Who Attends
The Annual Conference is the industry leader … the oldest, largest, best attended tradeshow for the library marketplace. Librarians who attend are leaders from the public, academic, school, private and special libraries.

A survey of attendees profiles this event.

Job Title
DIRECTOR 10%
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR 5%
BRANCH MANAGER/OTHER MANAGER 6%
HEAD/SUPERVISORY LIBRARIAN 4%
REFERENCE LIBRARIAN 14%
CATALOGING LIBRARIAN 6%
SYSTEMS LIBRARIAN 4%
CHILDREN’S LIBRARIAN 4%
COLLECTION DEPARTMENT 3%
MEDIA SPECIALIST 3%
DEAN/ASSISTANT DEAN/ASSOCIATE DEAN 2%
DEPARTMENT CHAIR/DEPARTMENT HEAD 5%
LIBRARIAN 20%

(Includes General, Technical, Circulation, Information Literacy Librarian, Acquisitions, Government, Serials, Adult, Bibliographer, Young Adult, School/University)

OTHER 14%
(Includes Library Educator/Instructor, Association, Public Relations, Trustee, Consultant)

33% have management responsibilities in the libraries they represent

Type of Library
COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY 42%
PUBLIC 37%
ELEMENTARY/SECONDARY SCHOOL 8%
STATE/GOVERNMENT AGENCIES 4%
SPECIAL/CORPORATE 2%
LIBRARY NETWORK/CONSORTIUM 3%
OTHER 4%

Overall, more librarians attend the ALA Annual Conference than other tradeshows targeted to publishing, bookselling, or college, university and public libraries.

Annual Conference attendees come to the exhibit floor with the plans, authority and budgets to make decisions. Overall, they plan to spend an average of $1,386,600 on products and services on the exhibit floor.

Planned Expenditure by Category
BOOKS/PERIODICALS/DOCUMENTS $1,158,600
LIBRARY AUTOMATION $194,200
EQUIPMENT/FURNITURE/SUPPLIES $156,000
AUDIO VISUAL EQUIPMENT & MATERIALS $71,200
SERVICES (CONSULTANTS, WHOLESALERS, ETC.) $47,900