As ever, sf and fantasy reflect the present through the lens of alternate pasts and possible tomorrows. This year that means dystopias, "cli-fi," resistance, and optimism. In a Q&A with editor John Joseph Adams, we discuss the lengths to which writers and publishers go for the best sf.

With his catch phrases, gigantic grin, and enormous sunglasses serving as his costume, a character as colorful and iconic as any he cocreated (including the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Black Panther, and the X-Men), Stan Lee, born Stanley Martin Lieber (1922–2018), who died on November 12, was a huckster and a hustler, a charlatan and a visionary.

Oregon’s Douglas County libraries made news in spring 2017, after a measure on the November 2016 ballot failed and the 11-branch system closed its libraries. Since then, a small but loyal number of volunteers and Friends organizations have stepped in to bring their libraries back as DIY operations, one at a time.

Reference collections can have a reputation as fusty or mundane. Still, every rule has its exceptions—as these four collections illustrate.

During the week of March 19–23 MIT Libraries convened experts from across disciplines and domains to identify and address grand challenges in the scholarly communication and information science landscape.

Suppose a librarian receives an email from a man named Greg Walsh, wanting to become a cardholder or simply inquiring about the open hours. Would the librarian reply? And, if so, would the reply be polite, including for instance some form of salutation, such as “Hello” or “Good morning”? Does your answer change if the guy is called Tyrone Washington? Is a librarian treating Jake Mueller differently from DeShawn Jackson?

A detailed look at pain management implementing the use of medical cannabis rather than opioids; A complex look at the issue of opioid abuse backed up with research and first hand stories; A valuable addition to the conversation about addiction filled with case studies illustrating the complexities of the disease

Editor Sarah Janssen discusses editing The World Almanac in an age where being attuned to "fake news" is especially vital.

A photo spurred Marian Fragola to create the Making Space series at North Carolina State University (NCSU). As part of a study on the library’s gaming spaces, a student snapped a picture of herself looking into one of the rooms, her body reflected in the glass. “[It] captured her feelings of not being welcomed,” says Fragola, director of program planning and outreach. The photo brought home to Fragola and her colleagues the issue of women’s underrepresentation in the Maker movement and tech.

As director of archives and special collections at Columbia University’s Barnard Library, Shannon O’Neill practices “radical empathy,” both in the materials she selects and in the way she interacts with colleagues. The concept of radical empathy in archival practice comes from Michelle Caswell and Marika Cifor’s “From Human Rights to Feminist Ethics: Radical Empathy in the Archives,” explains O’Neill. In practice, she says, “we allow ourselves to be open to and affected by one another, and we acknowledge and actively confront oppressive structures—ones that are colonial, carceral, and racist—in archives.”

When a prospective date asked Kiara Garrett to recommend a book, she suggested Junot Díaz’s This Is How You Lose Her. He mistakenly thought the collection offered relationship advice. Garrett told him, “If you liked Jay-Z’s album 4:44, then you would like this book.”

In November 2017, a few months after she became Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library’s (EVPL) civic data scientist—one of the few in the country at a public library—Jerica Copeny volunteered at the inaugural conference of Data for Black Lives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab.

The NYT announces its Notable Books of the year. The New York Public Library offers a list of 2018's best as well. Both Becoming and My Brilliant Friend continue to dominate the news, with details of fast sells and watching clubs.

LibraryReads offers a yearly look at books librarians love best.

The data for academic new buildings and renovations featured in LJ's Year in Architecture 2018.

LJ's Years in Architecture compared: FY13–18 Cost Summaries and Funding Sources.