Alain Marchiset, and not Frédéric Castaing as stated. The minutes were duly amended and acceptance in this form was proposed by Robert Muir (ANZAAB), seconded by Adrian Harrington (Great Britain). Motion carried, nem. con.
President's Report Printed copies of the report were distributed to all present. The President then read as follows :-
The purpose of this Report is twofold. The first is to give an overview of the ten months since we last met. The second is to review the work of this ILAB Committee during its two-year term.
The meeting of ILAB National Presidents in Boston last year was a particularly rewarding one for the Committee. The goodwill and harmony that abounded set the mood for the year that followed and helped us to set in motion, or successfully implement, your directives.
These include completion of the new ILAB Directory ready for printing and distribution; completion of the ILAB Manual ready for ratification, printing and distribution; and further development of the redesigned ILAB website.
In particular, the completion of the ILAB Manual has been a significant undertaking. There has been major restructuring of the League's Rules and Code of Customs and Usage, based upon advice from a lawyer expert in the Swiss Civil Code that governs us. The implementation of this advice will simplify our ability to change the day-to-day internal matters of the League as distinct from official rules, thus saving our time and resources in the future. It must be noted that this advice has been provided totally without cost to the ILAB through the good grace and generosity (not to mention important contacts) of our official translator, Nevine Marchiset, to whom I record a sincere vote of thanks.
Other outcomes from the last meeting will be reported upon fully under the relevant agenda items for today's meeting, in particular the UNIDROIT Convention and UNESCO's Code of Ethics, Book Security, and the Book Fair Levy.
An unexpected outcome of the Boston meeting has been the increased communication between national presidents as a group, and between national presidents and the ILAB Committee. In addition to the traditional form of letters that have been sent to you, the introduction of the ILAB-LILA Presidents-discuss list on our website has made the use of e-mail a viable means of communication, as all except our Korean member are on-line. It also allows us to communicate with the majority of ILAB booksellers through other dedicated mailing lists set up by our Webmaster. On the occasions that I have written directly to the ILAB community I have received letters of support and, on occasion, critical comment from many individuals. I believe that such correspondence helps to widen awareness of the League throughout our geographic regions, as well as helping to remove any misconception of an elite hierarchy at its helm.
Since November 2001, this Committee has met twice. Our meeting in Amsterdam in March of this year has already been reported to you. Our second meeting was held in Helsinki three days ago. Results of this meeting will be reported during today's session. Of course, the Committee has also communicated on a regular, sometimes daily, basis via e-mail.
There have been several changes of leadership amongst our member associations. Several new presidents have been introduced to you today, but I will mention all now, for the archives. In March 2002 Ton Kok succeeded André Swertz as President of the Netherlands association. In May, Tsukasa Maeda succeeded Noriake Abe as President of the Japanese association and Ken Lopez took over from Tom Congalton as President of the ABAA. In June, Henri Godts succeeded Eric Speeckaert as President of the Belgian association. I have written to them all, expressing appreciation to outgoing Presidents for the work they have done for their own members and for the League, and welcoming incoming Presidents. It is important that all our members remember to advise the ILAB Committee, and fellow national associations, of any changes of this nature. It is in this way that we stay united as a world wide family of associations.
This meeting will also see a change in the ILAB Committee, members of which are elected for an initial term of two years, after which a second term can be sought. Those who have served two consecutive terms must change position within the committee if they are to continue. Four members of the current committee are stepping down today. Walter Alicke and I have served for six years, Arnoud Gerits for four years and Frédéric Castaing for two years. The remaining four members of the current committee are seeking re-election: Bob Fleck, as President, Keith Fletcher as Vice-President, Poul Jan Poulsen as Treasurer, and Michael Steinbach as a general committee member. I will pay individual tribute to these colleagues during the election, but I want to record here the deep respect and affection I hold for them as a team. They have been united in effort and application, in friendship and support, and in dedication to the good of their fellow booksellers through their work for the League. Although presidents before me will have been equally appreciative of the teams they have worked with, none have been more fortunate than I.
The Committee of 2000-2002 has brought to fruition the work of its predecessors, as well as introducing initiatives of its own. These include the following, in no particular order, and with varying degrees of importance:
The ILAB/LILA Website. The League's use of the Internet as a communication and promotional tool, and commercially as a selling aid, was in its infancy when we took office in 2000. These two very different aspects of ilab-lila.com have since been consolidated and promoted to the point where I now believe that we are on the verge of breaking through the public awareness barrier. Changes in the modus operandi of competitive search engines have contributed to this, but the main thrust is due to the vast improvement in our website, and increased sales for on-line booksellers through the search engine. Without doubt, a large portion of this success is due to Jelle Samshuijzen and his dedicated and enthusiastic team at Rockingstone Information Technology. It has also resulted from the inclusion of our search engine on Addall and Bookfinder, promotion of the website through bookmarkers and word of mouth, and through our member nations recommending the site to their members.
The ILAB Manual, as already detailed, has been totally revised and will be ready to post on our website immediately after this Congress. The printed version will be prepared and distributed as soon as possible.
Our Webmaster, using up to the minute data from national associations, has prepared the next edition of the ILAB Directory. This is ready for printing once the new ILAB Committee has been elected.
A first hand meeting with a UNESCO representative has been achieved, resulting in an initial invitation to ILAB to submit a more appropriate definition of the term "old" in relation to books of cultural significance.
The ILAB Goodwill Reception has been established. This is held during the half yearly ILAB Committee Meeting, for representatives of the national association whose city we are meeting in. This ILAB-funded event has already proven to be a way of establishing better relations between ILAB members and those elected to represent them. It also provides an opportunity to encourage individual booksellers to consider standing for election to the ILAB Committee.
The inaugural ILAB National Presidents‚ Workshop was held in Boston in 2001, and the second was held in Helsinki this week. This forum provides an opportunity for the leaders of each member association to meet and debate issues in a structured yet informal way that allows background information to be gained and opinions to be canvassed before having to vote upon items of importance at the formal meetings of the League.
Another form of informal ILAB meeting was introduced in conjunction with the ABA during the Olympia Book Fair in June, 2001. We recommend that this type of casual meeting between national presidents, either alone or with available members of the ILAB Committee, be held whenever and wherever possible during book fairs and book related meetings.
We have commenced the compilation of an ILAB Handbook, recording the official rulings and recommendations relating to all aspects of the League and its administration. In time, this will be the foundation of a recorded history of the League.
On a lesser scale, but important to the history and continuity of the League, we have started a regular listing of official letters sent to and from the ILAB President. The correspondence recorded in this way since November 2001 gives a practical guideline to the types of issues that come before the League, and provides an index to correspondence that can be used when updating the ILAB Handbook.
We have commissioned an ILAB lapel badge, to be offered to ILAB booksellers to wear as a way of recognizing each other at trade fairs, and of bringing public awareness to the logo of the League.
We have identified and made standard the official colours of the League (black and red, the latter being officially identified as PMS 187 or P187) for use on stationery, publications, decals, lapel badge, etc.
The 1979 Compendium of Export and Import Regulations in the Countries United in the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers has been resurrected. The first draft of this Compendium already contains a substantial amount of information. .
As a dynamic committee, we have commenced projects, some of which are mentioned above, that need the continued support and input of our successors to bring them to completion. Under the guidance of our incoming President, Robert D. Fleck, I know that the new committee will finish our work as well as making their own unique contribution to the League.
My committee has appreciated the ability to turn to our Presidents, and Member of Honour for advice when necessary. I have been fortunate to have constant communication in particular with Anthony Rota, Anton Gerits, and Mitsuo Nitta, whose combined corporate knowledge and wise counsel have helped me to grow within my role as leader of the League. I have also benefited from the experience and advice of my predecessor, Alain Nicolas. Thank you, gentlemen.
The bilingual nature of the League is at its core. I am possibly the first President to have almost no knowledge of the French language and I have therefore been particularly dependent upon the services of an official translator. Nevine Marchiset has smoothed my path in a way that can only be fully appreciated if you are fortunate enough to know her. She has brought a warmth and intelligence to the role that has surpassed my needs and served the ILAB in myriad ways. My debt to her is also the League's debt. My thanks to her are on behalf of us all.
To my seven committee colleagues, thank you for your hard work, your patience and forbearance, your unfailing good humour and your friendship. Thank you also for guiding me as a fledgling leader, and for making my work seem, at least for some of the time, effortless. At all times it has been a pleasure to work with you.
National Presidents, thank you for entrusting me with the leadership of the ILAB, and for the overwhelming support that you have given me. The greatest legacy that I can wish for my successor and his committee is that you continue to offer them this positive support. Kay Craddock, President ILAB-LILA
Acceptance of the President's report was proposed by Adrian Harrington (Great Britain) and seconded by Alain Marchiset (France). Motion carried nem. con.
Treasurer's Report
The Treasurer, Poul Poulsen, read the following report :-
The Statement is covering the League's financial year from August the 1st 2001 to July 31st 2002.
This year's accounts show a surplus on 2760 $ or 2795 EUROS
We still have 4 unpaid invoices, 2 from national associations and 2 for advertisements in the Newsletter 54, to the amount of in all 1.220 $ (1.236 EUROS) + the yet unknown amount from various book fairs.
Therefore I can only say that I am reasonably satisfied with the result of this year. I will still say, and I hope you will all agree, that the League's financial situation at the moment is good and sound.
Let us begin by looking at our income during the past period. The subscriptions have brought in about 36.864 $, as you all know it was agreed in Boston to raise the subscription from 10 to 30 $ per entry in the latest printed edition of the ILAB directory, for details see p.4. The various Book Fairs in Australia, France, Spain, and U.S.A. have contributed with 18.000 $, broken down by country, see p. 4, here the "???" means that I am still waiting for money, if the national association has arranged an International Book Fair.
While we are at this point, let me raise the problem of the Book Fair levy again. In Boston it was adopted that the fee was raised from 10 $ to 30 $ per exhibitor for future Book Fairs, with the exception, that already contracted Book Fairs should pay the 10 $ fee. But we also discussed that instead of paying 30 $ per exhibitor, we could change the fee to be a percentage of the booth rent. In that way the amount could be put on the invoice to each exhibitor and in that way we could 'kill two birds with one stone', get more money into the ILAB account to work with, from which all our members could benefit, and get this fee out in the open, when it was clearly shown on the invoices. With the help of Keith Fletcher, I have come to the conclusion, that if we change the fee from 30 $ per exhibitor to 2% of the booth rent per exhibitor, we should get in about the same amount as estimated with the 30 $ fee. I therefore want to suggest that from January 1st we change the Book Fair levy from 30 $ per exhibitor to 2% of the booth rent per exhibitor.
Through my last 10 years in office I every year have asked the national presidents to remind their Book Fair committees to send the Book Fair levy as soon as the fair was over - this year is no exception - I again repeat my request and beg you all to remind your Book Fair Committees of the book fair levy - I thank you in advance for your kind co-operation on this matter.
But now back to the statements. Our publications - the Directory, the Four Language Dictionary and the Dictionary of Abbreviations have added the modest sum of 444 $ to our funds. The Newsletter advertisements gave us 1.800 $ and during the last 12 months the League has earned interest to the amount of 4.214 $. or 4.271 EUROS. In all we have in this financial year received 63.191 $ or 64.044 EUROS.
On the disbursement side we have spent 11.030 $ to cover the Committee members' travel expenses to our various meeting places.
The printing of the ILAB flyer and Bookmark cost us nearly 4.800 $ or a little over 4.800 EUROS. The expenses on the Newsletter was close to 5.200 $/EUROS.
The ILAB-LILA.com and AddALL expenses amount to nearly 13.500 $ or EUROS.
We have spent nearly 25.000 $ on the administration, that includes the meeting allowance to the Committee members (9000$). The printing of the President-Workshop Manual for the Boston-meeting (335 $), the rent of rooms and the beamer (2.400 $), we have spent 5.400 $/EUROS on translations into French, the fee to the attorney who helped us (2.700 $), the new ILAB badges (615 $), the printing of the statements, the storage fee for our publications, the accountant (900 $). Other expenses were on a goodwill reception in Amsterdam, dinners and lunches (3.300 $). Postage, telephone and fax expenses amount to nearly 1.200 $/EUROS and the bank charges amount to 386 $.
On August 1st 2001 we had 121.947 $ or 123.596 EUROS in the bank and on July the 31st 2002 we had 124.707 $ or 126.391 EUROS, that means we have decreased our balance with 2.760 $ [or 4,4 %].
The Bibliographical Prize Foundation has for the last 12 months earned interest to the amount of 1.900 $/EUROS.
Now the Bibliographical Foundation has nearly 90 $/EUROS cash in the bank. The holdings of the bonds have a market value of about 28.000 $/EUROS when the statement was finished.
But when we, as we did at the welcome dinner in Helsinki, awarded Mrs. Anna Perälä the 2002 Bibliographical Prize of 10.000 $ and have equalized the current account with ILAB (ca. 7.500 $/EUROS) there is only about 3.000 $/EUROS left in the Bibliographical Prize Foundation account in the bank.
Since our meeting in Vienna, in 1998, when the Presidents decided that is was important that the Bibliographical Prize should continue also after the year 2002, the Committee has each year encouraged the national associations and/or their individual members to send the Bibliographical Prize Foundation their financial support - but we have not received anything.
With these remarks I have finished my report.
Poul Jan Poulsen
Acceptance of the Treasurer's report was proposed by Ken Lopez (U.S.A.) and seconded by Ton Kok (Netherlands). Motion carried nem. con.
Matter arising from the Treasurer's Report In the matter of the Book Fair Levy which had been raised from $10 to $30 at the Presidents' Meeting last year in Boston, and on which occasion several of the smaller associations had indicated that a fixed rate of $30 would cause considerable hardship , Adrian Harrington (Great Britain) said that he felt that a levy based on a percentage of the stand rent would be more equitable and a good solution to the problem. Although the Treasurer had indicated that 2% was an appropriate figure, Adrian felt that this could easily be increased to 2.5% or even 3% without detriment to the fairs involved. Alain Marchiset (France) felt that a levy of 2% would be insupportable by the Paris Book Fair and that this method of calculation penalised any book fair which offered high quality and expensive stands. It further penalised countries which had strong currencies. According to his calculations a 2% levy would result in France paying more than $30 per head, and France had already voted against $30 per head in Boston. Robert Muir (ANZAAB) pointed out that book fairs in Australia normally had 20-25 exhibitors and often ran at a loss, but in a country covering some 3,000,000 square miles where such a fair was the only hope that ANZAAB had of getting a quorum at an AGM, a $30 per head levy, with the potential loss of several exhibitors, would be disastrous for their association. Johan Redin (Sweden) felt that rather than put up the subscription rate for all booksellers it was better to make those who made most use of ILAB (that is book fair exhibitors) pay in proportion to their use. He thought the percentage system was the best solution. Alain Marchiset (France) said that the problem was that the Book Fair Levy only affected those countries who organised book fairs and they were less than 50% of the membership of ILAB. Only those countries were taxed and that was unfair. He then announced that because the 2% Book Fair Levy was not specifically mentioned on the agenda for this meeting no vote could be taken on it at this meeting. The President pointed out that the "percentage levy" was in the minutes of the Boston meeting as 'being left on the table for the next meeting'. It was not therefore a subject that was being sprung on this meeting without warning; all those presidents who had read the minutes had had ten months to think about and discuss it. Arnoud Gerits thought that if a discussion begun in Boston lead to more discussion at this meeting, then it was only sensible that it should be put to the vote, otherwise, he asked, what was the point of discussing "Matters Arising". Frédéric Castaing said that our rules must be followed where they say [page 4. Art. 17] that proposals for discussion must be submitted to the Committee at least 60 days before the meeting. If this procedure is not followed then presidents cannot discuss subjects with their committees before the meeting, and this is not democratic. In the ensuing discussion Arnoud Gerits pointed out that there seemed to be a fundamental difference between SLAM and most other associations in that whereas presidents traditionally came to ILAB meetings with a mandate to make decisions on behalf of their associations and vote accordingly, the president of SLAM had no such mandate, but was required to submit everything to his committee for approval. Eric Speeckaert (Belgium) thought the meeting was in danger of becoming a "usine à gaz" (a gas factory). He considered that the present meeting was ILAB's "parliament" and that all members should come with a mandate to vote on behalf of the people they represent.
In view of the French president's continued insistence that, according to Article 17 on page 4 of our by-laws, the Book Fair Levy could not be decided by the present meeting, the presidents were asked to indicate, by a show of hands, whether they wished to continue with the matter. There were 18 votes in favour and 3 against [France 2, Canada1].
Following this decision Adrian Harrington (Great Britain) proposed that for the purpose of raising a levy on ILAB book fairs a system using a percentage of the stand rent be adopted in place of the current fixed rate of $30 per head. Proposal seconded by Johan Redin (Sweden). The motion was carried 18 votes in favour and 3 against [France 2, Canada1].
Adrian Harrington (Great Britain) then proposed the introduction of a 2% levy on stand rents at all ILAB fairs. This sum to be itemised on invoices to exhibitors. Proposal seconded by Ulrich Hobbeling (Germany). The motion was carried 18 votes in favour, 2 votes against (France), 1 abstention (Canada).
At this point the meeting was adjourned for lunch.
The meeting was reconvened at 2pm. The Secretary announced that Timo Surojegin (Finland) had been obliged to return to Finland and had given his proxy to Johan Redin (Sweden).
Budget 2002-2003 The Treasurer, Poul Poulsen, presented his budget for the year 1st. August 2002 to 31st July 2003. [see Appendix "A"] Acceptance of this budget was proposed by Robert Muir (ANZAAB) and seconded by Keith Fletcher (proxy for Italy). Motion carried nem. con.
Manual.
Part 1 of the Manual, the Constitutional By-laws, having been ratified by the preceding Extraordinary General Meeting, the present meeting now considered Part 2, the Internal Regulations. During discussion of 'Investment Schemes' [2:23] it was pointed out that in the matter of the regulation of the behaviour of individual booksellers (as clause 2:23 sought to do) the rules of the relevant national association always override ILAB rules. It was proposed by Ken Lopez (U.S.A.) and seconded by Poul Poulsen (Denmark) that Part 2 of the manual, The Internal Regulations, be ratified. Motion carried, nem. con.
It was further decided that Kay Craddock and Nevine Marchiset be charged with preparing the manual for publication.
Newsletter.
Arnoud Gerits confirmed that he had agreed to continue as editor until a new candidate could be found. He would also be prepared to serve on an editorial board if such a thing was ever founded. He had not had any response to his request to national presidents for suggested names to join an editorial board. He was also willing to help draft a text for the guidance of potential 'non-bookseller' advertisers in the newsletter.
Directory.
Despite promises to the contrary, the committee had delayed publication of the next directory until after this congress in order that details concerning the officers and committee were current, and the Introduction could legitimately appear over the name of Bob Fleck as President. The printing of the directory had gone out to tender and the contract had been won by Rockingstone. Jelle Samshuijzen reported that all address changes had now been gathered in, except for South Korea. If they could not be contacted it was agreed to continue their section unamended. The total cost of producing the directory (including distribution) would be $25,000. Jelle explained that there had been some problems with the "specialities" index for the directory because the website database, from which it was taken, allowed booksellers to edit their own entries and inevitably some used "non-standard" categories to indicate their specialities. It was felt to be important that an official list of specialities should be decided upon that would be eligible for inclusion in the index. This would not preclude booksellers from also being able to include certain 'non-standard' specialities in their entries.
Bibliographical Prize.
The Thirteenth Prize had been awarded in Helsinki last Friday (6th. September). The next prize was due to be awarded in 2006. In the meantime a new secretary and jury had to be appointed and a new means of funding had to be devised. The President-elect, Bob Fleck announced that Keith Fletcher would be working on this with the aim of bringing suggestions to the new committee.
Unidroit.
Past President Alain Nicolas, responsible for liaison with UNESCO, presented a written report on The Unidroit Issue and UNESCO's Code of Ethics. [see Appendix "B"]. He asked that each association appoint one member of their committee to study and to remain well-informed about the implications for the booktrade of the Unidroit regulations. Frédéric Castaing suggested that, as it was, in his opinion, strategically important to approach UNESCO on various different levels, a subcommittee of European presidents should be established which could approach UNESCO agencies in the various countries of the EU. Arnoud Gerits reported that, following discussion of this idea in the workshop, he had spoken with Ulrich Hobbeling, Adrian Harrington and Alain Marchiset and they would meet to discuss things in the near future [Secretary's note : This preliminary meeting took place on the train from Stockholm to Oslo, Monday 9th. September]. Alain Marchiset offered to work with Alain Nicolas to produce an edited version of his report to be sent to Madame Roudil.
Export Alain Marchiset reported that progress in producing a new edition of the Compendium of Export & Import Regulations was slow. Since the previous edition there was the added complication of a set of EU regulations superimposed on the national regulations. He had sent out a questionnaire to all associations but had not as yet received replies from Brazil, Italy, Germany, Finland and the Czech Republic. He thought that the new edition would be useful in opening discussion with our respective governments about relaxing some of the more obviously absurd rules.
Internet
Bob Fleck introduced Jelle Samshuijzen who was pleased to report that all associations were now actively supporting the idea of the ILAB website. The steady increase in the number of participants in the database, together with various unpopular commercial decisions currently being taken by some of the larger sites, meant that the ILAB site was growing in importance and Jelle felt confident of its future as a permanent feature of the internet marketplace for books. He stressed however that in order to keep pace with the larger players in this market it was necessary to advertise our site. We were not able to spend the vast amounts of money regularly spent by other sites on advertising, therefore our advertising must be done through our members, and he urged all associations and all ILAB booksellers to take every opportunity to promote the ILAB site. Ulrich Hobbeling (Germany) brought to the meeting's attention the problem of the German site ZVAB. This is a very good site for German books but their contract states that participants using other European-based sites must pay a surcharge. This, he was sure, was illegal and he asked for a letter to be sent from the president putting pressure on ZVAB to, at least, make an exception in favour of the ILAB site. Bob Fleck asked Ulrich Hobbeling to draft an appropriate letter which he would undertake to send. Marcus Benz said that in Switzerland they were not paying the surcharge because they had successfully claimed that the President of ILAB was based in Australia. He suggested consulting Georg Beran who had done a lot of work on this problem.
Workshop
It was unanimously agreed that the workshop in Helsinki had been successful, and was an event that it would be useful to continue.
Future Congresses and Presidents' Meetings
MS reported the following events :-
'03 Potsdam - [Presidents' Meeting] 25-29 October
'04 Melbourne - [Congress & Book Fair] 8-17 October
'05 Ottawa - [Presidents' Meeting] probably October
'06 Philadelphia [Congress & (New York) Book Fair]
'07 Paris [Presidents' Meeting] ?
'08 ?? Brazil??
Nomination of Alain Nicolas as President of Honour
Following eulogies by Kay Craddock and President of Honour, Anton Gerits, this nomination was endorsed with acclaim. In his acceptance Alain paid tribute to the committees and individuals who had given support and encouragement to a rather shy young man, indeed it would appear the youngest president the league has had. He urged everyone present to continue to promote the "Spirit of the League" which had done so much to inspire him during his time on the ILAB committee.
Election of New Committee
Nominations were as follows :-
President - Bob Fleck, Vice-president - Keith Fletcher, Treasurer - Poul Poulsen, Secretary - Steven Temple, Committee - Michael Steinbach, Dieter Tausch, Emmanuel Lhermitte, and Arturo Pregliasco. There being no other nominations the President, Kay Craddock, declared all candidates duly elected. She then handed over the meeting to the new president, Bob Fleck.
Any Other Business
(1).Ken Lopez (U.S.A.) proposed that the ILAB Committee be charged with expanding the ILAB Manual's "Guidelines" section (along the lines of outgoing President Kay Craddock's presentation to the Presidents' Workshop), to articulate more extensively and in more detail the etiquette, courtesies and traditions that have existed in the trade and have helped to promote collegiality within the trade. These could include any matters of etiquette that promote good business practices and goodwill among booksellers and that are not already included in the Manual. The proposal is that these additional guidelines be worded very generally as "ILAB recommends..." or "ILAB encourages..." so that these guidelines not be construed as absolute requirements but rather as suggestions that help define the traditions and practices that foster respect and goodwill among members of the trade. This proposal was seconded by Bjarne Tokerud (Canada) and carried nem. con.
Bjarne Tokerud (Canada) read the following text which he suggested as a draft for a message to be sent, from this meeting, to all ILAB booksellers as soon as possible. - At the meeting of the Presidents in Scandinavia a discussion took place on the vital importance of affirming international collegiality, co-operation and courtesies between members of the associations in ILAB. The presidents wish to affirm and stress the importance of the following principles, many of which are embodied in the ILAB Manual. a). The importance of extending to ILAB affiliated members the courtesy of at least 10% discount on purchases from premises, shops, catalogues, bookfairs and the internet.
b). The requirement of clear pricing of inventory in shops, on premises and at bookfairs. c). To pay invoices upon receipt, but certainly to take no longer than 30 days, except by previous arrangement. And furthermore to extend voluntarily hospitality, co-operation, sharing of information, and courtesies to all our ILAB colleagues. Booktrade courtesy is being threatened and is in danger of disappearing. Through the collegiality affirmed and required by the principles of ILAB, it will further our trade and international goodwill if all ILAB affiliated members actively uphold our time-honoured booktrade courtesies.
The President, Bob Fleck, agreed that this was an important message to be disseminated to all ILAB booksellers and promised that the committee would work up a final text for that purpose.
Anton Gerits, on behalf of the presidents, proposed a vote of thanks to the outgoing committee for all their work. Affirmed with applause.
Adrian Harrington (Great Britain) raised the matter of membership numbers to be issued to each bookseller which, by discreetly pencilling them at the bottom corner of the verso of the last white page of a book, could be used as a means of identifying stolen books. Following discussion on various refinements of this system (where to mark a map; whether to incorporate a date; whether to erase previous marks before (legitimately!) putting one’s own) it was agreed that these details should form instructions given by the committee when establishing the system. Arnoud Gerits therefore drafted the following text for Adrian to submit to the meeting as his proposal. It is proposed that the presidents urge the committee to develop and execute the ideas on security as voiced during the Presidents’ Workshop and Ordinary General Meeting held in Scandinavia on 6th and 8th. September, 2002. Proposed by Adrian Harrington (Great Britain), seconded by Alain Marchiset (France) Motion carried nem. con.
The President, Bob Fleck, announced that Rockingstone and ABAA were working on the design of a database for stolen book and as soon as they were finished the ILAB committee would be investigating the possibilities of ILAB expanding it to international coverage. There would be some expenses involved and methods of defraying these had yet to be worked out.
Past President, Kay Craddock, introduced the ILAB lapel badges of which she had had 200 made and which were already selling for $5 each. During discussion of the final quantity that should be ordered Ulrich Hobbeling ordered 300 on behalf of the German association and Marcus Benz ordered 80 on behalf of the Swiss association. It was therefore suggested that an order be placed for 2000, and if Kay could persuade the manufacturers to accept that the first 200 were part of the 2000, so much the better. The meeting was informed that 2000 would cost $3600. Some concern was expressed that these badges could be misused by non-ILAB dealers but both Bob Fleck and Ken Lopez reported that they had not heard of any case of the ABAA lapel badge being misused. Adrian Harrington (Great Britain) proposed, and Johan Redin (Sweden) seconded, that the ILAB committee be requested to place an order for 2000 lapel badges at a price not exceeding $3600. Motion carried 19 votes for, 2 against (France).
Various suggestions were put forward for a membership card, possibly of a plastic 'credit card' type, carrying the ILAB logo, the logo of the bookseller's national association, and his unique ILAB membership number. It was unanimously agreed that the committee be charged to work on this idea and come back to the presidents with a proposal.
Alain Marchiset announced that the SLAM Virtual Bookfair would be held on 10th to 19th November 2002.
There being no further business the meeting was declared closed at 5.13pm.