If you think librarians don't use four-letter words...

Linda Sappenfield — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:34:00 GMT

…you’re in for a shock. Clearly, some days are better than others here at the library, but an event we have planned for this week has inspired a whole string of brief but expressive terms. Brace yourself.

FREE. That’s right, I said it. If you drop by Readers Extravaganza this Thursday and are on hand for the prize drawings, you could leave with a great advance reading copy or new book (most are autographed) or other prize from this year’s BEA. No charge.

EXPO. As in Book Expo America: that’s the huge annual event mingling booksellers, publishers, and librarians at New York City’s Javits Center. Authors plug their forthcoming books and everyone tries to snag advance reading copies so they can prognosticate what the big hits of the coming year will be.

BUZZ. If you’re an author or publisher, this is the feedback you dream about—excited word-of-mouth advertising that could propel your book into mega-sales. So don’t be surprised if you see some of these (see next 4-letter word) around the gallery area on Thursday night:

BEES. But don’t worry. They’ll be fabric or cardboard versions.

FOOD. I believe I heard Kate mention punch and cookies; you can certainly expect a nice treat to be served.

LINE. This signifies what I stood in (otherwise known as a queue), sometimes up to an hour, waiting to get a notable author to inscribe his/her name, just so co-workers, friends, family, and YOU could have lovely souvenirs.

DROP. This is what I’ve been doing--with names-- ever since I returned from BEA 2012. No matter what conversational topic is in force, I’ll find cause to mention that I had teeny little chats with Robert Goolrick, Dan Rather, Buddy Guy, Tim Gunn, Sabrina Soto, Lemony Snicket, Ted Dekker, Janet Groth, Amor Towles, Gillian Flynn, and others. A signed copy of Gone Girl is one of our prizes, by the way.

LOVE. Many other librarians paid their own expenses for BEA, as I did. For-profit employers may have more expansive budgets; librarians' greatest asset is their affection for new books.

MINE! I’ve given away dozens of wonderful items so far, but no one gets my advance copy of Mark Helprin’s In Sunlight and In Shadow. Don’t even ask.

Was it a vision or just a sight?

Linda Sappenfield — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:29:00 GMT

Uh-oh. That was unquestionably a frown (which Customer Service 101 assures us is a Bad Thing) clouding the nice library patron's countenance. She even shook her head in disapproval at something I'd just shown her.

And our interchange had been going so well. I'd shared lots of information about Overdrive eBooks, noting that, while some major publishers decline to make their eBooks available for library circulation, we still add new digital titles every month and offer a great variety for free checkout.

Probably should have stopped there, but instead I lovingly tapped my finger atop two printed advance reading copies I'd just been handed. These were intended as stellar examples of new and forthcoming choices: Karen Engelmann's The Stockholm Octavo and Ariel S. Winter's The Twenty-Year Death.

At that point, the customer and I beheld two quite different things.

I glimpsed two intriguing novels I'd intended to snap up at BEA, had I been in the right place at the right time. Both authors had spoken passionately about their stories at Library Journal's debut author panel. Engelmann's historical piece, set in 18^th-century Stockholm and incorporating a sort of mystical card game, lines up perfectly with my preferred tastes.

Winter's crime novel (three crime novels in one, actually) exhibits classic hard-boiled cover art, auguring that it's not what I usually go for--and yet I have been itching to read it ever since Winter chatted it up and sold me and a not inconsiderable number of other librarians on it.

These two ideal selections for Readers Extravaganza weren't going to get read before August 16 if I didn't have copies. I asked co-worker and Acquisitions magician Barbara if she could request pre-publication copies through our library vendor, acknowledging the mission to be a long shot. But Barbara and our rep came through. I'd just delightedly taken possession when this whole conversation started.

My vision of the two paperback represented wishes granted. The alert customer, on the other hand, beheld two flimsy volumes with paper quality one or two notches above newsprint.

I cherish the not-ready-for-primetime look and feel of ARCs as evidence that these are not intended for the masses. But these two items weren't merely unpolished; the corners were just slightly dog-eared and the books appeared, as the patron observed, potentially "used". Perhaps my treasures had endured a problematic transit; maybe I'm not their first reader. None of that matters; I am thrilled with them.

If you come to Readers Extravaganza, I'll at least be able to tell you if these two first novels lived up to my considerable expectations. Who knows--perhaps you can borrow one of these copies that will appear even less pristine at that point, but all the lovelier for having granted access and enjoyment.

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If you think librarians don't use four-letter words...

Was it a vision or just a sight?