The American Library Association (ala) annual conference, held June 22-27 in Chicago, saw booming attendance. At conference end, McCormick Place convention center had seen 23,545 people come through the doors, accounting for 17,657 attendees and 5,888 exhibitors, beating 2016's Orlando gathering by more than 8,000 people and even narrowly edging out 2015's San Francisco event by nearly 1,000 attendees. That number includes those who came only on the closing day: more likely than usual this year, as closing keynote speaker Hillary Clinton drew crowds that began lining up nearly five hours before the session's 10 a.m. start time and attracted notice from far beyond the usual library suspects, including a live stream from CNN.
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