The challenge for libraries is, first, to obtain and spend federal funding, and second, to parlay that temporary help into a permanent paradigm shift. The new equipment will outlast the emergency. It is up to library leaders to document its ongoing impacts, so that when breakage and age take their inevitable toll, funders will find it unthinkable not to replace and upgrade the gear.

Jackie Gosselar is a Systems and Discovery Services Librarian at the University of California, Berkeley. They shared their experience as a bisexual, nonbinary librarian, and provided some insight into the value of being part of an organizational culture that makes space for all identities.

Public libraries are seeing success with virtual murder mysteries, which vary in format from Zoom events to text-based games to videos.

When Bernard “Bud” Barton was hired as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Library of Congress in September 2015 he was faced with the Government Accountability Office’s list of 31 recommendations to overhaul and modernize the library’s IT infrastructure. Five years later, those recommendations have been implemented. LJ caught up with Barton to discuss his team's work, and what’s ahead as the Library of Congress continues to modernize its IT.

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 a CRL Announcement: CRL and East View Information Services have opened the first release of content for Imperial Russian Newspapers, the fourth Open Access collection of titles digitized under the Global Press Archive (GPA) CRL Charter Alliance. This collection adds to the growing body of Open Access material available in the Global Press Archive […]

From IEEE Spectrum: You’re about to hear a lot about network neutrality again, now that the Biden administration is in the White House. Last time, the issue was ensuring that Internet service providers (ISPs) wouldn’t discriminate against different sources of legal traffic on their network. This time around, you should expect the debate to be […]

The ARL/CARL Webinar and Workshop: Code of Best Practices in Fair Use/Fair Dealing For OER: Webinar and Workshop took place on April 19, 2021. From the Description: Fair use and fair dealing are the rights to use copyrighted content without asking the rightsholder for permission. This statutory safeguard is key to a balanced copyright regime, […]

The ARL/CARL Webinar and Workshop: Code of Best Practices in Fair Use/Fair Dealing took place on April 19, 2021. A video recording is embedded below. Description Fair use and fair dealing are the rights to use copyrighted content without asking the rightsholder for permission. This statutory safeguard is key to a balanced copyright regime, allowing […]

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 uncut version of Richard Wright's The Man Who Lived Underground finally gets a release and reviews. The LA Festival of Books continues this week. Dutton releases a posthumous interview with Eric Jerome Dickey for the release of his final novel The Son of Mr. Suleman.  Katherine Heiny shines with Early Morning Riser and Michelle Zauner's Crying in H Mart continues to get attention. Elizabeth Acevedo will release her first novel for adults in 2023 while Michaela Coel will publish debut novelin September. Downton Abbey 2 will hit theaters in December. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse gets a new trio of directors at the helm, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings gets a new trailer. Plus, a reported $2M book deal for Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for patrons waiting for A Gambling Man by David Baldacci.

Vartan Gregorian, president of the New York Public Library (NYPL) from 1981–89, died on April 15 at age 87. Gregorian took leadership of the library during the tail end of the fiscal crisis that pushed New York City to the brink of bankruptcy and left NYPL facing a $50 million deficit, helping restore the library to solvency through substantial fundraising efforts and advocacy.

For over 75 years, the librarians of CODES have annually selected the best books to share with readers and add to collections. Here, five members, representing various committees, celebrate a few of the many excellent reads showcased across the 2020 award lists.