Things learned at ALA:
If you see hardbacks on sale for $10 and paperbacks for $5 in the exhibitors hall, don't think the ones you want will still be there the next day. Buy immediately or be sorry.
If you don't see the review copies that you're interested in at a publisher's booth, someone will take your name and address and promise to send you one in a few days (I'll let you know how that turns out).
Harry Potter bags and Charles Darwin bobbleheads are very popular.
Anyway, ALA was cool. I enjoyed all the swag. I enjoyed hearing Ken Burns, Nancy Pearl, and Kelly Link. I would have enjoyed hearing Bill Bradley, but the awards ceremony that preceeded his talk that evening went on way too long and we were hungry. We saw Hamlet, and the Phillips Collection and the American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery and the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Nonetheless, it's good to be home.
What fun! Look at those books! And love the Darwin bobblehead! If I ever finish jumping through my library school admissions hoops and get them to say yes, maybe I will see you at the ALA in a couple of years time!
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to wait for that, Stefanie. You can just pay for an exhibits hall pass ($25) and come for the goodies.
ReplyDeleteNow that's a nice stack of books!
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping you'll share more ALA stories with us. It sounds like great fun but I don't think I'll ever be able to attend one of those things.
ReplyDeleteDorothy, I'm now trying to convince myself that I don't need to buy any books for a couple months.
ReplyDeleteSam, why not? You'd have a blast. I don't know that I'll be attending another unless it's close (Anaheim next year), but I do hope I get to go again at some point.
Aw, I missed the Charles Darwin bobbleheads. Who was giving those out?
ReplyDeleteI wish I could attend ALA merely so that I could put into practice your first lesson. That is quite the pile of books!
ReplyDeleteOh, if I hadn't learned the first lesson the hard way! I assumed there would copies enough to last the entire time.
ReplyDeleteCarol O, Greenwood Press does thebobbleheads. They had 100 to hand out each day. I've been coveting bobbleheads since my friend Carol was given a Don Quixote a few years back.
I'd love to hear more ALA stories, too! Sounds like a good time. Love the Darwin bobblehead! And nice stack of books :)
ReplyDeleteI admit I miss working the booth at ALA. It was always a neat show. Of course, eight hours on your feet smiling at people who spit in your booth isn't always so much fun. (I used to work for a large European commercial publisher whose pricing models were not always popular.
ReplyDeleteYou shouldn't have told me that Susan! :)
ReplyDeleteThey SPIT? How horrible.
ReplyDeleteWould have loved to bump into you at Nancy Pearl's talk. She was just so good! :D
ReplyDeleteI'm drooling over all those books.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you got to see Kelly Link! Gavin writes, "Librarians are so damned engaged and passionate." :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like fun! I once went to the ABA convention when it was in Miami--lots of fun. I even got to go to a HarperCollins luncheon and sat at a table with Barbara Kingsolver--was too terrified to talk to her, though. I love getting all those readers copies! Is that a new Andrea Barrett I see? DC is loads of fun--I love the Portrait Gallery--I could spend hours there!!
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