The results from LJ’s Fall 2021 Public Library Fundraising Survey demonstrate how the the COVID-19 pandemic changed the ways libraries conducted their fund­raising. Like so much else in the library field, the pandemic forced library staff, administrators, and Friends groups to reconsider the best ways both to raise funds and utilize them.

In 2021, the Annenberg School’s Library Archives accessioned the collection of Amy Siskind’s Weekly List website; however, the path to get there was complicated, and the final gift looked quite different from how it was conceived in the initial conversation. 

Library Journal’s recent survey on College Student Library Usage, sponsored by ProQuest, looks at how students in American colleges and universities use their institutions’ libraries, and whether those libraries are meeting students' needs. Most are pleased with the quality of resources provided, and more than three quarters feel the library contributes to their academic success. However, the number of visits, whether in-person or virtual, are hit-and-miss—as many students use the library more than 10 times a semester as never use it at all.

Ransomware attacks are on the rise, and several libraries have been hit by opportunistic criminals.

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 International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions: IFLA Green Library Award was a success also this year. To our great delight ENSULIB received 31 submissions from around the world, including Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, India, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, USA. All applications were checked to […]

From the Salt Lake City Tribune: Ask most people what the oldest book made with movable metal type is, and they likely will say the Gutenberg Bible, printed around 1455 in Mainz, Germany. That isn’t the case, and a University of Utah librarian is part of a research project to give proper due to what […]

From the Endangered Archives Programme Blog: In this month’s round-up we have a collection of portrait photographs from Lima, Peru (EAP1234), and two collections from Sri Lanka, palm-leaf manuscripts from the Jaffna, Vanni, and Mannar districts (EAP1056), and Tamil Protestant records from the Jaffna Peninsula (EAP971). You can read more about each of the projects […]

The article linked below was published today by Scientometrics. Title Measuring Publication Diversity Among the Most Productive Scholars: How Research Trajectories Differ in Communication, Psychology, and Political Science Authors Manuel Goyanes University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain Márton Demeter National University of Public Service, Budapest, Hungary Zicheng Cheng Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA Homero Gil […]

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.

The 2022 Orwell Prizes finalists and Owned Voices Novel Award are announced. Page to Screen highlights adaptations arriving this weekend. Interviews abound with authors Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Christine Quinn, Naheed Phiroze Patel, Tom Daley, Cynthia Clampitt, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey, Mesha Maren, and Fernando Flores.

The 2022 Firecracker Awards finalists are announced. There is a new banned book subscription service called Getting the Banned Back Together. At the top of the best sellers lists are The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner, The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian, A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times by Mark T. Esper, and How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going by Vaclav Smil. Author interviews feature Colton Haynes and Stephanie Foo. There is adaptation news for Margalit Fox’s The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History.

Science, social science, humor & more.

Wesley Morgan wins the 2022 William E. Colby Award for The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley. NPR Books Editor Petra Mayer is honored with posthumous Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. The 2022 Nommo Awards shortlist is announced. The 2022 Premios Kelvin finalists are announced. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Christina Lauren's buzzy book, Something Wilder. Colin Kaepernick will publish a memoir. Margaret Atwood’s Stone Mattress adaptation casts leads. Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen gets a reboot and Spiderhead gets a trailer.