I love going to BookExpo America. And once again we’ve got some free VIP tickets to give away. In 2013 BEA will run from May 30 - June 1st at the Javits Center in Manhattan.

If you attend, you’ll have a chance to see Bill and I give our customer service keynote Surviving the Public. You’ll also have a chance to load up on books, meet authors, and attend entertaining, relevant programs,

And as I said the good folks at BEA are giving away 50 VIP passes again. This year we’re giving these away very early to make it easier to plan your trip. Passes are earmarked for librarians (and library employees doing the work outlined below) attending BEA for the first time. We’ll also be randomly picking one of the 50 VIPs to have lunch with Bill and me.

To qualify for a free pass, you must:

• Have not attended BEA in the last three years (this is set in stone)
• Help select books for your library’s collection.

Just email me from your work email address and include: your name and title along with your library’s name, address, phone, and fax (if you’re into antiquated technology). I also need to know how you qualify, so please tell us about your library or library system, too — the size, number of branches — and give me some idea of how many books you buy per year.

Passes will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to qualified professionals. There are no passes available for guests, family members, or students. We’ll update this blog post when they’re gone.