ALA Going Ahead with a Scaled-Down Convention

With new cases of SARS still being reported in Toronto last week, the American Library Association was still planning to go ahead with its annual convention at press time, although the ALA board voted earlier this month to cancel the show if the World Health Organization or CDC issues another travel advisory before June 19, the first day of scheduled events. Both the city of Toronto's tourism commission and the Canadian Library Association have lobbied hard for ALA to go ahead with the show. The Toronto tourism board negotiated a series of cost-reduction programs with the ALA, including a significant lowering of the $300,000 convention center rental.

If the show does go on, it will be with a dramatically reduced number of exhibitors and attendees. The association reported that as of June 10, 178 exhibitors had withdrawn from the show, leaving the number of companies still planning to attend the convention at 597. The cancellations range from some of the biggest companies in the library market to small publishing houses. Among those deciding not to attend are Baker & Taylor, Brodart, Copyright Clearance Center, ebrary, Follett Library Resources, Infotrieve, National Book Network, Ovid Technologies, Rittenhouse Book Distributors, Sage Publications, Sourcebooks and Thomson Delmar Learning.

Four children's book publishers—McGraw-Hill Children's Publishing, Barefoot Books, Gareth Stevens and Tiger Tales—have completely withdrawn from the convention, and many other children's publishers contacted by PW reported that they would be sending a scaled-down contingent to Toronto.

Among those publishers who will be sending fewer staffers: Houghton Mifflin, Henry Holt, Penguin, Harcourt, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. Almost all Random House employees will not be there, though division president Chip Gibson was scheduled to attend at press time; the booth will be staffed by employees of Random House Canada. Other publishers, including Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Peachtree, Charlesbridge, Tor and Roaring Brook, said that their planned staff attendance had remained unchanged since the SARS outbreak, alth0ugh all attending are doing so on a voluntary basis.

Author attendance is also a big issue, since traditionally this show plays host to a great many authors and illustrators. Hyperion and Roaring Brook, who published this year's Caldecott and Newbery winners (Eric Rohmann and Avi), both said they have not scaled back their entertaining plans. "Of the 10 authors we are hosting during the convention, all are still fully participating," said Hyperion publicity director Jennifer Levine. For Simon Boughton, publisher of Roaring Brook, "We haven't canceled anything in terms of author entertaining. We're still doing a full schedule as planned."

Boughton expressed concerns, though, about drop-off in booth traffic, saying, "General foot traffic will be reduced, and that's a shame. And I would be disappointed if the attendance at the Newbery/Caldecott dinner fell off. We'd like as many people as possible to hear Eric's speech. It's his moment, and it would be nice to have a good crowd."

At FSG, entertainment plans have been cut back, "as many librarians have told us they are not attending," said associate director of marketing Jeanne McDermott. Random House has canceled all its entertaining plans, and none of its authors will be attending; according to publicity director Judith Haut, a Random representative will accept the Newbery Honor awards on behalf of winners Patricia Reilly Giff and Carl Hiaasen. Henry Holt, too, reported that none of its authors will attend; the second outbreak of SARS "seemed to have been the deciding factor," said Holt's Sharon Hancock.

Boughton pointed out that library budgets are likely playing some part in the decision not to attend. "I've heard more people saying they're not coming because of budgetary reasons than because of SARS," he said. "Budget woes are probably feeding poor attendance."

With a day-to-day situation like this, plans are still very much in flux, and most publishers are assessing things on a daily basis. "Clearly, this is a very quixotic situation and we continue to monitor it very closely," said Harcourt publisher Lori Benton. "It's all very sad, really. This is such an important show and I feel especially bad for the award-winning authors and illustrators."