I leave for PLA in Columbus a week from tomorrow. I will be presenting my general schedule at that time, including details about my presentation on Wednesday morning and a chance to meet one-on-one with Robin and I on Thursday.
I will also have a more details about my blogging plan because I want to bring as much of the conference to you, my readers who cannot make it, as possible. But to see what you can expect from me in terms of reporting back, click here for my ALA 2023 recap posts. I no longer live Tweet events as I don't pay as good attention when I do that. I may retweet others but I focus on recaps from my handwritten written notes.
So you can all plan on next week being ALL PLA info and recaps.
But today, I want to focus on one of my favorite resources that comes out before every major Library conference and it is one that is useful to all, especially those who are not in attendance-- the Library Journal PLA Galley Guide (Sponsored by Sourcebooks). This resource is a list of all of the ARCs that attendees can get in the exhibit hall. But again, it is not about being there. It is important to remember that the LJ Galley Guide for any conference is a wonderful resource for everyone, but it may be even more valuable for those staying home.
First, and most obvious, every single one of the ARCs listed here is also going to be super easy to download from NetGalley or Edelweiss. The publishers are prioritizing that. If you get the Library marketing emails, you have probably already seen that. They want everyone to have access to these books.
Second, those of you who are back at home, you have time to go through the Galley Guide, taking note of which books the publishers are pushing the hardest. What do they think will take off? What should we be pre-ordering? We should all be using it as a resource to help our patrons and craft our collections, but unfortunately, those who are there, they mostly use it to be greedy and go around and grab books. [I am on the record here saying that running around trying to get free books and wait in long lines is not a good use of your time.] You should take your time and use it for collection development. I will be using it as resource not for a treasure hunt.
Third, everyone, whether they are attending PLA or not, should look through the guide and note trends or authors who you already have in your collections who are going to have a new book, etc... Across the entire guide, what are you seeing that is similar? Where are the trends? Promote these upcoming titles and start taking holds. You could even make a few lists based off trends you find that would most interest your patrons and call them, "Hot Upcoming Titles from the Publishers Library Association Conference."
I will be going through the guide in detail this week to find those trends that I am seeing and then compare them with the Book Buzzes and programs I attend. If you take your time to go through this guide before I start my recaps, you will reap the same benefits.
Fourth, after noting trends in the guide and trying to gather advanced holds numbers to make your ordering easier, you should also be making displays of titles that fit those trends you are noticing at the same time. Reminding people of what you already have that they may like while you are letting them know what is coming soon is very important to do in tandem. Those buzzy titles coming soon can be supplemented by readalikes from your backlist. You are anticipating what they want to read by giving your readers targeted displays now. You get them excited about a trend or some readalieks of the titles you know are coming soon, and then when they see those titles promoted in the books news, they feel like you "get them," because you promoted books just like the ones they already like. Trust me it works and you look brilliant and even a bit clairvoyant.
So that is my push for the PLA Galley Guide for those left behind. I hope those of you who are going, go back to this post and do the same thing after you return.
Here is the introduction to the Galley Guide which is organized by booth number.
Is there anything better than discovering new titles? Library Journal’s Galley Guide serves as a finding tool for just that, highlighting books readers will be asking for. Get a jump on demand and get in the know with this listing of the giveaways on offer. Also included are in-booth signings, both by publisher and listed in a handy daily guide. Our thanks to Sourcebooks, Booth 1115, for supporting this guide to the key titles to be found
at the 2024 Public Library Association conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment