[Publib] Unsolicited Testamonial for Somebody Else's Book

[Mary K Chelton]

As someone who has both succeeded and failed at planning various LIS- 
related, often large-audience events, and been a guest speaker at  
library organizations more times than I can remember, I can recognize  
the voice of experience when I find it, so I decided to tell everyone  
involved in guest speaker LIS programming or training to RUN, don't  
walk, to get yourself a copy of THE AUTHOR EVENT PRIMER by Chapple  
Langemack, just published by Libraries Unlimited. (I should add here  
that I am neither a close friend of the author, nor an employee of,  
consultant to, or author of Libraries Unlimited, but if I were, this  
book would put me in great company.) The author, who is the former  
Readers Services Coordinator of the King County Library System  
outside Seattle, has that rare ability to get to the point quickly,  
use her own negative experiences as object lessons (i.e. don't  
include chocolate in a emergency provisions basket in the car in the  
summer), and organize material brilliantly. The book covers  
everything from why do it to evaluation and follow up with examples  
of letters, planning timelines, etc. She has been both speaker and  
organizer herself and speaks from both perspectives quite easily. She  
is also blessedly funny. If you can't plan a speaker program using  
this book, you are either totally illiterate or should not try. I  
wish I could make several of my classes memorize it before springing  
themselves on the world. In the how-I-run-my-library-good genre, this  
one tops my current list!

Mary K.


Mary K. Chelton
Professor, GSLIS
Queens College (CUNY)
254 Rosenthal Library
65-30 Kissena Blvd.
Flushing, NY 11357
mchelton at optonline.net
(718)-997-3667 or 3790