With the exhibits at New York's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center open just two days, the show floor at this year's BEA was a real free-for-all, with lots of traffic from the moment the doors opened on Wednesday, May 26. But for LJ's review editors, it was worth enduring stubbed toes and rattled nerves to find fresh and interesting titles. In this…

For the past half dozen years or so, BookExpo America (BEA) has biennially touched down in New York City, hopping to Chicago, DC, and Los Angeles in between. No more. For the next four years--at least--the annual book bonanza will call Manhattan's Jacob Javits Convention Center home. Times are hard, and publishers are hurting, so anchoring in the…

This article presents the highlights of the 2007 American Library Association (ALA) annual conference held at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of librarians showed up early for a day of service, volunteering in libraries, schools, and other Washington-area institutions. As the conference wound down, some 2000…

The Public Library Association (PLA) Conference, Seattle, February 24?28, relieved much of the sting felt by vendors who had exhibited at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in San Diego (InfoTech, LJ 2/15/04 , p. 27ff.). In stark contrast to ALA, which suffered from some of the slowest floor traffic in recent memory,…

This article was sent into a column of "Library Journal" entitled "How Do You Manage?" Submissions to this column, are based on actual events in libraries across the United States and Canada. This particular piece describes a conversation between two library employees, where one, following a recovery from a devastating auto accident found…

How Do You Manage, is a column in Library Journal where librarians send in stories based upon actual events happening in libraries across the United States. This story recounts a public relations situation where a reporter from a local paper interviews by phone, a librarian in charge of audio and video services in a small town library. The…

The resurgence of interest in e-books, who uses them, and where the technology is headed were among the issues discussed March 16 at the eBooks in the Public Library Conference in New York, sponsored by the Open eBook Forum (OeBF). Roughly 200 librarians, publishers, and vendors braved a winter squall to share their expertise and experiences.…

This article tells the story of Grayhead Public Library and the results of a new evaluation process developed by the state library that asked staff to critique their bosses' management capabilities and the library's services anonymously. Galloway, the director, was shocked when she received the results. She read the responses in disbelief,…

The temperature may have been sweltering and the logistics a challenge, but that didn't stop the American Library Association (ALA) in Chicago from drawing more attendees than ever before. The 27,800 who came, including 6,731 exhibitors, set a new record, topping the previous record of 26,542 in 2001 in San Francisco and the Chicago totals of…

This article describes how the 2006 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in New Orleans will long symbolize the significance of libraries and librarians to a convention city--and to the community around it. As the first major convention in the Crescent City since the ravages of Hurricane Katrina ten months earlier, the conference…

The American Library Association's (ALA) Annual Conference, June 24?30, in steamy Orlando, drew 19,575 people, including 5,739 exhibitors, the lowest total since Miami in 1994, not counting the SARS-shadowed conference in Toronto last year (see statistics, p. 15). Although this years conference was filled with exciting events, this abstract is…

Living in the vast shadow cast by the spires of the Magic Kingdom presents special challenges for Orlando's Orange County Library System (OCLS), the most formidable of which is increasing its relatively small user base. The library additionally faces tension between the administration and staff, political strife on the board, and looming contract…

Includes three articles that discuss the top stories from "Library Journal", including the demand for librarians, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, library education, database publishers, electronic research services, the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA), Internet filtering, and electronic reference; the school…