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Library Business 'Booming' at ALA
Nora Rawlinson -- 7/13/98
The American Library Association annual conference in Washington, D.C., June 25 through July 1, brought a record turnout. Figures released as of June 29 showed total attendance up 6% to 24,798, of which 11,799 were paid registrations, 6632 were exhibitors and 4107 more attended the exhibits only.
Activity on the show floor was greater than many had remembered in years. Long-time veterans of ALA remarked that librarians were not just looking -- for the first time in years they had money to spend. George C , vice-president, Automation/Books Division, Brodart, a wholesaler selling exclusively to libraries, said it was the best show he's seen in his nearly 19 years in the business. He attributed the upbeat feeling on the exhibit floor to an increase in library budgets. "Our business with libraries is up 31% over last year; half of that is new accounts, but the rest is an increase in budgets. I expect this trend to continue for the next two years, at least," he said.

Marty Keeley, president and CEO of Ingram Library Services, ech d C 's enthusiasm: "Business is booming. Our business with libraries is up double digits, in the 30 percentile, year-to-year ending in June."

Ingram sees libraries as a growth area and began offering cataloguing and processing in 1997 to compete with other distributors. Thus, Keeley emphasized, "Competition is good for libraries. Where there used to be just a few, there are now four or five major players, including Follett's recent acquisition, BWI, the specialty children's wholesaler Booksource, Baker and Taylor, Brodart and us." And, indeed, wholesalers were showing new programs and systems to make ordering, acquiring and processing less time-consuming.Jim Ulsamer, president of Baker and Taylor, said that his company's business has also experienced substantial growth, but that B&T is unwilling to reveal specific numbers. The growth is mainly from public libraries, with schools second, he said. "The picture for academic libraries is clouded by their shifts in priorities to electronic products." Ulsamer noted that libraries are getting sudden windfalls from tax revenues greater than expected or from grants. "They call saying things like `Help! We need to spend $10,000 on the social sciences by the end of the budget year.' Also, we are seeing an upsurge in opening-day collections, now that new libraries are being built again," he said.

These trends have also been documented by a Library Journal study, which found that 56% of the respondents reported an increase in materials budgets.Next year's ALA will be held in New Orleans, June 24 through July 1.
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