Me on the Panorama Project Panel at ALA and more from Panorama Project's Book Expo Presentation

The march to DC and ALA Annual begins and today I have an announcement about a panel I have been added to. It's for the Panorama Project whose website you can find here. Also I am part of their Readers' Advisory Impact Committee which I also talked about here. In fact, I have a tag here on the blog for Panorama Project.

The entire point of the Panorama Project is to demonstrate with tangible evidence and data that libraries provide a financial benefit to authors and publishers. My part of the project obviously deals with the RA service end of the issue, but there is a lot of information coming out of Panorama Project that is useful to all public library workers. It has been extremely enlightening and useful to be a part of this. For example, in preparation for my part of the presentation [details below] at ALA Annual, I was allowed to see some early results of the survey. Much of what I have been saying for years in my training sessions is being corroborated.

This makes me feel good of course, but also, having some tangible data to support it will make me better at making you better at helping leisure readers.

Below is the information about that panel  and what we are all talking about. Full info is also here:

Join Us at ALA Annual for an Update on Current Challenges for Library Digital Lending and a First Look at the Findings from our Readers Advisory Survey 

The Panorama Project is hosting a session at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, June 23, from 1:00 - 2:00 PM (Room 152A at the Washington Conference Center).

• Sari Feldman (Executive Director, Cuyahoga County Library and former ALA President) will provide an update on issues regarding digital library lending.

• Sharon Bruni (Associate Director of Public Services, Mt. Lebanon Public Library) will present the initial findings from the Project’s recent survey of Readers’ Advisory activities.

• Becky Spratford (librarian and founder of RA for All) will present tips on how libraries can address the online and social media promotion opportunities surfaced in the initial survey results.

• Alexis Petric-Black (Senior Manager, Publisher Relations, Rakuten OverDrive) will present Panorama Picks, our recently launched program that uses library demand data to reveal opportunities for booksellers, publishers, authors and libraries.

It’s a packed session that will engage, inform and delight. We hope to see you there!

I will be posting the link to all of the slides here on the blog on Monday 6/24.

In the meantime, while you wait for the latest info, the Panorama Project has the information and slides from their Book Expo 2019 session here. 

I have reposted the details below, including access to some work product the Panorama Project has already produced.

Our Book Expo 2019 Session on Readers’ Advisory and Panorama Picks Drew a Crowd

Over 175 people joined us at Book Expo 2019 in New York for our session, Learn How Public Libraries Impact Title/Author Discovery and Book Sales: Data-Driven Insights from the Panorama Project. It was an engaged audience of booksellers, vendors, publishers and librarians and we received positive reviews afterward. 

Bill Kelly (Adult Programming Manager, Cuyahoga County Public Library) provided an update on the breadth of U.S. public libraries and how CCPL drives sales at its author events. In 2018 over 11,000 books were sold at 93 events—by the library and its independent bookselling partner, Mac’s Backs. 

Alexis Petric-Black (Senior Publisher Relations Manager, Rakuten OverDrive) introduced Panorama Picks, our new program that reveals unmet demand for books and sales opportunities for booksellers. The program provides a series of regional lists of titles compiled from the wait lists for ebooks at local libraries. The initial lists are available now. Updated lists will be published on a quarterly basis. Click here to learn more and sign-up to be notified when new lists are published. 

Skip Dye (VP of Library Marketing and Digital Sales and VP of Sales Operations, Penguin Random House) closed the session with insights on how PRH works with libraries to launch new authors and titles. With the longhand belief that library patrons are key influencers, PRH actively markets to library readers, in the library, in the library’s online platforms, and on a variety of social media sites. Skip is also a big believer in the power of print promotion in libraries: he noted that he’s often surprised how long the posters they distribute to libraries stay on the walls! 

Click here to view and download the session slides.