SIBA Annual Recap: What We Did in 2025

2025 was a time of both triumphs and challenges for SIBA and SIBA's membership. On the one hand, SIBA's 50th anniversary was a year of steady growth in both membership numbers and member engagement.

On the other hand, bookstores have been concerned with a number of rising challenges, including short and long-term financial stability, the current political climate and its effect on sales and store safety, and publisher and vendor relationships and terms.

SIBA exists to help independent bookstores in its territory to be successful businesses. Their challenges are SIBA's challenges, and all of SIBA's strategic planning and programming is directed toward meeting the needs of its core bookstore members.

Membership and Governance

SIBA reached a membership milestone in November when it reached 300 member bookstores (it is now at 306.) 2025 was its first full year under SIBA's new bylaws, and with an expanded board of seven members. The Board spent the year focused on updating SIBA's Governance policies to bring them in line with the newly revised bylaws, and at SIBA's annual meeting, announced plans to form a Benefits Committee in 2026 to provide more opportunities for the board to connect with SIBA's member booksellers.

Programs and Events

2025 was an exciting year for programming and events, culminating with the New Voices New Rooms annual conference in Atlanta, its first time in deep in SIBA territory.

Attendance and engagement were high at all of SIBA's signature programs:

• 147 booksellers participated in the 2025 March Madness series (Registration is now open for 2026).
• 201 SIBA booksellers registered for New Voices New Rooms
• 92 bookstores participated in SIBA's RAMP Summer Catalog
• 110 bookstores participated in the RAMP Winter Catalog

As part of its commitment to supporting bookseller development, in 2025, SIBA gave out $23,325 in scholarships, grants, and subsidies for booksellers to attend events and participate in programs.

In addition, SIBA held a number of virtual events: As part of the New Voices New Rooms partnership with NAIBA, SIBA's sister organization to the north, three Owners Strategy Sessions were held in January, April, and October; an annual Publicity Speed Dating event at the end of May. where bookstores looking to expand their events programs pitched their stores to publicists from both large and small publishing houses.

SIBA also hosted its own virtual retreat in November for new and prospective owners. The feedback from attendees was enthusiastic, and SIBA will reprise the event in 2026.

In June, in response to member requests and a volatile political climate, SIBA held its second virtual event on Supporting Trans Staff in your bookstore. The session drew almost 100 attendees.

Advocacy

Last year's session on supporting trans employees is an example of another important aspect of SIBA's mission: Advocacy. SIBA advocates for the people involved in bookselling and promotes and supports book culture.

In 2025 SIBA declared its support for diversity, equity, and inclusion by formally issuing an Inclusivity Statement , which begins "SIBA is committed to antiracism, representation, inclusion, equity, and access in all that we do. We believe that diversity and diverse perspectives make our organization stronger and we are committed to equity, dignity, and diversity for all Peoples."

Advocacy has been especially vital in the wake of the explosion of book-banning efforts in SIBA territory. In 2025, SIBA updated its Banned Books Toolkit- a one-sheet of useful resources, signage, and links- and made it available to bookstores for Banned Books Week.

In September, SIBA debuted an Anti-Racism Training Kit for bookstores, based on the principles of the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge SIBA has hosted in previous years. The training kit is designed to be used both in-house with staff and within the wider community. It includes resources, potential actions, and journal prompts for reflection. The next month SIBA also offered free DEI training with Cultures Connecting to SIBA bookstores as part of its own commitment to provide training to its board and staff.

Tools and Resources

Tools and resources like the Banned Books Week toolkit and Anti-Racism Training Kit are some of the most tangible and accessible benefits of SIBA membership. In 2025, SIBA continued to provide Read This Next! marketing materials, featuring the books receiving exceptional buzz from SIBA booksellers, on a monthly (adult titles) and bimonthly (children's and ya titles) basis. It also continued to add material to the Peer Bookseller Resource Library -- a unique initiative where booksellers share tools they use and have "road tested" in their own stores.

But by far the most important tool and resource SIBA provides is its website, which provides access to programming, events, marketing materials, education, industry information, and a way for its members to connect with and support each other.

A Bright Future

On July 3, 2025, SIBA launched its "A Bright Future" campaign -- announcing plans to rebrand the organization with a new logo, upgrade its member database, and redesign its website to better reflect and serve its members and their needs and priorities. On December 17th, the Bright Future campaign was realized when SIBA's new website went live.

Among the many improvements in SIBA's new website and member platform are:

• Easier account management for stores, their staff, and their alternate locations
• Member profiles that accommodate a wide range of business models
• Access to member-only benefits
• Dedicated Bookseller Hub with action items and content for new stores and new store owners.
• Easier registration for events
• The ability to find and connect with other SIBA member stores
• Truly mobile-friendly functionality
• A site design that complies with WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards

SIBA looks forward to utilizing this upgraded member platform to deliver more services and resources to its members in 2026.