Almost no one casually pulls their library’s strategic planning documents out of their pocket. No one, that is, except Peter Bromberg, executive director of the Salt Lake City Public Library (SLCPL), who did just that when I saw him at the LJ Directors’ Summit in San Diego, December 6–7.

Voting in the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) election begins March 11, and members in good standing can cast their ballots through April 3. LJ invited this year’s presidential candidates, Anne Marie Casey and Jon E. Cawthorne, to weigh in on some current issues.

My postelection depression was triggered by all the rancid rhetoric coupled with the fear and deep concern brought on by the bomb mailings and the killings of two in a market in Louisville, KY, and 11 worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

LJ’s 2019 Librarian of the Year directs the LA County Library with creativity and an inclusive spirit.

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.

Fans of the BBC TV show Doctor Who will delight in the new short stories of each Doctor; adults and older teens interested in behind-the-scenes medical fiction will find this gripping

Since the October 27, 2018, shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, when a lone gunman killed 11 worshippers and injured seven during Shabbat morning services, PJ Library has extended its mission to provide books and resources to parents who may be searching for ways to explain anti-Semitism to their young children.

The poet Mary Oliver has died. Min Jin Lee recommends 5 books by women. The 800-CEO-READ Business Book of the Year is announced. Deborah Harkness is featured in the NYT.

My postelection depression was triggered by all the rancid rhetoric coupled with the fear and deep concern brought on by the bomb mailings and the killings of two in a market in Louisville, KY, and 11 worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.