Inside Track: I Learned It at the Exhibits
If librarians don't come to the show floor, then why should vendors?
Francine Fialkoff, Editor -- Library Journal, 2/15/2004
A librarian friend proudly reported all the programs she'd attended to her director when she returned from her first American Library Association (ALA) annual conference years ago. His reaction? "What did you find at the exhibits?" She'd never even gone to them, but that was the last time she missed them.
Many librarians who went to the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego last month didn't find anything at the exhibits either, frequently because they didn't take a serious look at them or talk to any of the vendors there. Sure, they may have attended the All-Conference Reception Friday night, but most never returned. Yet, they found the time to sit in on one or more of the approximately 2500 business meetings, discussion groups, and ad hoc programs.
Midwinter has the reputation of being the show where vendors can meet the library decision-makers. This year's floor traffic was, for most exhibitors, extremely light. Much of the blame lies with the shape of the conference itself, with its overabundance of meetings. Some goes to the association for not scheduling no-conflict time so librarians can go to the exhibits. And some goes to members themselves, who are too shortsighted to see the benefits of the exhibits.
The result of the low traffic was a near-revolt at the Exhibits Round Table (ERT) meeting on the final day of the exhibits, with several members (including Gale, which also provides the buses at conferences) presenting a draft of a letter saying they would withdraw from the exhibits if the ALA Executive Board did not institute no-conflict time. That letter was never presented to the Executive Board, however. "By the ALA Executive Board meeting on Wednesday, it was obvious that the board had heard our concerns beforehand," says DEMCO's John Ison, chair of the ERT board. The Executive Board voted for three no-conflict times at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in 2005.
"You have to understand the history," says H.W. Wilson's Amy Rosenbaum, vice chair of the ERT board, explaining why the vendors were so incensed. "The previous year [the ERT] asked that each division allow some no-conflict time. In return vendors would have more on the floor"—like authors, raffles, and so on. ALA had designated a Friday night opening and reception for the exhibits several years ago, but a number of vendors felt that it didn't compensate for a lack of no-conflict time on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. In contrast, ALA division conferences like that of the Public Library Association later this month schedule ample no-conflict times daily.
"We're paying the bulk of the conference cost," says Rosenbaum, pointing out that without vendor support ALA members would have to fork over hundreds of dollars toward the conference instead of fees like the $125 early-bird registration for ALA annual. "A large constructed booth, depending on location of the conference, can cost up to $500,000, including labor, personnel, etc."
There's more to the exhibits than defraying conference costs. "Librarians are missing a key education and information component," says Rosenbaum, when they pass on the exhibits. "No company wants to design a product nobody wants. Where else can librarians talk to key people in the company—presidents, developers, designers, technologists?" She points to one librarian who spoke to vendors about how to make products work together that she already owned. "She found out about enhancements from several companies that wouldn't cost her anything and who to talk to at those companies," says Rosenbaum.
While the time has long since passed when vendors expected to make sales at the show, it is still a place to have valuable interactions with customers. "If they're not the right person to contact in the library," says Random House's Marcia Purcell, "then [we] find out who is."
The vendors agree that it's up to them to give librarians a reason to come to the hall. "You just can't sit there and expect people to come in," says Purcell. "You don't have to give away the store, but do something." One hopes the no-conflict time will draw more librarians to the show floor. After all, they don't want to come up empty when their director asks, "What did you learn at the exhibits?"
