How do you reopen a library with no guidelines or best practices to work from? That’s the question public leaders and staff are considering as library buildings gradually open across the country.

Held online from June 24–26, ALA Virtual—Community Through Connection saw 7,349 attendees and 651 exhibitors and featured more than 50 sessions, live chats with authors and speakers, more than 75 publisher and exhibitor sessions on new titles, a virtual exhibit floor with more than 600 participating exhibitors, 11 featured speakers, and a Swag-a-Palooza with hundreds of free items.

Online meetings have become ubiquitous for many of us. Once our library started offering Virtual Meeting Rooms to the public via Zoom, we immediately began fielding questions on how to best structure online events. Since how an event is structured has such a large impact on its success, we wanted to share some best practices we’ve learned.

Seven experts discussed long-term trends that are becoming even more significant in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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 National Center For Education Statistics (via E-Mail): Between 2017–18 and 2019–20, the average tuition and required fees at 4-year public institutions increased less than 1 percent for in-state and decreased approximately 1 percent for out-of-state students (after adjusting for inflation). During that same time period, tuition and required fees increased approximately 1 percent […]

From Bloomberg: Digital advertising platforms run by Google, Amazon.com Inc. and other tech companies will funnel at least $25 million to websites spreading misinformation about Covid-19 this year, according to a study released Wednesday. Google’s platforms will provide $19 million, or $3 out of every $4 that the misinformation sites get in ad revenue. OpenX, a smaller digital […]

From AAPB: A collection of episodes from Black Journal, the first nationally televised public affairs program produced for, about, and by Black Americans has been released by The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB), a collaboration between WGBH and the Library of Congress. Largely unseen since they aired between 1968 and 1977, the 59 episodes have been […]

From the LC Labs Newsletter (Posted on “The Signal” Blog): The Speech to Text Viewer is an experiment to test, document, and refine ways to increase accessibility to American Folklife Center collections using off-the-shelf transcription tools. This proof-of-concept tool shows the potential to browse, play audio, and read time-synced auto-generated transcripts of online collections from the American Folklife Center. […]

How do you reopen a library with no guidelines or best practices to work from? That’s the question public leaders and staff are considering as library buildings gradually open across the country.

With some libraries reopening for at least limited services, and many others doing curbside pickup, face masks are a necessity for library workers and patrons alike. These library- and book-themed offerings can make it fun and show your library love all over your face.

Most public libraries stopped distributing materials during the pandemic to stop the spread of the coronavirus. But that doesn’t mean they stopped distributing anything. Some leveraged their expertise at getting resources into the hands of patrons to help those suddenly struggling with the bare essentials of life: food, diapers, the means to clean up, or a place to sleep.

IMLS: In the first phase of a project to disseminate and develop science-based information about how materials can be handled to mitigate exposure to staff and visitors, scientists have found that the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 is not detectable on five common library materials after three days.

Details and revelations make the news as copies of Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man reach newsrooms. The NYT begins the Decameron Project. A collection of early stories by Terry Pratchett is on its way. A long list of writers and artists have an open letter in Harper’s calling for “Justice and Open Debate”; a swift and mostly negative reaction followed. Want by Lynn Steger Strong gets buzz.

Exciting new works from award-winning authors Natalie Haynes, Ladee Hubbard, Sarah Moss, and Todd Robert Petersen and rising-star debut novelist Robert Jones Jr.

Horror and dark fiction are trending in a big way. Here are the titles and trends to keep an eye on in the coming months, including a downloadable list of every book mentioned.

Adam Cesare, author of Mercy House, Video Night, and the upcoming Clown in a Cornfield, discusses his lifelong love of horror across an array of formats and how readers' advisors can help connect scary film fans to great books—and vice versa.