From a Joint Announcement: OverDrive, the leading digital reading platform for libraries and schools worldwide, announced today that it is acquiring Kanopy, a leading video streaming service for public and academic libraries.

LJ's ALA galley guide is available, featuring more than 150 titles. 

These selections, both memoirs and sociological reflections, spanning everything from dating to parenting, identity to self-acceptance, are perfect suggestions for Pride Month and all year round.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) recently appointed DeLa Dos as senior director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), effective June 7. They will lead the association’s DEI priorities, working with and providing strategic guidance to ARL’s DEI Committee and Board of Directors. LJ caught up with them and ARL Executive Director Mary Lee Kennedy to find out more about their thoughts on DEI work and the association’s ongoing efforts.

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 GCN: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking for ways to deliver the right nuggets of policy and procedural knowledge to the right people at the right time, without including irrelevant or already known information. The Knowledge Management at Scale and Speed program aims to develop technologies that can deliver sufficiently granular and […]

From an ARL Release: The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is proud to join civil society, higher education, racial justice, and other organizations dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the movement for US Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (USTRHT). The movement aims to “properly acknowledge, memorialize, and be a catalyst for progress toward jettisoning […]

The RLUK Digital Shift Forum video embedded below was recorded on June 16, 2021. Program Title Engaging with Artificial Intelligence in Research Libraries Description As artificial intelligence becomes a popular topic in the news and popular culture, Research Libraries are experiencing an increase in available technology using AI. As the AI environment grows, it will […]

From the American Library Association Library professionals are working in environments fueled by rapid advances in technology, social change, funding challenges, and changing user needs. Therefore, the roles, capabilities, and expectations of library professionals are changing as well. The ALA Core Competences (ALACCs) for library professionals must reflect these changes. Today the American Library Association […]

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.

All the December 2021 Prepub Alerts in one place, plus a central index, a downloadable spreadsheet, and a print-ready PDF of all posts.

Catherine Lacey wins the 2021 Young Lions Fiction Award for Pew. The 2021 Premios Kelvin 505 Festival Awards and Kurd Laßwitz Preis Winners are announced. Janet Malcolm, author of The Journalist and the Murderer, has died at the age of 87. Interviews with Brandon Taylor of Filthy Animals, Samira Amhed of Ms. Marvel, Annette Gordon-Reed of On Juneteenth, Elisa Donovan of Wake Me When You Leave: Love and Encouragement via Dreams from the Other Side, Amanda Montell of Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, Casey McQuiston of One Last Stop, Kristin Harmel of The Book of Lost Names, and David McOmie of Safecracker: A Chronicle of the Coolest Job in the World. Michael Wolff will be coming out with a new book, Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency, on July 27 with Henry Holt. Gwen Ifill is honored with a New York City park. Adaptations are in the works for Big Vape: The Incendiary Ride of Juul by Jamie Ducharme and Joshua Whitehead’s Jonny Appleseed.

The 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award and Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award shortlists are announced. New advance crime fiction newsletter First Clue has released three issues. All Seasons Press publisher welcomes rejected conservative writers. The President’s Daughter by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, Tom Clancy Target Acquired by Don Bentley, and The Hotel by Pamela M. Kelley top the best sellers lists this week. Conversations and interviews with Andrea Bartz of The Herd, Laura Hankin of A Special Place for Women, Craig Melvin of Pops: Learning to be a Son and a Father, Alex Michaelides of The Maidens, and Joshua Henkin of Morningside Heights. Sarah Polley is adapting Miriam Toews’ Women Talking.

The popularity of public library streaming media entertainment spiked during the pandemic. What’s next?