Librarians Want You To Know

If ALA is the largest gathering dedicated to the library industry, then it stands to assume that Bookexpo America’s audience isn’t necessarily completely versed in the art of said library market. In an effort to educate, BEA had a great schedule of library-related events aimed at publishers. New for 2008, a panel called “What Librarians Wish Publishers Knew” was able to live up to its name, and we were on hand to pass the information along to you!

 

The panel, moderated by Nora Rawlinson (creator of earlword.com, and former editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly and Library Journal), played host to four librarians representing different areas: Angelina Beneditti of the King County Library System in Washington, Barbara Jenco of the Brooklyn Public Library, Megan McArdle from the Chicago Public Library, and Julia Gelvin of the University of California in Irvine. Each had plenty to add, and plenty to tell publishers what librarians want them to know.

 

After giving preliminary library statistics, the panel fielded questions from Ms. Rawlinson. On the subject of how to sell more books to libraries, each panelist weighed in on what works best for getting information to them. Beneditti said that, similar to booksellers, librarians anticipate titles that will be on demand by looking at things like initial print run, book tours, previous sales from that author, and early patron interest. In order to accommodate this early patron interest timely, Jenco pointed out that libraries like to buy early, and need to know about new books ASAP. She also added that library-centered publications, such as Library Journal and Booklist are great ways to find new books, but digressed that “stealth titles are problems” because they’re surprise hits that libraries (or anyone) might be unprepared for. The best ways for publishers to inform librarians of new titles, according to McArdle, are publisher newsletters and email. Rawlinson summed it up in perhaps the most logical way, saying, “Publishers should provide information to [those] that provide information to libraries.”

 

How libraries buy was a panel on its own at BEA, but was also touched on here. After all, it’s something librarians want publishers to know. Rawlinson reiterated many times that “libraries do the majority of their buying from distributors and wholesalers in order to create single invoicing,” with Gelvin adding that “it’s difficult to get a title by title order.” A question from the audience regarding small press orders was answered by Jenco saying that librarians “must know what vendors their books are available through.” As for buying trends, the entire panel agreed that they love to buy paperbacks: they’re more conducive to buying multiple copies, and they will buy more when they have to, because as McArdle points out, “we don’t buy books just once,” and often revisit a publisher’s backlist. “We’re all about backlist,” says Jenco.          

 

The buying trends issue also touched on the topic of various print and non-print formats: which ones are bought, and how often other formats are purchased. Beneditti shared that King County will buy a title in up to 14 formats and/or languages, but didn’t specify the formats. In Brooklyn, according Jenco, downloadable material has seen a 147% growth. She also says that public libraries in general have slowed buying of reference books, in favor of user availability for databases. McArdle echoed this response stating that printed reference material is “not dead, but dying,” and that parts of the budget dedicated to this are being challenged by “new pieces of the pie,” because downloadable reference material is more cost effective and available by multiple users at once 24 hours a day. The entire panel agreed that ebooks are doing “ok, but not as well as audio,” and that large print books should “stay in print and have large print runs.” On a final point, Gelvin stressed that when marketing books with multiple formats to libraries, they “want to know beforehand what formats are available in order to plan accordingly.”

 

Wrapping up the hour, Rawlinson asked pointedly, “what are publishers publishing too much of,” and what do the libraries need. A general agreement was reached on Beneditti’s claim that memoirs are getting old, “green” books are huge, and “we need how-to books for technology NOW.” Gelvin, speaking from her experience as an academic librarian told the audience not to assume academic libraries won’t buy juvenile books and that “reference, multi-volume and textbooks are in danger.”

 

By the end of the panel, the packed room, filled mostly with publishers, left satisfied. With all this coming out in an hour, it’s both exciting and daunting to consider what the panel hadn’t had time to touch on. But this is certainly a start, and hopefully a big help in planning your library marketing schemes.