BookExpo America 2011 Takeaways

—Last week in New York City, BookExpo America returned to the Jacob K. Javits Center and once again nearly rendered me psychotic from all the walking, talking, bathroom waiting, and galley lugging. Although I wasn't able to attend as many sessions as I wanted, those I did make it to blew my fried mind. LJ Reference Editor Josh Hadro's "Selling Trade Ebooks to Libraries" and EarlyWord.com's Nora Rawlinson's "Buying for Demand," both held last Wednesday, were memorable for the confident voices and remarkable attitudes of their librarian panelists, who boosted the profile of librarians in general at the show. Read all about it in my "BEA Survival Diaries."

—To boot, the third annual "Librarian Shout and Share," moderated by LJ's Barbara Genco, delivered mondo yucks and hot fall book buzz once again thanks to the likes BookSmack! columnist Doug Lord (go forth and seek Broetry, if you dare!) and LJ Editor of Prepub Alert Barbara Hoffert, who will post a complete list of all the participants' picks at Prepub Alert.

—If you missed Hoffert's BEA Galley and Signing Guide, it's here, and it's not too late to use it toward your fall and winter ordering.

—This roundup wouldn't be complete without mention of "The Great Readalike: If You Like This... You'll LOVE That," moderated by LJ Senior Editor Wilda Williams. Because I was bogged down in meetings, I was M.I.A. from what I heard was a terrifc readers' advisory talk by Stephanie Chase, Multnomah County Library; Kaite M. Stover, Kansas City Public Library; Shayera Tangri, Los Angeles Public Library; Robin Beerbower, Salem Public Library (Oregon); and LJ reviewer Lesa Holstine, who listed her traditional mystery picks on her blog.

—Via School Library Journal blogger Liz Burns, I got a whole new perspective on this country's largest trade book show through a passionate post by youth services librarian and Stacked Books blogger Kelly Jensen. For Jensen, aka @catagator on Twitter, BEA is less about books than the social glue. I couldn't agree more, and I want to dig deeper into the politics of the blogosphere thanks to her.

—There was exciting pre-BEA programming, of course, including LJ's Day of Dialog. And what a book-and-author fest it was, with rousing readings and anecdotes from actor-writer John Lithgow, suspense queen and library advocate Karin Slaughter, and first novelist (When Tito Loved Clara) and librarian at The New Yorker Jon Michaud. See LJ Editor-in-Chief Francine Fialkoff's umbrella story and Managing Editor Anna Katterjohn's blog on the excellent session "Truth or Dare: Presenting the Past in History and Fiction," moderated by LJ Senior Editor Margaret Heilbrun.

—For more coverage of the various mini conferences that preceded BEA, I direct you to a succinct post by Michael Cairns, with relevant tweets. I was especially bummed to miss the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), but luckily LJ Tech Editor David Rapp reported in this post on how big-name authors like Amanda Hocking want to be a part of Open Library project.