ALA Midwinter: Free passes and LT meet-up

The American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting is coming up shortly (Feb. 10-12) in Denver, CO. Tim will be there representing LibraryThing (from the ProQuest booth #1408).

We've got free, Exhibit Hall-only passes available again this year.

Per benitastrnad's post in >33 benitastrnad:, here are the details:

LT Meet-up!
When - Saturday, Feb 10th, 6:00 p.m. right after the exhibit hall closes.
Where - Tattered Cover Book Store. -1628 16th Street at Wynkoop

I asked Loranne to start a new thread, so we could centralize discussion, especially for the State of the Thing that's going out today-tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm definitely going. I'm not sure of my own schedule, but I hope to see people there!

No problem with the thread. I am still getting things organized for my trip and so will see what the response is for a meet-up.

If we do an evening meet-up Saturday is looking the best for me, as the big publishers like Elsevier, ProQuest, most likely will have their big receptions on Sunday night. I will check on the numbers and can make arrangements accordingly.

I'm in!

#4
That sounds good! Do you have a suggestion for time or place to meet?

I was thinking about a Dutch Treat supper on Saturday evening somewhere close to the Convention Center. I will be staying at the Denver Grand Hyatt and was thinking of walking convenience. Would that work for you?

I just learned that Denver now has a Airport Rail train. It goes from the airport to LoDo (Lower Downtown) and to the Denver Union Station. I am not sure where either of these places is, but will check later today to make sure where the ride would end before I make a recommendation. It makes 6 stops along the way and it costs $9.00 for the ride. The info says it takes 37 minutes from the airport to downtown. I may just do that on the way into town and then use the free light rail system to get from the Union Station to the hotel. My other option is to take the Airport Super Shuttle doing a shared ride from the airport to the hotel. I will decide later. But it is nice to have options.

Exhibit hall

I also learned that the free Exhibit Hall passes are good for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday only. Technically they won't work for Friday night. However, there is usually such a crush of people going in when the doors open at 5:30 that I don't think the door people will notice if your pass is not for Friday.

There will be a U. S. Post Office on the Exhibit Floor. The hours for it have not been posted to the ALA web site. It simply says that we should check on-site for the daily hours.

Rolling carts are not allowed on the Exhibit Hall floor. My advice is to pick up the empty boxes at the publishers booths and use them to tote your book hauls around. Or at least to the Baggage Check room.

I could not find any information about a Baggage Check room. However, I am sure that they will have one, if only for coats. It is Denver and it is Winter, so people are not going to want to be walking around the Exhibit Hall schlepping a heavy coat, so I would expect that there will be a baggage check as well as a coat check. Usually the Baggage Check is found close to the area where the shuttle buses pick-up and drop-off passengers.

The ALA web-site said that once again Gale is sponsoring the shuttle bus to and from the convention center to the conference hotels. These shuttles are free as long as you have a conference badge. However, in 25 years of attending these things I haven't seen them kick anybody off who doesn't happen to have a conference badge.

Parking

I checked the Denver Convention Center web site and parking is in a parking deck. It is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It is an hourly fee and is $25.00 for 24 hours. I could not find a multiple day rate.

>6 benitastrnad: If you are ancient like me, I believe the ride from the Airport to Denver Station in the city is FREE! Check the web site to make sure nothing has changed as we did this about 3 weeks after the line went into service in June, 2016.

Those of you who are planning on a trip to the exhibits here are some tips.

If the books are piled on the floor they are most likely ARC's (advanced readers copies) and will be free. If you are in doubt ask the publishers reps and they will be glad to point you to the free books.

Don't be afraid to talk to the publishers reps in the booths. They want to hear your opinions. Most of all they want you to read these books and let them know what you think about them.

The publishers booths are going to be scattered around the exhibit hall. Wear comfortable clothes and walking shoes.

The reason the publishers are scattered is because they will be having authors in the booths doing book signings. The lines for popular authors can get to be long. People will stand in line for hours to get that signature of popular and well known authors. This makes the aisles very crowded so be prepared to dodge and duck lines.

You can bring backpacks and tote bags onto the exhibit floor. You can not bring wheeled carts.

Wheeled carts can be checked at the bag check and you can carry tote bags full of stuff to the bag check and then re-enter the exhibit hall to get more. Bag check costs $2.00 per bag or box.

There is a Post Office on the exhibit hall floor. Postal rates from there are library rate and they will only accept packages. This last summer the post office would only accept flat rate boxes that were purchased in that postal facility. Librarians were not happy about this. I was not happy about this.

I will find and post a listing of the closest Post Offices to the conference hotels a little later.

To mail boxes - stop at the publishers booths and ask them for some of the boxes that their ARC's were shipped in. These boxes are just the right size to pack your books in and slap a mailing label on and send to Los Angeles, if needed.

If you think you will be mailing boxes of books back, bring your own packing tape and preprinted mailing labels.

When you get home WRITE your congresspeople and tell them how beneficial that librarymedia rate is and that under no circumstances should this rate disappear.

If you don't want to bother with boxes, packing tape, or mailing, find the UPS or FedEx store in the convention center and whip out the credit card. This is going to be expensive and will most likely negate the effect of free books, but it is an option.

>5 benitastrnad:

There is a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co a block and a half from the convention center.

>9 ulmannc:

pretty sure that it's not free anymore.

Great information, Benita! Thanks.

>1 lorannen: This is great, thank you so much!!

>10 benitastrnad: Thank you for the tips and information, Benita! For me, this is all new (and very exciting)!

Getting around downtown Denver is pretty easy. There is a free mall shuttle that travels along the 16th St pedestrian mall which is just a block from the Convention Cntr. The airport train is $9. There have been some glitches (it’s a fairly new line) but I haven’t heard of any delays/problems lately.

http://www.rtd-denver.com

Would everyone who is planning on going want to meet on Saturday evening for supper and a general meet-up where we can all talk about the great finds we made and the wonderful ARC’s we got from the publishers? The exhibits close at 5:00 p.m. and by the time most people get out of the convention center and to the correct shuttle it is 5:30 to 6. I will take some time and look tomorrow and see what food sources are close to the convention center.

The last time I was in Denver I took a street shuttle of some kind to the Tattered Cover Book Store. They have a coffee shop there, but I suspect that most of us might be tired of looking at books. However, it is quiet there and it is a famous place. (At least in the book world.). It looks like it can be reached using the 16th street tram system and it stays open until 9:00 p.m.

There is a Starbucks in the Sheraton that is 1 block from the Convention center but I suspect that the lines will be long and the noise level high at that establishment. There is a Starbucks on 16th street as well.

I was thinking that a brew pub might be a good place to meet but don’t know if there is one that people from the area would recommend. I know that the Governor’s brew pub restaurant is somewhere in the downtown and for those of us from away that might be a nice place to meet and talk.

The beauty of the restaurant option is that we wouldn’t have to be as concerned about time.

Let me know what you think and I will get moving on making arrangements/reservations if that is needed.

It looks like there will be 4 of us.

Me (Benita Strnad)
Tina (friend of mine)
Suitable1
Storeetilr
Coppers

I am not sure if Tim will be meeting with us. He may have a meeting with the ProQuest people.

I will let you know the final where tomorrow or Saturday.

I am so jealous! I love the Tattered Cover. Lived in Denver for almost 2 years. There is also a nice Japantown if you are interested in Asian food. People settled there to escape the Japanese camps in California during WWII.

Have a good time. I hope ALA will come to central Carolina sometime. Lots of us read books here.

It seems that some people are having trouble using the code for the free passes to the exhibit hall. There might be a digit missing from the code that was sent out. I have put in a request to check with the LT people, so if anybody is having this problem, please post it here so that LT gets the message and can do something about it.

Following up on >18 benitastrnad: I've just tested out the registration link posted in >1 lorannen:, and I haven't been able to reproduce any errors. If you're having trouble, please message or email (loranne@librarything.com) me directly, and describe the problem or include a screenshot. We'll get it sorted, but it's hard to do without being able to replicate the problem.

Hey all, I'm in the process of pulling t-shirts before Tim arrives to CO on Friday... for those going to the conference/meetup, what kind of shirts do you prefer?

Our shirts available for freebies:

https://www.librarything.com/more/store/stamptshirt - I'm packing some L, XL, 2XLs of red & white. Let me know if you'd like a particular size/color.

https://www.librarything.com/more/store/logotshirt - same as above - L, XL, 2XLs of red & white. Let me know if you'd like a particular size/color.

https://www.librarything.com/more/store/tcvneckshirt - anyone want some of our TinyCat v-necks? Keep in mind these run small! Check out the sizing chart on the page, please.

Thanks!

stamp shirt XL

Stamp shirt in red size L or XL would be great! Thank you!

Stamp shirt in red, medium (or large if that’s all you’ve got)! Thanks!

I want a white x-large stamp shirt.

To clarify on the problems mentioned in >18 benitastrnad:. I think the issue is folks are trying to enter the VIP code in the Promo code field, and they don't need to. You don't need to enter a code at all, so long as you start from the link in >1 lorannen:.

According to the ALA Mid-Winter Conference Web page there is a baggage check that will be available to conference attendees. This is usually close to the bus loading and unloading site. There is usually a charge for each item you take there. That means that if you pick up three boxes of books you will be charged for each box. However, I find that it is worth it, as I use the baggage check as a day-storage site.

If you have a car you can also take your boxes and bags of books to the car as your pass will allow you to enter and leave the exhibit hall whenever you wish.

There will be a post office on the exhibit hall floor. It will only do express mail with the boxes from the post office. If you want to mail boxes of books it appears that the nearest U. S. Post Office to the Colorado Convention Center is at 951 20TH ST. DENVER, CO 80202-9998

OK. It is decision time. I have checked out several restaurants in Denver and there are lots of choices.

1. Tattered Cover -1628 16th Street at Wynkoop in Denver, in the restored Morey Mercantile Building. Famous Denver used bookstore. Coffee shop and store is open until 9:00 p.m. I have been here before and it is a nice quiet place where we could met to discuss our book purchases. Limited food selection. Limited parking - near as I can tell. Free trolley ride from Convention Center.

2. Wynkoop Brewing Company -1634 18th Street. Famous Denver Brew Pub. Was owned by Governor John Hickenlooper. I have not been here. This place is big, but likely to be noisy on a Saturday night. Typical Brew Pub fare. You can eat here for $15.00. Beer would be extra.

3. Rhein Haus - 1415 MARKET ST / DENVER / CO 80202 - German food. Large space with plenty of different kinds of beer. This is a little farther down the street from Euclid but is the cheapest place that is close to the convention center. Most expensive place on our list.

4. Euclid Hall - 1317 14th Street. Bistro style eating. Meal here would be in the $25 to $35 range. This is the closet to the Convention Center and would be walkable. (about 5 blocks)

5. Kitchen - 1530 16th Street. American food - farm to table. not quite as far as the Tattered Cover, but in the same area. This is be similar in price to Euclid Hall. $25 to $35 dollar for a meal.

And of course there is Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs at 2148 Larimer Street and in food carts all around Denver. There are all kinds of hot dogs here for $7.50. Noisy and not likely to have a place to sit down. However, it is open until 3:00 a.m. on Saturdays.

Let me know where you want to meet. If I don't hear from any of you by 3:00 p.m. tomorrow I will make an executive decision and post the results here.

I will let you know that I am in favor of meeting at the Tattered Cover because it will be quieter and we can talk books. My second choice is Euclid Hall because it is close and I think it would be quieter and more conversational so that we can talk books. But if yo

Very cool information, Benita! Thanks!

I'm driving up from Pueblo and may end up parking at Convention Center, depending on what time I can get out of the house. It's about 1-3/4 hours from my house to the Convention Center, according to Google Maps. Really looking forward to our meetup!!! (Yes, that's a three exclamation point statement.)

ETA: Which Tattered Cover location? I'm assuming the one on 16th Street?

The Tattered Cover is the one located in LoDo. It is on 16th Street. I went back and edited to put in the addresses of the restaurants.

However, there is usually such a crush of people going in when the doors open at 5:30 that I don't think the door people will notice if your pass is not for Friday.

I suspect they're colored differently, so I wouldn't be so certain.

I am not sure if Tim will be meeting with us. He may have a meeting with the ProQuest people.

No, pencil me in. I may have to leave early or something, but so far I have nothing.

OK. It is decision time. I have checked out several restaurants in Denver and there are lots of choices.

All are fine with me. Thank you for coming up with the list. It would be cool to combine it with a visit to the Tattered Cover. But I can see it both ways. Is there perhaps a place near it?

Id like the v neck, gray in xlg please!!!!!!

I have heard back from several of you regarding the Denver Meet-up after a day in lines to see rock star authors and get plenty of ARC's. (I think the threat of Biker Jim's Rattlesnake Hotdogs is what got me some response. I suspect you should be afraid - very afraid.) Here is the plan.

What - LT Meet-up
When - Saturday, February 10, 2018, 6:00 p.m. right after the exhibit hall closes.
Where - Tattered Cover Book Store. -1628 16th Street at Wynkoop in Denver, in the restored Morey Mercantile Building. Famous Denver used bookstore. Coffee shop and store is open until 9:00 p.m. I have been here before and it is a nice quiet place where we could met to discuss our book purchases. Limited food selection. Limited parking - near as I can tell.

Meeting at the Tattered Cover Book Store will allow us to have a quiet let down after the noisy day. When we are all there we can decide if we want to go down the block to the Wynkoop Brewing Co for a meal, or we can go up the block to the Kitchen - Denver to eat. Both should be in walking distance from the Tattered Cover Book Store.

There will be 8 in our party including Tim Spaulding - one of the Librarything Gods (Founder of LT). (That is what Mark in Chicago dubbed him years ago, and the title stuck.)

>32 barichardson: - are you looking at men's v-neck or women's v-neck?

>33 benitastrnad: Maybe I missed it somewhere, but what day is the meet-up scheduled for? I want to spread the word, and make sure I'm doing so with the right details!

Saturday, right?

Tattered Cover

This used book store is a Denver institution. In fact, it is a U. S. book lovers institution and a lodestone for book lovers all over the Inter-Mountain and Rocky Mountain West. For that reason alone people attending a library conference should make a pilgrimage to this spot - even if it is not the original site. We can all be thankful that this book establishment outgrew its original facility and expanded to multiple sites in the Denver area. Huzzah!

I spoke with somebody who works at the Tattered Cover and here is his advice.

1. Take the 15th Street Shuttle. It is free and will take about 5 minutes to get to the Tattered Cover. To get to the Shuttles go to the Sheraton Hotel. (This is an ALA Headquarters Hotel and will have free shuttle from the Convention Center.) Ask the concierge for directions to 16th Street. The shuttles stop at every block. The Tattered Cover is a mile from the Convention Center. The 16th Street Shuttle will stop directly in front of the Tattered Cover.

2. Don't drive down to the Tattered Cover. Apparently, it is located in the middle (the Middle) of the hot night spot in Denver. That happens to be the Union Station and the areas a few blocks to either side. The person I spoke to said that parking is impossible on a Saturday night anywhere close to the area, so use the Shuttle.

3. LoDo is the hip happenin' area of Denver. It is full of 20 year olds who like to party. There will be great people watching in the area.

4. There are all kinds of eating places within a short distance of the store.

5. The coffee shop in the store does not close until the store does - at 9:00 p.m.

The person who answered the phone at the Tattered Cover also told me that the train from the airport goes directly from the airport to Union Station and so the Tattered Cover has also become an international book store of renown and is now a destination for book lovers. They are looking forward to the ALA conference and hope to see us.

#35 & 36

The meet-up will be on Saturday, February 10. We will probably end up eating somewhere, but the guy at Tattered Cover said that we won't have any trouble finding a place that will be open.

The original Tattered Cover in Cherry Creek was absolutely wonderful.

#34
Women's. barichardson is my sister.

Can you make that 2 of those shirts for women. I will need one for Tina as well.

Just an update on the registration process, in case anyone needs to grab a badge yet: The link in >1 lorannen: still works just fine, however you will probably run up against a "Ticket sales are now Closed." message, at some point in the process. Hit "Continue" anyway, and you can proceed with your registration.

I'm guessing this message is in place to inform folks that they can't purchase tickets on the website any longer—you'd have to do that on-site at the convention center—but exhibit hall badges are not subject to this restriction. It's very misleading, and I'm sorry for hassle!

Sounds good - I’m looking forward to meeting everyone!

It’s very easy to get to the Tattered Cover from the Convention Center - cross 14th and walk two blocks up to 16th, cross to the other side of 16th (so you’re headed in the right direction), and take the free mall shuttle (it stops on every corner) to Wynkoop St. The TC is on the corner there (you’ll have to cross 16th again).

#42
That sounds like the directions that the guy at Tattered Cover gave me. He said it was easy and FREE!

I will be leaving Alabama early early in the morning, so I won't be posting again here until I am in Denver. Have fun and I am looking forward to the meet up and lots of sore feet and shoulders from all those books in the exhibits. It is going to be a real bookfest. See you later alligator!

>44 benitastrnad: Safe travels! See you Saturday!

I want to let everyone know that even if it snows we will do a meetup. Unless the conference shuts down. I doubt that will happen.

Some of us did. Mini-meetup last night at the opening of the exhibit hall, but we will see everybody tonight at Tatteered Cover around six - six thirty. I will be a little late as I have an event that starts at 5:30 p.m. But I should be done with that at 6:30. I will then head down to Tattered Cover. See you then.

Benita! Where are youuuuuuu?

>47 timspalding:

Oh, never mind :)

I had such a great time yesterday at the ALA Conference and the meetup at Tattered Cover after! Thank you Tim and Benita for organizing this. Thank you Tim for the neat teeshirt and stamp. Thank you Joanne for welcoming me into your home for the night so I didn't have to drive all the way back to Pueblo in the dark on icy roads. Can't wait for our next meetup!


L-R: Joanne (Coppers), Benita (benitastrnad), Mary (Storeetllr), Kirsta (sorry, I didn't get your LT name), and Tim (timspalding)

Yay! :)

Sorry that I missed the meetup. I did see Tim today and got a chance to ask him about the status of the Windows app. He said something like "two weeks" or "over my dead body"; I don't remember exactly.

>49 Storeetllr: Hey, that’s us!

I had such a good time on Saturday evening with a great bunch of witty and interesting book people. Thank you, Tim, for the opportunity to tour the exhibits and pick up some books at ALA (not to mention the t-shirt and the tote - thanks again!) and to Benita for arranging the meet-up. It was fun meeting Kirsta and Benita’s friend and spending time with my old friend, Mary. You all rock!

Wishing you safe travels home.

NagainaKarait (real name Tina) is the name of my friend who took the picture. She is also a member of Librarything. She doesn't do the threads part of Librarything.

It was a good meet-up and I had fun talking to everybody and meeting some great new people.

Post ALA Update

Suzanne has posted on her thread (Chatterbox) that she got 115 titles at ALA. She also posted that one box has gone missing even though it was mailed priority. However, the Post Office says that there is a good chance it will show up.

I have not received any of my boxes, but I mailed mine at the regular "Media Rate." Which means that it will be a slow boat to China when they get here.

So funny story about book hauls at ALA.

I couldn't fit 5 of my book haul into a box but had room in my suitcase. That made my suitcase heavy. The guy at the airport in Denver tagged the bag as heavy, but didn't charge me extra for the heavy suitcase.

When I arrived in Birmingham, I had to catch the airport shuttle out to the economy parking lot. I warned the driver that the bag was heavy. He started laughing and asked if I had hauled bricks with me on the airplane. I told him it was just books. Then he really laughed. He told me that the night before (late Monday, February 12) he picked up a lady who had a bag so heavy that the wheels on the suitcase wouldn't work. It took both of them to get it up the steps into the shuttle van. (He said that it took both of them to get that suitcase into the trunk of her car!) The woman told him that she had been to a library conference and had picked up lots of free books.

It was my turn to laugh! I told him I had been to the same conference.

>55 benitastrnad: You obviously short-changed yourself!

Well, heck! I only snagged 20 books. I must've been slacking.

I think I have 4.

Haha, slacking or discerning?

On Friday there were 5 boxes of books at my doorstep. I mailed them on Monday from the Post Office on Weston street in Denver. Media rate is supposed to be slow. I think 4 days is fast.

>60 benitastrnad: I tell people that the time of delivery on media mail is, catch this, indeterminate! From Denver to SE PA I have seen it go from 2 or 3 days to 4 weeks!

I have seen media mail beat first class mailed at the same time more than once!

I just finished listening to a recorded book that I purchased back in the summer of 2015 at the ALA conference in San Francisco. At that conference jjmccaffery and I had a meet up at a Starbucks close to the convention center. It was a great opportunity to meet her and compare books and notes about the conference. While I was listening to this book I was thinking about her. These LT meet ups are a good way to meet new people and make new friends. I don’t know if it is the power of the books, the conference, or LT, but it is a good thing.