Comments on: Book Expo America Report http://www.readersadvisoronline.com/blog/index.php/2008/06/10/book-expo-america-report/ the blog for RA librarians Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:50:48 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jenny http://www.readersadvisoronline.com/blog/index.php/2008/06/10/book-expo-america-report/comment-page-1/#comment-442 Jenny Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:35:31 +0000 http://www.readersadvisoronline.com/blog/index.php/2008/06/10/book-expo-america-report/#comment-442 I attended BEA as well. I found the reception for librarians to be quite mixed. Overall, though, I found that publishers were not at all versed in the language of libraries. Several publishers stopped to talk to me when discovering I was a librarian, but they just could NOT understand that as a librarian in an academic library serving limited areas of study that we would not be interested in purchasing romance novels or engineering tomes. When I tried to explain this, I was generally met with blank stares. I think publishers' sales reps need to quickly wise up to the language of libraries and learn about our business and service models. I did make a few good connections there, but mostly I enjoyed being exposed to the variety of new and upcoming titles. The autographing area was excellent, but it could have been organized a bit better. At times it was difficult to tell who was in line for what. This was my second trip to BEA, and I found it better this time. I also learned more and attended some sessions. I still feel like I have a lot to learn and need to hone my book expo attendance skills - knowing what sessions to attend, how to get autographing tickets, how much walking around to do and when, etc. It's an overwhelming experience! I attended BEA as well. I found the reception for librarians to be quite mixed. Overall, though, I found that publishers were not at all versed in the language of libraries. Several publishers stopped to talk to me when discovering I was a librarian, but they just could NOT understand that as a librarian in an academic library serving limited areas of study that we would not be interested in purchasing romance novels or engineering tomes. When I tried to explain this, I was generally met with blank stares. I think publishers’ sales reps need to quickly wise up to the language of libraries and learn about our business and service models. I did make a few good connections there, but mostly I enjoyed being exposed to the variety of new and upcoming titles. The autographing area was excellent, but it could have been organized a bit better. At times it was difficult to tell who was in line for what.

This was my second trip to BEA, and I found it better this time. I also learned more and attended some sessions. I still feel like I have a lot to learn and need to hone my book expo attendance skills – knowing what sessions to attend, how to get autographing tickets, how much walking around to do and when, etc. It’s an overwhelming experience!

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