LJ has launched a new award to promote community advancement through public libraries, the Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize. Developed in partnership with the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation, this award was created to recognize the public library as a community asset. One winning library will receive $250,000 from the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation and will be showcased in LJ’s November 2019 issue and online.

Connecting directly with customers to find out what they want and need; training staff to focus on equity and to recognize and eliminate hidden biases; developing programs and services for underserved and marginalized populations; and seeking out public sector and private partners made LA County Library a model for the future of libraries and the Gale/LJ Library of the Year.

The 2019 Pulitzer Prizes demonstrate a commitment to recognizing the pressing issues of our times.

The 84th annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards reflect the founder's goal of honoring books that confront racism and celebrate diversity.

On March 6, the 15th annual Story Prize, awarded to the top short story collection of the year, went to Lauren Groff for Florida (Riverhead). Groff takes home the $20,000 first prize, as well as an engraved silver bowl, for the collection, which was also short-listed for the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction. The two runners-up—debut author Jamel Brinkley, whose A Lucky Man (Graywolf) won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winner Deborah Eisenberg for Your Duck Is My Duck (Ecco), her fifth collection—received $5,000 each. The $1,000 Spotlight Award, for a collection of exceptional merit, went to Akil Kumarasamy for her debut collection Half Gods (Farrar).

Library Journal ’s latest round of the New Landmark Library series, which celebrates projects that set new standards for library design, is now accepting submissions. The award is open to any public library in the United States (including U.S. territories) and Canada that completed new construction, expansion, or significant renovations between January 2016 and March 1, 2019.

National Book Critics Circle winners for titles published in 2018 include Anna Burns, Steve Coll, and Zadie Smith. 

It takes two hours by boat to get to Rotuma, an isolated island at the very tip of Fiji, the South Pacific island nation. Opeta Alefaio and his team from Fiji’s National Archives (NAF) made the trip during a government outreach event in 2015 to bring a bevy of archival material, including land and genealogical records, photos, and historical audiovisual footage. This was the first time the islanders had seen these records, says Alefaio, and they formed a huge line outside the tent housing the documents.

Days after Amber Alexander became library director at Presque Isle District Library (PIDL), she was given a highly unusual task for a library: stewardship of the cherished 1937 Rogers City Theater, donated by a community member to prevent its closing. Undaunted, Alexander jumped in, hired a manager for the 280-seat venue, navigated tax laws, and facilitated a diversity of programs, from first-run films, speakers on local history, and authors’ presentations to arts and cultural programming through the Michigan Arts and Humanities Touring Directory.