The creative problem solving that allowed Anaheim Public Library to weather the pandemic while meeting pre-pandemic goals have earned it the 2021 Gale/LJ Library of the Year award.

In the #MeToo era, we reflected on how widespread sexual harassment felt in our field, and we wanted to know whether that feeling was supported by evidence. A research team consisting of three academic librarians and two sociologists who specialize in data analysis decided to find out.

Looking for ideas for family-friendly vacations or staycations? We offer options for taking to the road or engaging in some armchair travel.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is a $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed by Congress on March 10. It includes targeted funding for various sectors of the economy and government impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, ranging from agriculture to small businesses to education—and libraries. Here are the ins and outs of how new federal funds will reach public libraries and how they can be spent.

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 UCSF: UC San Francisco and The Atlantic have announced that the COVID Tracking Project, a crowdsourced digital archive documenting the face of the pandemic in the United States, will become part of the University’s permanent library collection and is accessible to researchers and the public. The project was a 15-month endeavor, powered by volunteers, […]

From The Canadian Press/CTV: The Supreme Court of Canada says a copyright collective cannot force York University to pay specific tariffs for the use of published works in the classroom. In its unanimous decision today, the high court says the law does not empower the Access Copyright collective to enforce royalty payments set out in […]

The following article (full text, open access) was recently published by the International Journal on Digital Libraries. Title Analysing the Requirements for an Open Research Knowledge Graph: Use Cases, Quality Requirements, and Construction Strategies Authors Arthur Brack Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology Anett Hoppe Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology Markus Stocker […]

From IMLS: The Institute of Museum and Library Services today announced 78 awards totaling $22,711,204 to support libraries across the country. The FY 2021 awards were made through National Leadership Grants for Libraries and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program. The awarded grants search on the IMLS website contains a complete list of grantees and project descriptions. “With the […]

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.

A new Zora Neale Hurston essay collection, You Don’t Know Us Negroes, will be coming out in 2022, and there is a sneak peek of John Le Carré’s final novel Silverview. Interviews with: Cody Alan of Hear’s the Thing: Lessons on Listening, Life & Love, Rahul Raina of How to Kidnap the Rich, Phillip Lopate, Eve Gleichman and Laura Blackett of The Very Nice Box, and Marcello Di Cintio of Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers. Adaptations are in the works for Octavia Butler’s Fledgling and Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead.

In the #MeToo era, we reflected on how widespread sexual harassment felt in our field, and we wanted to know whether that feeling was supported by evidence. A research team consisting of three academic librarians and two sociologists who specialize in data analysis decided to find out.

The National Book Awards will be held as an in-person event with some virtual elements. Honors for The Sisters in Crime Australia shortlist authors, 2021 Ned Kelly Awards shortlist, and Ursula K. La Guin with a U.S. Postal Service Forever stamp. Black Ice by Brad Thor, False Witness by Karin Slaughter, and I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker top the best sellers list.  Interviews with Ed Simon of An Alternative History of Pittsburgh, Laia Jufresa of Umami, Melinda Wenner Moyer of ​​How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes: Science-based Strategies for Better Parenting—From Tots to Teens, Pik-Shuen Fung of Ghost Forest, and Matthew Specktor of Always Crashing in the Same Car: On Art, Crisis, and Los Angeles, California.

While most of the art world has had to cope with the complications of museum closures and re-openings over the past 15 months, patrons have been growing hungrier for arts and culture. “We’ve seen an uptick in our audience getting their art fix—and a connection to beauty—via books,” says Thames & Hudson assistant editor Elizabeth Keene. “