ALA Conference 2009: Despite Downturn, ALA Attendance Is Solid

ALA Conference 2009: Pace exceeds numbers from Washington, DC, in 2007, though number of vendors has dropped off

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 7/12/2009

• Four weeks ago, pace lagged DC in 2007
• Number of vendors is down from 6800 to 6000
• Will total surpass that in 2007?

While four weeks before the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference, the pace of attendance was healthy but behind the record-setting numbers from 2007 in Washington, DC, attendance in Chicago so far outpaces that in Washington.

As of Saturday, total attendance was 27,353, compared to 26,800 in Washington at the comparable time, reported ALA Executive Director Keith Fiels this morning. “I was not prepared for this at all. I am pleasantly surprised,” he said. “We are well ahead of Washington.”

The numbers from Chicago include about 13,800 advance registrants and 7400 on-site registrants.

Fiels did acknowledge one sign of the economic downturn: the number of vendor registrants in Chicago, some 6000, was down from about 6800 in Washington.