I am very excited to see the recent positive activity around libraries in the United Kingdom. The community there seems to be rallying in a new way to increase understanding of the urgency for library investment—an effort lifted by a renewed effort to articulate how much libraries contribute to the social fabric. Now is the time to build on that good news story, and their strategy is worth a look.

Editor Peter Sokolowski on the challenges and rewards of editing the dictionary.

Debates over what libraries should fund can get heated, but don't let that stop you from having them. All stakeholders need to not only prepare but discuss the budget, and to understand what new services will meet user demand. Good negotiators need to know when to stick to their guns, even if it means risking an argument. Good leaders also know when to concede and join with the team to ensure progress. Collegiality, civility, and good working relationships are important, but we can’t let the desire to get along prevent us from fully tackling the tough questions

Ilona Bray, coauthor of How To Get a Green Card, offers a guide to help immigrants navigate the system.

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.

From The Hornet (Student Newspaper at Sac State): Sacramento State and the California State University system are currently in ongoing negotiations with Elsevier, a scholarly journal publishing company that licenses the ScienceDirect database to the CSU. The CSU’s current contract with Elsevier terminates at the end of the year. The CSU system is considering terminating […]

From the Associated Press: Most people first entering the historical archives at Yellowstone National Park see long shelves of mute-colored boxes. But for Yellowstone National Park Archivist Anne Foster, those boxes — and the treasures they hold — are a thing of beauty. “Most people just see rows of plain gray boxes, but to me […]

The report linked to below was recently made available online by the Law Library of Congress.  From the Report: Attacks against journalists appear to be on the rise recently in countries around the world. These include attacks allegedly directed by governments or politicians, as well as by individuals displeased with their own media coverage or […]

The following full text research article (preprint) is scheduled for publication in an upcoming issue (Vol. 20 No. 1) of portal: Libraries and the Academy published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Title Attitudes of North American Academics Toward Open Access Scholarly Journals Authors Elizabeth D. Dalton University of Tennessee Carol Tenopir Middle Tennessee State University […]

A data-driven model explaining how those things that make us most human are constructed during the first six years of life, a guide to the alarming increase in anxiety and stress experienced by girls from elementary school through college, and a sourcebook detailing the the 10 personality disorders top the list of best-selling psychology books, as compiled by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.

Bill Gates suggests 2019 books. The readers at PBS NewsHour do, too. And so does Nancy Pearl,  and many more. LitHub calculates that On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is the most popular “Best of Year” title. Michael Chabon's Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is headed to Showtime.

More best lists are out. Lois McMaster Bujold becomes the 36th Damon Knight Grand Master, named by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Jacqueline Woodson writes “Africa, America and Slavery’s Fierce Undertow” for the NYT. More on the Golden Globes.

The Hayward Public Library, CA, opened its new Hayward Library and Community Learning Center; Yale University has completed renovations to its Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Library; Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, NC, unveiled design plans on November 7 for its $100 million Main Library; and more new construction and renovation news from the December 2019 issue of Library Journal.