Library Journal Day of Dialog is Free and Online on May 5th

Click on the image to see details and register

One of the better things to come out of the pandemic is that it appears LJ's annual Day of Dialog is staying virtual. You can access all of the details and register here.

This is an event that is useful to any library worker who will ever speak to an adult leisure reader at any time. Seriously, I am not exaggerating here. Why? Because the day is made up of multiple panels featuring authors, all with upcoming, high interest books, grouped into categories, in conversation with a library person.

You can watch them all at once on the day, or access them from May 5th thru August 5th.

Every panel provides an opportunity for you to hear directly form authors about their books. This serves a few RA purposes:

• Obviously, if you do collection development you can decide then and there if you should add the book.
• Hearing from authors about their books gives you valuable information that you can share with potential readers about said books, without ever reading the book yourself. When I talk about "reading about books" as being just as good as [or even better than] reading that book yourself, this is what I mean. Watch a panel and you will understand. You will never read all of these books, but spend a few hours watching these panels and you will learn about a lot of books, enough to knowledgeably get them into the hands of their best reader. 
• Both seeing the authors grouped in specific panels and taking a wide view of everything that is being offered gives you a sense of emerging trends. It isn't done on purpose, but I always see trends within panels and across the entire day. 
• While you watch the authors in conversation, readalike options and/or display ideas will come to you. Make notes. You could have a "while you wait" list or topical display ready for when these books come out.
• Just being able to sit back and listen to authors talk about their book teaches you a lot. It is an example of other ways to talk about books, you see the person behind the book, you get lists of other authors who the panelists will mention, etc....

And all of these "purposes" don't even take into account that these panels are just fun to watch.

You can go to the LJ DoD site for all of the details and to register. "See" you there.