National Library Week is celebrated during April, and these multitalented authors have also worked in libraries. Recognize them with a display!

Library entertainment platforms offering movies and TV shows gain on commercial streaming services as consumers balk at subscription costs. With “subscription fatigue” on the rise, libraries are seeing a growing popularity in streaming services—and deciding how best to provide them.

It’s April, which means that in addition to celebrating spring’s arrival, I’ll be joining libraries across the nation in celebrating National Library Week.

This superbly executed open-access database offers an unprecedented gateway to different versions of Shakespeare’s First Folios. AM’s powerful search tools and thoughtfully selected tips and pointers allow for exciting research opportunities.

COVID shifts drove falling print circ and rising ebooks. But will it last? LJ's 2021 Materials Survey looks at some of the last year's trends.

This is the 13th year of the LJ Index of Public Library Service and Star Library ratings. The 2020 scores and ratings are based on FY18 data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Public Library Survey (PLS). Because of that delay, they don’t reflect the impact of the coronavirus; that won’t be reflected in the data until 2022. The big news in this year’s edition is that successful retrievals of electronic information (e-retrievals)—measuring usage of online content, such as databases, other than by title checkout—joins the six other measures that determine the LJ Index.

Whether librarians are providing services in-person or virtually, reference has changed with the pandemic.

Library Journal’s annual Placements & Salaries survey reports on the experiences of LIS students who graduated and sought their first librarian jobs in the previous year: in this case, 2019. Salaries and full-time employment are up, but so are unemployment and the gender gap; 2019 graduates faced a mixed job market even before the pandemic.

From The Decoder: Google’s big AI developer conference I/O starts on May 14th. Just before that, OpenAI may beat its big AI rival to the punch by launching its own search product. It seems that OpenAI is about to launch its search engine, codenamed “Sonic”. This is based on screenshots and information from web developer […]

The article linked below was recently published by The Journal of Academic Librarianship. Title The Prevalence of Textbook Affordability and OER Initiatives at ARL Libraries Author Zara T. Wilkinson Rutgers University-Camden Source The Journal of Academic Librarianship Volume 50, Issue 4, July 2024, 102884 DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2024.102884 Abstract Textbook affordability programs and the promotion of OER are […]

From a Joint Announcement: The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) are pleased to announce the publication of The ARL/CNI 2035 Scenarios: AI-Influenced Futures in the Research Environment. These scenarios explore potential futures shaped by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and its integration within the research environment. Developed […]

E-Books Inside Libraries’ Battle For Better E-Book Access (via Axios) Misinformation Fake News and Misinformation: Sydney Universities Launch New Database (International Digital Policy Observatory (IDPO) Open Access Knowledge Unlatched Presents Open Access Heroes 2024 and Usage Increase of 20% Open Access, Scholarly Communication, and Open Science in Psychology: An Overview for Researchers Public Libraries John […]

When the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccines began to roll out in mid-December 2020, their distribution was immediately complicated by a shortage of doses and widespread uncertainty about who would be given priority. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued suggested guidelines for phased allocation. When it was not yet clear who would be next, many library workers, leaders, and associations began advocating for public facing library workers to be vaccinated as soon as feasible.

In the messy middle of the pandemic, library leaders share how things have changed since March 2020, their takeways, and continuing challenges.

Whether librarians are providing services in-person or virtually, reference has changed with the pandemic.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of books on the subject has been increasing exponentially. This introductory list, which will be updated regularly, is meant to help collection development librarians get started on determining which books work best for their collections.

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, Kaliane Bradley, Mary Kay Andrews, Colm Toibin, and Jayne Castle. Nine LibraryReads and nine Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is How To Read a Book by Monica Wood. Alexis Wright wins the Stella Prize for Praiseworthy. Plus, the Pulitzer Prizes will be announced at 3 p.m. EST today.

On April 25, the Peabody Awards revealed the list of 68 nominations for 2023, chosen from a field of 1,100 entries. This year’s contenders include popular TV series such as The Bear, Bluey, and Reservation Dogs, documentaries about Judy Blume and Little Richard, children’s programming, newscasts—and two offerings from public libraries: Milwaukee Public Library’s social media streams in the interactive and immersive media category, and Borrowed and Banned, a 10-episode podcast from Brooklyn Public Library in the podcast/radio category.

Winners are announced for the Independent Book Publishers Association’s Benjamin Franklin Book Awards for books from indie presses. The Asian American Literature Festival will return in September, organized by a collective of literary groups, this time without the Smithsonian. NPR’s Fresh Air looks back today on past interviews with Paul Auster. Plus, Page to Screen and reviews of Kaliane Bradley’s buzzy The Ministry of Time.

Winners of the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards are announced, including best novel Flags on the Bayou by James Lee Burke. The winners of the League of Canadian Poets prizes are Hannah Green’s Xanax Cowboy, Sandra Ridley’s Vixen, and Bradley Peters’s Sonnets from a Cell. The finalists for the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing, the shortlist for the Leacock Medal for Canadian humor writing, and the shortlist for the Reading the West Book Awards are revealed. A record number of writers were jailed globally in 2023, according to a report by PEN America.