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A judge lifts the gag order on Mary Trump. Lit Hub releases its “Most Anticipated Books of 2020, Part 2.” Library Journal begins #LJReads, a community-wide reading group focused on Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld. The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian is headed to TV. Disney+ is planning a Clone Wars spin-off, The Bad Batch. Jane Austen’s home in Bath, England is an Airbnb.
As they anticipate hits from lowered enrollment and decreased endowments, as well as declines in state funding for public universities and community colleges, and potential rollbacks of money that has already been authorized, academic institutions have begun hiring freezes and reductions, including furloughs, layoffs, and reduced hours for non-tenured faculty and staff. Many campus libraries are seeing reductions in workforce that threaten to affect their ability to serve students, faculty, and researchers.
Too Much and Never Enough by Mary Trump leads holds this week, even as a judge continues to prevent Dr. Trump from prompting or discussing her work. Colson Whitehead wins the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction for The Nickel Boys. The Shirley Jackson Awards are out. The Book of X by Sarah Rose Etter wins for best novel. People’s "Book of the Week" is Gatecrasher by Ben Widdicombe. The National Book Awards will be all digital in 2020 due to the pandemic. The ceremony will take place, online, on Nov. 18.
This July, LJ launches #LJReads, a community-wide read; our first book will be Curtis Sittenfeld's Rodham.
The Orwell Prizes are announced. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead wins for Political Fiction. In nonfiction it is Kate Clanchy’s Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me. Greyhound and The Old Guard lead a handful of adaptations this week. Kevin Kwan's Sex and Vanity is headed to the movies.
The WWR gang at LJ/School Library Journal keep expanding our interior spaces figuratively and literally, with book reading, book weeding, and little TV watching.
In late June, Macmillan announced the creation of the Trade Management Committee, which will “set the goals and objectives for the publishers, divisions, and departments that comprise U.S. Trade and Shared Services.” However, the question remains whether this committee and other steps taken by the publisher will result in real change or are a temporary measure to placate criticism.
In summer 2016, four librarians—Jessica Anne Bratt, Amita Lonial, Sarah Lawton, and Amy Sonnie—created Libraries 4 Black Lives (L4BL), an online space for libraries to support the Movement for Black Lives and develop a support community for advocates doing racial justice work in libraries. While L4BL is no longer active, Bratt, youth services manager at the Grand Rapids Public Library, MI, has continued her advocacy and social justice work. LJ recently caught up with her to find out more about what she’s been doing.
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People To Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo continues to top the bestseller lists while Kevin Kwan’s Sex and Vanity leads six new titles onto the lists as well. Trump family lawyers are still trying to block Mary Trump’s book, even as more newspapers offer outtakes and reviews. Ernest Cline, Philip Pullman, and Pete Buttigieg have new work on the way and Gary Larson has posted new comics. Nan A. Talese announces her retirement and Phoebe Robinson starts an imprint at PRH.
Hillybilly Elegy author J.D. Vance leads a group of authors discussing crucial issues today.
Details and revelations make the news as copies of Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man reach newsrooms. The NYT begins the Decameron Project. A collection of early stories by Terry Pratchett is on its way. A long list of writers and artists have an open letter in Harper’s calling for “Justice and Open Debate”; a swift and mostly negative reaction followed. Want by Lynn Steger Strong gets buzz.
Adam Cesare, author of Mercy House, Video Night, and the upcoming Clown in a Cornfield, discusses his lifelong love of horror across an array of formats and how readers' advisors can help connect scary film fans to great books—and vice versa.
Horror and dark fiction are trending in a big way. Here are the titles and trends to keep an eye on in the coming months, including a downloadable list of every book mentioned.
Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough is publishing two weeks early, now out on July 14. Also in the news, another book about Melania Trump is on the way, this one by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the former advisor let go over questions of inauguration money. Sources report that it “trashes the First Lady.” The 2019 VIDA Count is out. Amazon releases its accounting of the most books sold to date this year. The Maurice Sendak Foundation makes a deal with Apple TV+ and Brad Pitt is starring in a new adaptation, Bullet Train.
Chicago Public Library's Merlo Branch and Indianapolis PL's Martindale-Brightwood Branch have opened to the public, while work is proceeding—after some delays—on St. Louis County PL's Eureka Hills Branch, the new North Branch of Clinton-Macomb PL, and Carroll County PL's Exploration Commons.
Simon & Schuster names Dana Canedy as its new publisher. The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs leads holds this week. People’s “Book of the Week” is Notes on a Silencing: A Memoir by Lacy Crawford. The Baby-Sitters Club and Hamilton are at the top of everyone’s mind. More booklists for the week and the year thus far arrive and there are 12 librarian and bookseller picks for the week.
In many towns across the United States, seeing members of the police in the public library is common-place. Off-duty officers moonlight as library security guards. Library programs like “Coffee with a Cop” aim to help the police develop closer bonds of trust with the community. And police are often called to deal with behavioral issues or threats to patron or staff safety. But as the past weeks of protest after the police killing of George Floyd, among others, make plain, for a substantial portion of patrons and staff, the presence of the police is itself a threat.
Held online from June 24–26, ALA Virtual—Community Through Connection saw 7,349 attendees and 651 exhibitors and featured more than 50 sessions, live chats with authors and speakers, more than 75 publisher and exhibitor sessions on new titles, a virtual exhibit floor with more than 600 participating exhibitors, 11 featured speakers, and a Swag-a-Palooza with hundreds of free items.
Shifting instruction and campus services entirely online in a matter of days in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was a near-Herculean feat for the nation’s colleges and universities. But for institutions that have developed robust and forward-looking library programs, the transition has proceeded more smoothly.
At this year's American Library Association (ALA) Virtual Conference, the well-attended panel “Breaking the Rules of Graphic Novels" touched on topics of defying taboos and how owning one's story can make familiar ideas feel utterly new.
The Room Where It Happened by John Bolton tops bestseller lists. The NY State Supreme Court lifts the block on Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough. The August Indie Next list is out. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy tops the list. Pennie Clark Ianniciello picks The Wedding Thief by Mary Simses as her July title. Lots of booklists arrive and Fox News reporter and author Ed Henry gets cut by Harper.
As calls for accountability are amplified across the country, many institutions are starting by addressing their racist history—many of which involved naming rights for funders or founders. Recently the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University (LSU) unanimously voted to remove the name of former university president Troy H. Middleton, whose 1961 correspondence stated his wish to keep the school segregated, from the LSU Library.
Seven experts discussed long-term trends that are becoming even more significant in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The urgent need for antiracism work, and fighting anti-Blackness in particular, inside the culture of librarianship as well as in our communities, was an important strand of content throughout the American Library Association (ALA) Virtual Conference last week. It echoed through new Executive Director Tracie Hall’s message to Monday’s Membership Meeting and to Council, ALA president Wanda Brown’s message, and the keynote presented by Fair Fight founder Stacey Abrams, as well as granular programming on how to operationalize antiracism work in libraries.
A judge has temporarily blocked publication of Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. Appeals are in the works. July book club titles arrive, along with best of the month lists and picks for the remainder of the reading year. The NYT reports on "What It’s Like to Be Black in Publishing.” The publishing world suffers losses as Carl Reiner and Rudolfo Anaya have died.
A riveting insider's look at the race to find a cure for antibiotic-resistant infections; the fascinating story of the search for cancer viruses in the US; and an insight into contemporary, robust methodologies for studies into the pathogenicity and virulence of human and animal bacterial pathogens top the list of best-selling microbiology books, as compiled by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.
With some libraries reopening for at least limited services, and many others doing curbside pickup, face masks are a necessity for library workers and patrons alike. These library- and book-themed offerings can make it fun and show your library love all over your face.
Gale, a Cengage company, today introduced five interactive dashboards for its Gale Analytics demographic data visualization platform.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of [white] women’s suffrage and the 50th anniversary of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Social Responsibilities Round Table Feminist Task Force (FTF). In honor of both milestones, the ALA Virtual Conference panel “Herstory Through Activism: Women, Libraries, and Activism” offered a compelling look at the intersections of feminist activism in libraries, and how the current era of COVID-19 has changed the panelists’ priorities for urgent change.
Candice Carty-Williams and Bernardine Evaristo make history by winning the top British Book awards prizes. Booklists for July, summer, the year thus far, and much more arrive. The two new Normal People forty-years later shorts are here. Netflix’s Baby-Sitters Club gets glowing praise and HBO pays big and wins adaptation rights to The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.
In partnership with 10 state libraries, BiblioLabs has announced that more than 4,000 digital comics, graphic novels, and children’s materials will be available for free, unlimited simultaneous use through August 31. In addition, the library partners will be participating in a new Virtual Library Comic Convention scheduled to be held on July 30.
In this extraordinary time, with people shuttered in their homes instead of traveling, books can serve as windows into regions and cultures we can’t visit physically. That’s exactly what a new wave of cookbooks accomplishes, as publishers are looking to create works that are more than just collections of recipes.
Of the many innovations necessitated by the American Library Association (ALA) Annual conference shift from in-person to virtual because of COVID-19, governance meetings using two technologies in tandem were among the most high-stakes. Despite a few glitches and a noticeable learning curve, on the whole they went smoothly, with ALA Council members voicing approval of the voting software even for in-person use once conferences resume.
The Locus Awards are announced. The Dilemma by B.A. Paris leads holds this week. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia sits atop both the LibraryReads and Indie Next lists. Why Did I Get a B? by Shannon Reed is People’s “Book of the Week.” Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi pick summer reads for Amazon. Antiracist book focus is starting to turn to poetry, both in the U.S. and the UK. Vox has an in-depth report on the romance genre, racism, and the RWA.
Hulu is adapting Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends and Normal People will have two more short episodes, set forty years in the future. Poetry and audiobooks are both in the news and the NYT offers “How We Got Here: Writers on Race and Racism in America.”
At the American Library Association's (ALA) virtual conference held this week, replacing the annual in-person conference which was canceled because of the pandemic, ALA President Wanda Brown invited as her President’s Program speaker Stacey Abrams—author, Georgia gubernatorial candidate, and founder of the organizations Fair Fight (for voting rights) and Fair Count (for census participation).
A live panel of transgender and nonbinary librarians and allies, held on June 24 at the American Library Association’s (ALA) virtual conference, offered an abundance of useful information and resources for libraries to better serve their transgender communities and ensure that transgender staff are comfortable in the workplace.
Antiracist titles continue to fill the bestseller lists. White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People To Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo tops the charts. In new title bestsellers, 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand tops a handful of books. Amazon and Tor.com pick their best books of the year thus far, and there are new summer reading lists out as well. A major book on Korean art is released. The Good Lord Bird is delayed to add context and Gone With The Wind returns with context.
From Multichannel News: House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) was joined by members of the House Rural Broadband Task Force and other House Democrats Wednesday (June 24) to introduce H.R. 7302, the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act, yet another bill to boost broadband in the time of COVID-19 and beyond.
The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly shuttered academic libraries across the United States in March, leaving library staff scrambling to continue some semblance of library services. As states have taken steps toward reopening, academic institutions are now looking toward the fall semester and considering how they might safely open their own facilities.
How do you reopen a library with no guidelines or best practices to work from? That’s the question public leaders and staff are considering as library buildings gradually open across the country.
In addition to enhanced cleaning protocols, training, and the public use of personal protective equipment like face coverings, the impacts of coronavirus are transforming how we design public spaces in the short and long term.
Online meetings have become ubiquitous for many of us. Once our library started offering Virtual Meeting Rooms to the public via Zoom, we immediately began fielding questions on how to best structure online events. Since how an event is structured has such a large impact on its success, we wanted to share some best practices we’ve learned.
Black-owned bookstores cope with the spike in orders, customer demands, and the tragic reason sales are up. The winners of the Bisexual Book Awards are announced, as are the longlists for the Polari Prize and the Polari First Book Prize for LGBTQ+ literature. As part of the changes to Macmillan’s decision team, John Sargent, the CEO, is stepping back from day-to-day responsibilities. George R. R. Martin says that he hopes to have The Winds of Winter finished by next year. The Trump family is trying to stop the publication of Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.
#BlackLivesMatter—and Black voices matter, too. Here is a necessarily selective list of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry from Black authors appearing in 2020.
A report on diversity and publishing is out in the UK. Macmillan is changing its management structure to be more diverse. NPR starts this year's Summer Reading Poll, on books for children. Covid-19 continues to change the book world. New reading lists are out for the summer, the week, the month, and the rest of the year. Perry Mason is doing very well. Both Apple TV’s Foundation and Hamilton get trailers.
There is probably no single cause more popular than literacy. While libraries of all types are of course front and center in the fight, everything from a plethora of other governmental agencies to literacy-specific nonprofits international and domestic to giant for-profit corporations like McDonalds have dedicated resources to promoting reading and addressing the literacy crisis we scoped in our April issue.
Essential titles reviewed in our June 2020 print issue, spanning mystery & suspense, sf/fantasy, graphic novels, fiction, social sciences, and more.
Most public libraries stopped distributing materials during the pandemic to stop the spread of the coronavirus. But that doesn’t mean they stopped distributing anything. Some leveraged their expertise at getting resources into the hands of patrons to help those suddenly struggling with the bare essentials of life: food, diapers, the means to clean up, or a place to sleep.
Though the sale of adult nonfiction hasn't returned to pre-COVID levels, the recent interest in antiracist titles has led to an uptick.
The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by John Bolton dominates book coverage and leads library holds for the week. A judge has said publication can go forward and it lands tomorrow. Bolton is already conducting a full court media press. Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory is buzzy as well. LJ gathers “Resources for Cultivating an Antiracist Mindset.” Entertainment Weekly has a new list as well. People’s Book of the Week is Don't Turn Around by Jessica Barry.
IMLS: In the first phase of a project to disseminate and develop science-based information about how materials can be handled to mitigate exposure to staff and visitors, scientists have found that the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 is not detectable on five common library materials after three days.
As we all know by now, 2020 is not a normal year and ALA's annual conference has gone virtual from June 24–26. While missing the chance to network, connect, and collect galleys, the silver lining is that attending ALA is now available to a far broader cross-section of the field than ever before. Here, LJ’s editors have made their personal picks.
The board book Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi, illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky is so popular it is getting released as a picture book as well. The National Book Critics Circle Board is halting the 2020 award season. There are some Juneteenth reading suggestions and the shortlists are out for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Miles Franklin Literary Award. The Gordon Burn Prize issues its longlist. Carlos Ruiz Zafón has died.
As summer’s longest day approaches, the LJ/School Library Journal WWR/W crew examines books and shows in a new light.
For a second week in a row, antiracist titles fill the bestseller lists. EarlyWord’s June GalleyChat, focused on black authors, is posted. Shaun Tan makes history by winning the Kate Greenaway medal for Tales from the Inner City. The Literary Landmark status of Beauvoir, the house of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, has been rescinded. John Bolton’s book makes the papers and dominates book coverage.
The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers not only resulted in protests throughout the country, it also forced many non-Black Americans to finally grapple with the realization that Black lives are systemically devalued. To help readers learn to recognize and combat systemic racism, several institutions and organizations are making resources readily available.
Reni Eddo-Lodge is the first Black British author to top the UK book charts with Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race. The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit to stop John Bolton’s book. Oprah picks Deacon King Kong by James McBride as her next book club title. BuzzFeed selects Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas for its July read. Kazuo Ishiguro has a new novel for 2021, Klara and the Sun.
The importance of diversity and inclusion in librarianship is a common topic in LIS pedagogy today. Not long ago, that was far from the norm. However, in 1967 the University of Maryland’s School of Library and Information Sciences (SLIS) offered a comprehensive program that focused on topics designed to better serve the disadvantaged. It included an experimental library, High John, created and facilitated by SLIS in a predominately African American community named Fairmount Heights.
The last untold tale from the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, a treasure trove of cartographic delights, and collection of new insights about the relationships between networks and maps top the list of best-selling geography books, as compiled by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.
Claudia Rankine and Jericho Brown write new poems, commissioned to respond to this moment. 13 of the 24 National Book Critics Circle board members have resigned. The social media and book buying initiative #BlackoutBestsellerList gets coverage. Donald Trump’s niece has written a tell-all book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. The Walter Scott Prize and The Wolfson History Prize are announced. The July LibraryReads picks are out, Peace Talks by Jim Butcher tops the list. Jericho Brown, Carmen Maria Machado, and Thomas Page McBee consider “What Does Pride Mean Now?”
Technological advancements, accessibility needs, and study practices have and will continue to develop at a rapid pace. We find, use, and publish research completely differently than we did 25 years ago.
The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump by Mary Jordan is the book of the day, getting full court media coverage. 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand leads library holds this week. People’s Book of the Week is Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams. The next battle in publishing might be over books by conservative authors. The social media campaign #PublishingPaidMe is remaking the industry. COVID-19 book coverage stories return.
As libraries prepare to reopen, measures to keep staff and patrons as safe as possible from coronavirus infection are being instituted across the country. But most of those measures require patron cooperation. General worries over lack of compliance or having to enforce new rules have added an extra layer of uncertainty for those returning to work.
Joy Bivins is the new Associate Director of Collections and Research Services at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Maureen Sullivan is the Interim State Librarian at the Connecticut State Library, Chad Helton was named director of the Hennepin County Library system, and more library people news.
#PublishingPaidMe continues to reveal huge gaps between award-winning Black authors and debut white authors. There are seven book-related films and TV shows premiering this week, and news breaks that Gabrielle Union has optioned George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue. The Wainwright Prize longlist is out. Zadie Smith is releasing a new essay collection about the lockdown. The Internet Archive is stopping its National Emergency Library. Jane Austen's House Museum is in trouble. More antiracist reading lists.
Though most libraries remain closed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, public librarians are still connecting with their patrons—thanks, in part, to virtual book clubs.
Many libraries are cancelling their galas and other in-person fundraising events due to the global pandemic. As a member of the Next Chapter Society (NCS), which works with Tennessee’s Nashville Public Library Foundation to fundraise for the Nashville Public Library (NPL), I worked with my committee to shift our summer activities online.
Over a dozen antiracist titles fill the NYT and USA Today bestseller lists. In new titles, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett debuts at No. 1 on the NYT fiction list. J.K. Rowling writes a new essay. More Pride reading lists are published. Lambda Literary is hosting a series of readings and conversations to be posted on YouTube. The English PEN Translates Awards are announced. The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award announces its finalists.
From an Internet Archive Blog Post by Brewster Kahle: Today we are announcing the National Emergency Library will close on June 16th, rather than June 30th, returning to traditional controlled digital lending.
Authors Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People To Talk About Racism, and Lauren Michele Jackson, White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue...and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation, lead the antiracist book conversation today. YA lit and police brutality is also a top discussion. The nominees or shortlists are out for The Shirley Jackson Award, The Anthony Award, and the Forward Prizes for Poetry. Neil Gaiman has a new picture book on the way.
Library Journal apologizes for the pain we caused and failed to address in announcing the Library of the Year. While we stand by the award, we commit to taking the following action steps.
School and public librarians are joining forces to help socially distanced kids finish the school year and stay strong through summer.
Over 1,000 members of the publishing industry went on strike yesterday to protest racism. The #PublishingPaidMe movement gets more coverage. Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, has a book-filled opinion piece in the NYT. Daniel Radcliffe responds to J.K. Rowling, and her deeply upset readers. A publisher insider predicts changes in the future, including fewer print ARCs. Rick Riordan is no fan of the early Percy Jackson films.
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down campuses, libraries helped salvage spring semesters by supporting distance learning. Plans for fall remain in limbo, but academic librarians share what they’ve learned.
In my crisis teaching mode, I have come up with eight rules that have helped me to navigate through this new normal. There’s more than content and delivery to be discussed when this period is behind us. Perhaps the lesson to be learned is not about what or even how we taught during COVID-19. Perhaps this period is a lesson in why we teach.
Dance Away with Me by Susan Elizabeth Phillips tops holds this week. Always the Last to Know by Kristan Higgins is People’s Book of the Week. The July Indie Next list is out; the top pick is Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. More antiracist booklists and reports published over the weekend, including a new focus on policing. The longlists of the CWA Dagger awards are announced as is the shortlist for the Comedy Women in Print prize.
Sales figures and holds data indicate the top five in-demand antiracist titles. The International Booker Prize moves its announcement date to August 26. More Pride Month reading lists arrive. There is going to be a museum for Frankenstein. Book covers are in the news.
In this edition of “What We’re Reading & Watching,” LJ and School Library Journal staffers look backward and forward and even out of this dreadful new normal to find answers and pose new questions.
The American Library Association’s (ALA) recent survey on how U.S. public, academic, and K–12 libraries have responded to the coronavirus pandemic will not surprise anyone with an eye on the field, but serves as a snapshot of mid-May concerns and projections.
When we announced The Seattle Public Library (SPL) as the 2020 Gale/LJ Library of the Year yesterday, many librarians protested our celebrating a library that had allowed the Women’s Liberation Front, an anti-trans group, to rent a meeting room for an event in February. We hear the anger and disappointment and take these concerns seriously. We understand why SPL’s board of trustees made the decision it did, but we wish that the library had not allowed that event to go forward. Nonetheless, Library Journal stands by the award, and we want to explain why.
Hideaway by Nora Roberts tops eight new bestsellers this week. More antiracist reading lists arrive, including one from NYPL’s Schomburg Center. There are some June booklists too and a new list for Pride Month. The NYT has a report on audiobook narrators of color, the growing diversity of works, and colorblind casting. Snoop Dogg is adapting Joe Ide’s IQ series. Lovecraft County gets a new trailer.
Richland County resident Jason Scott learned the cost of leaving high school at 17 to care for his infant daughter. “Since 1988, I couldn’t get those better-paying jobs without a diploma.” Things are looking up since he saw a Career Online High School poster at his local library and asked the person at the desk, “How do I sign up?”
At the start of Pride Month, I wanted to reach out to you about my debut novel, Kept Animals.
UPDATE 6/3/20: The REALM Project is currently conducting literature reviews to help define the project's scope and the needs of its stakeholders. Battelle researchers have completed the first review—a set of findings from publicly available scientific literature—as well as a document, Test Plan for the Natural Attenuation of SARS-CoV-2 as a Decontamination Approach. The test plan describes how Battelle's laboratory will test for the COVID-19 virus's longevity on materials and the length of time required before the virus is undetectable.
Eleanor of Aquitaine, World War II titles, Lady Bird Johnson, and a photographic study of Barack Obama entertain history and biography readers in the winter months.
The Seattle Public Library has turned its attention outward, actively listening to community needs and transforming its work to make equity a top priority, earning it the 2020 Gale/LJ Library of the Year award.
There are more antiracist reading lists, and even more suggestions, as demand begins to create shortages. Jenna Bush Hager picks A Burning by Megha Majumdar as her June book club pick. AudioFile announces its 2020 Golden Voices. Warner Bros. makes Just Mercy free for viewing this month. The film is based on Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, a title on some of the antiracist reading lists.
Kaetrena Davis Kendrick recently completed a new study examining low workplace morale among public librarians, and is working on a report analyzing responses to a November 2018 call for librarians who wished to talk about their experiences. What she discovered included a disturbing level of abuse coming from patrons, a lack of institutional support to help librarians resolve such issues, and a mindset in which librarians view surviving such abuses as “earning their stripes.”
The massive change in life circumstances over the weeks since my last column have been strange, terrible, and beautiful—often all at once.
Her upcoming novel Magic Lessons is an unforgettable story that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, and unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic.
There are more antiracism reading lists as well as essays and poetry. The Lammy Awards are announced: Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn wins Best Lesbian Fiction and Lot: Stories by Bryan Washington wins Best Gay Fiction. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is B&N’s June book club pick.
The Nebula Awards are announced. A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker wins for Best Novel. The finalists for the Locus Awards are announced. The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin leads holds this week. There are a number of booklists responding to the protests taking place across the nation as well as booklists for Pride Month, June, and Summer Reads. How will writing and publishing change in the face of the pandemic? The Guardian and the NYT have ideas. LJ’s Day of Dialog is fully archived, and BookExpo posts videos for the Adult and Middle Grade Book Buzz sessions.
A vibrant and inspiring introduction to feminist music history, an exploration of the Bauhaus school and its legacy, and a thoughtful account of how art and history inform each other top the list of best-selling music and art books, as compiled by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.
We need a National Library Workers Organization. The COVID-19 crisis has brought home to American workers their individual vulnerability—and their collective power.
Library organizations have issued statements condemning increased violence and racism towards black americans and people of color. Infodocket will update this post with additional statements if/when they become available.
Across the nation, libraries big and small are embracing the quaranzine. A portmanteau of “quarantine” and “zine,” the quaranzine is a creative outlet that allows individuals and communities to process difficult thoughts and emotions concerning the COVID-19 pandemic—and is widely emerging as an artistic, therapeutic way to cope with this unique and trying time in history.
From Pew Research: Most U.S. adults report having seen made-up news about COVID-19, and many have seen various claims about purported treatments. But relatively few Americans have a lot of confidence in their own ability to check the accuracy of the news and information they come across related to the coronavirus.
More Summer Reading lists arrive. Crime fiction is in the spotlight, as is Elin Hilderbrand. Simon & Schuster names Jonathan Karp as C.E.O. Day of Dialog is now archived for viewing. The BookExpo Adult and YA Editor’s Buzz sessions take place today. The Children’s Book & Author Dinner was last night. The National Book Festival will be online-only this year due to the pandemic.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins tops the bestseller lists this week, and sells more than half a million copies across formats. The James Beard Awards and Horn Book Awards are both announced. Author and activist Larry Kramer has died. More summer reading lists arrive. Day of Dialog is today. BookExpo’s Adult Book & Author dinner video is online.