Think of ASMR as your favorite white noise with benefits. Here are some of our favorites.

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.

On March 17, Ithaka S+R released results from its most recent survey of more than 600 academic library deans and directors across the United States. The report, “National Movements for Racial Justice and Academic Library Leadership,” looks at how their perspectives and strategies around diversity, equity, inclusion (EDI), and antiracism have changed over the last year, as well as their perceptions of COVID-19’s financial impacts on staff and faculty of color.

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 WLS-TV (Chicago): The Media Burn Independent Video Archive recently received a grant of nearly $500,000 from the Council on Library Resources to kickstart a new national initiative. “It’s a partnership with six different institutions, and together we are going to be digitizing more than 1,000 video tapes,” said executive director Sara Chapman. Media Burn […]

From ACRL Connect: ALA’s Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE) is looking for feedback from the library community about an update to the ALA Code of Ethics. In July 2020, the COPE voted to establish a working group to explore the creation of a new principle of the ALA Code of Ethics to address racial and social justice. In collaboration […]

The following article (full text, open access) was recently made available online by The Journal of Academic Librarianship. Title Scavenging for Evidence: A Systematic Review of Scavenger Hunts in Academic Libraries Authors Rachel Keiko Stark California State University, Sacramento Eugenia Opuda University of New Hampshire Jenessa McElfresh Clemson University Kelli Kauffroath California State University, Sacramento […]

From Statistics Canada: The second version of the Open Database of Educational Facilities (ODEF) is now available as part of Statistics Canada’s Linkable Open Data Environment (LODE) initiative. The LODE aims to enhance the use, accessibility and harmonization of open microdata from authoritative sources such as governments and professional associations. It also supports collaboration on […]

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 New York Public Library announces the Young Lions Fiction Award finalists, the Guggenheim Fellows of 2021 are announced, and the PEN America Literary Award Winners were celebrated last evening. Emma Cline, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Stephen Graham Jones, and Elizabeth McCracken get focused attention. Vanity Fair writes more about the Pence book deal and the other Trump books that are in the works. Nine new adaptations hit screens this weekend and into the week ahead. A trailer is out for The Woman in the Window.

Internships and practicums are important to learning and jobseeking. During COVID, LIS programs and students have had to get creative at a distance.

On April 5, the American Library Association (ALA) released its annual State of America’s Libraries Report —this year focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic and how public, school, and academic libraries stepped up to meet patrons’ and communities’ needs. Issued during National Library Week, April 4–10, the report features snapshots of libraries throughout the United States—highlighting the ways they’ve adapted to the changes, restrictions, budget contractions, and opportunities created by the pandemic—and includes a list of the Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2020.

The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman tops the bestseller lists. EarlyWord’s April GalleyChat is posted. S. & S. plans to publish Mike Pence’s autobiography. He now has a two-book deal. The April Earphones Awards are out, as are the April Loan Stars picks. Torrey Peters discusses the Women’s Prize nomination. Granta offers "The Best Of Young Spanish-Language Novelists 2." Worldcon moves to December. There is cast news for the Apple TV+ adaptation of Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent and Amazon is adapting The Peripheral by William Gibson.