For Immediate Release

June 21, 2005

Contact: Tina Jordan
Ph: 212-255-0200 x263
Email: tjordan@publishers.org

New Website Will Bring Authors and Libraries Together

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today announced the launch of a unique new website, Authors @ Your Library, (www.AuthorsAtYourLibrary.org), which for the first time will link publishers and librarians to simplify the process of scheduling library events. Authors @ Your Library is a free online matchmaking service for librarians who want to schedule successful author events, and for publishers who are seeking enthusiastic audiences for their authors. The user-friendly web site will require only a few minutes for librarians and publishers to enter pertinent information about their libraries and authors into the fully searchable online database. Librarians responsible for event planning will be able to search for authors by name, title, geographic location, tour schedules, and other items. With complete publisher contact information provided, the database will make it easier than ever for librarians to schedule author events. The site will enable publishers to quickly identify opportunities for author events presented by various libraries in different regions of the country, facilitating the process of scheduling author tours and increasing publicity for new titles. The website was developed by AAP's Trade Libraries Committee, which comprises the largest book publishing companies in the United States, in partnership with organizations including the American Library Association, Friends of Libraries U.S.A (FOLUSA), and Library Journal. A website development team at the University of North Texas, Texas Center for Digital knowledge, headed by William E. Moen, Ph.D., is producing the database. More information will be available at the FOLUSA booth (#4227) at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago's McCormick Place from June 25 through June 28. Everyone who enters data into the system during the show will be eligible to win a tote bag of new books - a different bag will be raffled off each day of the show. The Association of American Publishers is the national trade organization of the U.S. book publishing industry. AAP's more than 300 corporate members include most of the major commercial book publishers in the United States as well as smaller and medium-sized houses, non-profit publishers, university presses and scholarly societies. AAP members publish hardcover and paperback books in every field including general fiction and non-fiction, poetry, children's books, textbooks, Bibles and other religious works, reference works, scientific, medical, technical, professional, scholarly books and journals, audio books, computer software, and a range of electronic products and services.

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