The creative problem solving that allowed Anaheim Public Library to weather the pandemic while meeting pre-pandemic goals have earned it the 2021 Gale/LJ Library of the Year award.

In the #MeToo era, we reflected on how widespread sexual harassment felt in our field, and we wanted to know whether that feeling was supported by evidence. A research team consisting of three academic librarians and two sociologists who specialize in data analysis decided to find out.

Looking for ideas for family-friendly vacations or staycations? We offer options for taking to the road or engaging in some armchair travel.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is a $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed by Congress on March 10. It includes targeted funding for various sectors of the economy and government impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, ranging from agriculture to small businesses to education—and libraries. Here are the ins and outs of how new federal funds will reach public libraries and how they can be spent.

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 Scientist: “Essentially what Plan S is doing is it’s moving from a reader-pays to a [author]-pays system,” says Robin Crewe, a retired entomologist at the University of Pretoria in South Africa and former president of the Academy of Science of South Africa. “That’s fine in systems in which the research activities are well […]

From a BookNet Canada Blog Post: The On Diversity: A Survey of Canadian Readers 2021 report includes insights about the ways readers discover diverse books, what they consider to be a diverse author or title, their perceptions of diversity in the publishing industry, the topics they want to see more often in the books they read, […]

The following report was recently made available on MetaArxiv. Title Recommendations from the Reducing the Inadvertent Spread of Retracted Science: Shaping a Research and Implementation Agenda Project Authors Jodi Schneider University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign jodi@illinois.edu jschneider@pobox.com Nathan D. Woods Randi Proescholdt Yuanxi Fu RISRS Team Source via MetaArxiv. DOI: 10.31222/osf.io/ms579 July 28, 2021 Abstract Retracted […]

ARL Responds to US Office of Science and Technology Policy Request for Information to Improve Federal Scientific Integrity Policies (Assoc. of Research Libraries) Collective Wisdom: Book Sprint to Community Review (via Library of Congress) Maria Bonn Elected ASIS&T Director-at-Large (via School of Information Sciences , U. of Illinois) PNAS and the University of California Announce […]

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.

Reese Witherspoon picks We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz and Jenna Bush Hager picks The Turnout by Megan Abbott for August book clubs. The 2021 Mythopoeic Awards Finalists are announced. Read-alikes, reviews, and interviews roll in for the buzziest book of the week, Billy Summers by Stephen King. Interviews arrive with Cecily Strong, Tracey Lange, Deborah Copaken, Halimah Marcus, Charlotte McConaghy, Nneka M. Okonaabout, Naomi Hirahara, Melissa Shapiro, Anna Qu, James Lapine, and Sarah Ferguson. Stephenie Meyer’s Midnight Sun and Twilight saga books will be reissued with new covers in 2022. Plus, Mercedes Lackey’s ‘Valdemar Universe’ fantasy series will be adapted for TV.

 

Fall sweeps in with 133 books that collection development and readers’ advisory librarians will want to know, read, share, and buy.

LJ editors highlight personal favorites among the new slate of fall 2021 books. Selections span romance, biography, suspense, art, gardening, poetry, and more, including key debuts and the return of favorite authors.

Award–winning author and editor Roxane Gay discusses the launch of her new imprint at Grove Atlantic, part of a welcome and necessary change in publishing.