As director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries initiative from 2008 until the program came to a close at the end of 2018, Deborah Jacobs was responsible for overseeing the distribution of millions of dollars to libraries in more than 50 countries and the United States. LJ caught up with Jacobs at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in her hometown of Seattle to share a look back—as well as a look forward.

The most recent report from Ithaka S+R, on Library Acquisition Patterns, examines book purchasing data gathered from academic libraries between fiscal years 2014 through 2017 in an effort to discern current acquisition trends. Takeaways include a declining university press presence, continued strong representation in humanities titles, and Amazon not leading the vendor pack by a wide margin.

During the final week of January, temperatures across the Midwest plunged to dangerous, record-breaking lows. Many libraries remained open and helped keep their constituents warm, out of the elements, informed, entertained, and, most of all, safe.

Spirits were high on the evening of Friday, January 25, when LJ celebrated 2019 Librarian of the Year Skye Patrick with a reception at Seattle’s Hotel Theodore.

In March 2018, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries hosted a working summit on Grand Challenges in Information Science and Scholarly Communication. After an open review period, the results were distilled into a final white paper, A Grand Challenges-Based Research Agenda for Scholarly Communication and Information Science, released December 18.

On December 1, 2018, Berkeley Public Library (BPL), CA, rolled out its new Easy Access Cards, designed for library customers without a fixed address. These include patrons who are experiencing homelessness, lack current documentation, are in transition between addresses, or are in the foster care system.

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.