The Librarians’ BookExpo | Editorial
A core contingent informs the show’s hottest trends Jun 15, 2011The BookExpo America (BEA) conference that many of us knew is long gone. Glitzy booths; movie, stage, and TV star sightings; librarians with money to spend on the show floor (and booksellers ditto); oodles of galleys and cool giveaways; and a smattering of programs for booksellers or wannabe authors. The current incarnation, held once again in late May at New York’s Javits Convention Center, still provides plenty of fodder, however, for librarians looking for inspiration and insight as well as for the right books (in whatever format) for their users or authors for their events.
Over the years, the increase in librarian-focused programs at BEA has continued to grow in both number and quality, and some of the 1,866 mostly public librarians (and hundreds more K-12 librarians) rushed from the show floor to programs, not wanting to miss either. (As a percentage of registered attendees, i.e., excluding exhibitors, librarians have been on the rise in the past few years; this year the number of registered attendees reached only 13,028 out of a total 21,664.) Another thing that has changed is the number of publishers (and not just those in their library marketing departments) who turn up at library programs.
With the brouhaha over selling (i.e., licensing in most cases), or not selling, ebooks to libraries, it’s probably not surprising that publishers were more than half of a packed roomful as a panel of outspoken librarians discussed putting trade ebooks into the hands of users. Years ago, one publishing exec told librarians at LJ’s annual Day of Dialog (DoD) (see coverage of this year’s DoD) to raise their collective voices, and we still hear occasionally that librarians are too “polite.” Anyone who foolishly underestimates librarians needed to hear this group metaphorically raising their voices (except for the unabashed, in-your-face Robin Nesbitt, from Columbus Metropolitan Library, whose passion took over) as they brilliantly made the case for ebooks in libraries.
It wasn’t just passion that emerged but hardheaded solutions and facts. Boston Public Library’s Michael Colford, Brooklyn Public’s Michael Santangelo, Nesbitt, and Iowa’s East Central Library Services’ Katie Dunneback talked about skyrocketing demand and confounded some publishers by saying they’d be willing to “pay more, much more” for a concurrent user, unlimited usage model. Colford proposed a split pricing/distribution model, one for best sellers, one for midlist or debut authors. Like several others on the panel, he said he expects to triple his current ebook spending, $105,000, in 2012. Nesbitt’s e-budget has already multiplied from $30,000 to $350,000.
Rather than excoriating HarperCollins for its 26-cap on ebook loans, Santangelo et al. praised them for their discounts on ebooks and for opening the door to negotiation, again surprising some of the publishers present. (For more on the panel, led by LJ’s Josh Hadro, see coverage from LJ’s Michael Kelley, “Librarians Describe Challenges and Future of Ebooks,” and Heather McCormack, “BEA Survival Diaries.”)
Despite the ebook controversy, happily, one thing that doesn’t appear to have changed at BEA is the gratitude that authors feel toward libraries and librarians. That was fully evident in the author programs explicitly for librarians, from DoD to the Random House/LJ breakfast, to the Association of American Publishers (AAP) events, where authors recounted their library connections along with stories of their writing lives. I used to think the library stories were sappy, but I’m not so jaded now, especially when many libraries are being eviscerated by budget cuts.
It’s not just words either, since many of these authors are speaking out for libraries in their communities and raising money, like Karin Slaughter, who has mobilized her author friends in the Save the Libraries campaign, which she described at DoD. At the AAP/EarlyWord lunch, David Baldacci, a longtime library supporter whose Wish You Well foundation funds literacy programs, said, “The best communities have very strong library systems.... Shutting down libraries, cutting funding, is cutting off our future.” And as Slaughter has said repeatedly, “The funding of libraries is a matter of national security.”
Powerful words, powerful ideas at the librarians’ BookExpo.
| Author Information |
| Francine Fialkoff (ffialkoff@mediasourceinc.com) is Editor-in-Chief, LJ |
