L.A. confidential: LJ's BEA breakdown of programs and events.(BEA PREVIEW 2008)(Library Journal, BookExpo America )(Calendar)

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Once upon a time BookExpo America (BEA) (May 29-Jun. 1) was strictly a B2B affair between publishers and booksellers, with a few hundred librarians drifting through the aisles. No more! Librarian attendance has exploded in recent years, and BEA organizers have established a separate track just for librarians (eight sessions for a very full Saturday; see details p. 27-28). Please don't limit yourselves to those panels: there's lots of fun, cool stuff to see and hear. And having fun is as important as picking up info, placing orders, and grabbing books--unlike the American Library Association (ALA) conference, there are tons of freebies to be had.

Los Angeles has always been a mystery town, with PIs from Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe in the noir days to Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins more recently slapping shoe leather on its mean streets. But navigating the show shouldn't be a mystery. Let L lbe your guide. Also, check the BEA (www.bookexpoamerica.com) and LJ (libraryjournal.com) web sites for last-minute updates and entry fees, show hours, breakout sessions, and more. Have a blast!

THURSDAY, MAY 29 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

A Day of Dialog for Publishers, Vendors, and Librarians (Los Angeles Public Library, Central Library); registration required

Join LJ at the Los Angeles Public Library for the annual Day of Dialog, a free, daylong program where librarians, publishers, authors, and vendors meet. Find out what the hot books and trends are for fall from editors at major publishing houses, including David Ebershoff (Random House), Morgan Entrekin (Grove/Atlantic), Sara Knight (Holt), Phil Turner (Sterling), and Claire Wachtel (HarperCollins). Pose a readers' advisory challenge to developers of RA tools, among them NoveList's Duncan Smith (EBSCO), Fiction Connection and Non-Fiction Connection's Melissa Kuzma (Bowker), Books & Authors' Marc J. Cormier (Gale Cengage), and Reader's Advisor Online's Laura Calderone (Libraries Unlimited). Get up to speed on digital audio …