Dispatch From PLA 2010: The Exhibits

Editors Note: The 13th Annual Public Library Association Conference is taking place this week at the Portland Convention Center, and this is the first in a series of dispatches from Reading Local contributor Teresa Bergen on her experiences at PLA 2010.

Contributing to Reading Local opens doors, and this time it was the door to the Convention Center for the Public Library Association’s thirteenth annual conference. I go to a fair number of oral history conferences for the work I do in that field. History conferences are, by nature, retro. When I entered the PLA’s exhibition hall, I walked into a futuristic world. The publishers, database providers, library architects and everybody else in there had tall, elaborate displays. Many reached toward, or hung from, the ceiling. Looked like it must have taken days to set up. Computers and video screens were everywhere.

Suitably dazzled, I began to peruse the three hundred or so booths. The publishers and book distributors were easy to identify. They had lots of books. What the elaborate computer systems did for libraries was more mysterious. At the history conferences, we’re proud of ourselves if we set up a single laptop.

I mostly stuck with the books. (Although I detoured through high tech booths if it looked like they were giving away good chocolate.) It was fun to meet authors and publishers, especially those with a Northwest connection. The folks at Poisoned Pen Press in Scottsdale, Arizona, were friendly. Among other mystery writers, they publish local author Ann Littlewood. She worked at the Oregon Zoo for twelve years. Now she’s writing a mystery series set in zoos. They gave me an advance copy of her new book, Did Not Survive, about a killer elephant.

Publishers are very generous with books at these events. Everybody walked around with bulging safety orange sacks full of goodies. Gina Robinson, a Seattle romance writer, gave me an autographed copy of Spy Games, which looks rather steamy.

Sam from Rowman and Littlefield told me about two of their new releases from Northwest authors. Tom Krattenmakers’s Onward Christian Athletes: Turning Ballparks into Pulpits and Players into Preachers examines the connection between college and pro sports and evangelical Christianity. Krattenmaker is associate vice president for public affairs and communications at Lewis & Clark College. Also religion-related, Seattle writer Mary E. Abrums’ oral history-based Moving the Rock: Poverty and Faith in a Black Storefront Church just came out on R&L’s AltaMira Press imprint.

Many furniture makers presented their wares to librarians. My favorite was TMC Furniture from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who makes animal-themed furniture for children’s rooms in libraries. One especially cute seating arrangement was a sectional inchworm-shaped bench.

Exhibitors also offered specialized services for librarians to introduce to their readers. One company, Read How You Want, customizes books for people with visual impairments. They start with a PDF, then run it through their software to create a special electronic file. That file can be converted to a Braille, audio or a large print edition.

Generations on Line is a nonprofit that simplifies computers for seniors. According to their brochure, “Using familiar images and large type instructions, the program guides elders who have no computer experience through basic email, a multilingual search by Yahoo!, links to other sites and an intergenerational chat about the past, called Memories: Generation to Generation.” Senior centers pay to have the programs on their computers. The nonprofit has been successful. With a staff of only five, they have 1500 facilities around the country using their software. Every state but Alaska uses their service.

One of the plainer booths was the all-volunteer Librarians for Fair Access to Content. Tina Creguer womanned the booth when I stopped by. She patiently explained to non-librarian me that the periodicals databases which serve libraries have recently decided to exclusively license certain magazines. That means that libraries would have to subscribe to multiple databases to get all the popular magazines for their patrons. Librarians for Fair Access to Content is pressuring the database companies to only make non-exclusive agreements with periodicals. “Are we supposed to subscribe to three databases?” Creguer asked. “Libraries can’t afford to do that.” The whole idea goes against the free exchange of information which libraries stand for. “If vendors want to sell to people, their missions should align,” Creguer said.

The strangest booth was Emery-Pratt, a book distributor. In a competitive field full of book distributors, they attract attention at trade shows with Oscar the robot. For a low tech person like me, Oscar was semi-scary. About five feet tall, he talks and, I guess, sees and thinks or something. He was able to read my nametag and talk to me. We posed for a picture together, during which time I imagined the scene would turn into a horror scenario, strangled by a robot. When I survived Oscar, I celebrated by running off to look for more chocolate.