The first thing you should learn for attending the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association (hereafter ALA MW) is this: ARC stands for Advance Reader Copy, and these, fellow library students, these are your booty. Pirate-style booty, just so we’re clear. Publishers hand out ARCs to anyone passing by (for real, you can get an “exhibits only” pass and just wander around getting free books), so be prepared for the impending onslaught. Don’t think you can get this book selection out of the way on the first day either — new books are unpacked daily. You can even get some books signed by the author!

Not all the books are free, of course — some of the books are set to be released in only a few months, but these are available for *well* below retail value, and the author was frequently there signing. There are also display copies so librarians can make note of possible acquisitions, and these go on sale the last day of the conference. While I wasn’t there, I was warned it would be a madhouse. As proof of the utter bounty of books, I present my swag. I don’t even feel ashamed posting this because I saw other people taking this many books at a time (it took me three days).

Advance Reader Copies from ALA Midwinter 2013

The second thing to learn: don’t bring bags. Or do, if you have a favorite heavy-duty-bag, and a long way to walk, but don’t feel required to, as publishers also hand out bags like candy.

On a more serious note, make sure you have business cards — if only because it’s easier to hand over a business card than write your contact information every time you want to enter a drawing (I think there were 10 companies raffling off iPad minis?). Even more, though, it’s amazing how unprepared you can feel without a business card the instant that someone asks you for one — so learn from my mistake and print some business cards — you can find great deals on the internet.

Next, and possibly most important rule for visiting ALA MW: go with a friend. If you’re not the networking/gregarious/extroverted type, try to find someone who is, and learn from what they do. Even a fellow non-networker/introvert could make it less intimidating to talk to people — strength in numbers! If you’re one of those networking types, don’t think your friend will take advantage of you; also, I have it on good authority that it can be helpful to have another person, to enable easy escape from dragging conversations and generally help build a conversation rather than an interview. Also, it’s rather nice to have a friendly face in the big crowd, someone with whom you can share ALA MW tips: “Penguin has cake at 3:30! ACRL has cupcakes! Trashiest romance I’ve ever seen at booth 100 — check it out!”

I fall onto the introvert/listening-not-talking side of the equation myself, so I can’t give tips-for-extroverts,* but here are my ALA MW-specific tips for introverts: go to the newcomer/first-timer meetings, because everyone else is in the same boat and go to themed social events where you know everyone will have something in common. My favorite ploy for social events in general: wander around until you hear someone talking about something you’re interested in, and join the conversation with a “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard someone mention [totally awesome thing of awesome] — can I join the conversation? I love [totally awesome think of awesome]!” Sadly, one of the social-event rooms at ALA MW was too loud for this to work, but it is a tried and true technique in my social event arsenal.

* if you want the extrovert’s tips for attending ALA MW, contact Mary J.

Rick Brooks (L) and Tod Boll (R), founders of the Little Free Library movement. We chatted with them for some time due to some research on Little Free Libraries being conducted by SLAIS students (I don’t remember their names! mea culpa).

But ALA MW isn’t just about the exhibit hall — it’s the meetings too. There is a huge variety of meetings, even ignoring the closed ones. Many of these meetings are small, so don’t be afraid if you’re one of eight people, including presenters, in a huge ballroom (true story). Sessions also come in many formats — discussion groups, presentations, updates, interviews — and the details aren’t always listed. Go to something that sounds cool, and hopefully it will be! Just remember that you might have to walk 5 blocks to a different hotel.

Lastly, if you’re the type who had library mentors before you came to SLAIS (especially if you don’t see them often now due to distance), reach out to them before ALA MW — they might just be attending! I forgot to do this, and then almost literally ran into one of my old library inspirations, so once again, learn from my mistake, and make coffee plans in advance, not when you almost run smack into someone in a hotel lobby.

In short, go forth and make use of the ALA MW possibilities! It’s the smaller, cheaper, less intimidating (if you don’t like crowds) version of ALA Annual meeting, and it will almost certainly be awesome.

Erin Watkins (L, our new co-op coordinator) and Heather Shand (R) represent SLAIS at ALA Midwinter!