Libraries remained mostly strong at the ballot in 2024, but a decline in construction initiatives and tightening budgets speak to the need for increasingly strategic advocacy.

On March 5, Clarivate issued an update  to its February 18 announcement of a new subscription-based content access strategy for ebooks and digital collections, acknowledging the need for community consultation and a new transition timeline. Because customers expressed that “the original communicated dates for the last orders would pose a considerable challenge,” the open letter stated, Clarivate will extend the ability to make perpetual purchases of print and ebooks on all platforms—including Ebook Central, OASIS, Rialto, and GOBI—through June 30, 2026.

We cannot be caught flat-footed when library funding is called into question. Doing the work of capturing stories today will help ensure we’re prepared to deal with threats that we may face tomorrow.

Voting for the American Library Association (ALA) 2026–27 presidential campaign opens March 10, and ALA members in good standing can cast their ballots through April 2. LJ invited candidates Lindsay Cronk, dean of libraries at Tulane University, New Orleans; Andrea Jamison, assistant professor of school librarianship, Illinois State University; and Maria McCauley, director of libraries, Cambridge Public Library, MA, to weigh in on some key issues.

Here’s the Full Text Statement (Available Online Here): Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith E. Sonderling was sworn in as Acting Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) today, after being designated to the role by President Donald J. Trump. IMLS, an independent government agency, is the primary source of federal support for […]

From KQED: For decades, the Internet Archive has preserved our digital history. Lately, journalists and ordinary citizens have been turning to it more than ever, as the Trump administration undertakes an ideologically-driven purge of government websites. But the Archive itself faces an existential threat. In this episode, Close All Tabs Senior Editor Chris Egusa joins […]

From Here & Now: Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with American Library Association president Cindy Hohl, a Kansas City, Missouri, librarian, about concerns her organization has about cuts that the Trump administration wants to make to the only federal agency that provides funds to libraries. Source

News Roundup Arkansas Restrictions on Use of Arkansas State Library Funds Fail in Budget Subcommittee (via Arkansas Advocate) Florida Senate Committee Clarifies the Ways Books Can be ‘Harmful to Minors’ in Schools (via Florida Phoenix) North Dakota North Dakota Legislators Hear Extensive Testimony on Controversial Library Bill (via Bismarck Tribune) ||| Archived Version Virginia  Lynchburg […]

Find out what's it like to look at the world from an information perspective, to put on your"information colored glasses!

From the Libraries Lead Podcast - February 2025, AI Watch Segment. Dave Lankes explains and demonstrates DeepSeek - the Chinese-based AI system. Go "under the hood" on DeepSeek and see how it performed better than any other current AI on Beth's query about integration in Alabama schools.

Maybe it’s time to move on from a piecemeal “customer” focus, and consider to a more complete “whole people in communities” approach.

Last year, John Wilkin shared his essay Lyrasis in a Landscape of Radical Interdependence where he discussed the interdependence of libraries, archives and museums, and how Lyrasis is uniquely positioned to provide the connective tissue between them.

Scott Summers, assistant director of the Media and Education Technology Resource Center (METRC) at North Carolina State University, was named a 2024 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for his work developing a program to help new teachers understand the growing problem of book censorship in school libraries, and how to work with librarians against it. We recently spoke with Summers about why he developed the program and what it teaches.

Sergey Radchenko’s To Run the World: The Kremlin’s Cold War Bid for Global Power wins the Lionel Gelber Prize for books about international affairs. Harriet Baker’s Rural Hours: The Country Lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann wins the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Trust Young Writer of the Year Award. The shortlist for the Dylan Thomas Prize is revealed. LJ announces the keynote speakers for this year’s Day of Dialog, taking place on Apr. 17: R.F. Kuang, Susan Orlean, and Cory Doctorow. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Phil Hanley, Elon Green, Colum McCann, and Torrey Peters.

The inaugural Climate Fiction Prize shortlist and the Jhalak Prize longlists are announced. The Virginia Festival of the Book kicks off tomorrow. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. Plus, interviews with Karin Slaughter, Connie Briscoe, Jason De León, and Emma Donoghue and title suggestions for Women’s History Month.