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The next in the Jumanji franchise arrives, as does a dark version of A Christmas Carol. Robert Kirkman has a new comic in the works. The NYT runs an op-ed with the headline “The Caldecott Medal Needs an International Makeover.” Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss plan a film based on the graphic novel Lovecraft by Hans Rodionoff. Susan Choi’s Trust Exercise is set as a limited TV series.
Kevin Sayar, previously at ProQuest, was named the new CEO of streaming video platform Kanopy in October. LJ caught up with him at the Charleston Library Conference to hear his thoughts on early days at Kanopy.
Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi sees two new books onto the bestseller lists. De’Shawn Charles Winslow wins the 2019 First Novel Prize for In West Mills. More best-of lists—including cookbooks and essay collections—arrive. Malcolm Gladwell loves thrillers, revealing that he reads “Fifty, sixty, seventy” a year. He also has a classification system for them.
A data-driven model explaining how those things that make us most human are constructed during the first six years of life, a guide to the alarming increase in anxiety and stress experienced by girls from elementary school through college, and a sourcebook detailing the the 10 personality disorders top the list of best-selling psychology books, as compiled by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.
Bill Gates suggests 2019 books. The readers at PBS NewsHour do, too. And so does Nancy Pearl, and many more. LitHub calculates that On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is the most popular “Best of Year” title. Michael Chabon's Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is headed to Showtime.
More best lists are out. Lois McMaster Bujold becomes the 36th Damon Knight Grand Master, named by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Jacqueline Woodson writes “Africa, America and Slavery’s Fierce Undertow” for the NYT. More on the Golden Globes.
The Hayward Public Library, CA, opened its new Hayward Library and Community Learning Center; Yale University has completed renovations to its Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Library; Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, NC, unveiled design plans on November 7 for its $100 million Main Library; and more new construction and renovation news from the December 2019 issue of Library Journal.
Dog Man: Fetch-22: From the Creator of Captain Underpants (Dog Man #8) by Dav Pilkey leads holds this week. #libfaves19 begins today. The January 2020 Indie Next booklist is out. The John Leonard Prize for Best First Book announces its finalists. The Pulitzer Prize will create a new category for audio journalists (including podcasts). The Golden Globes nominations are out.
Skip Dye has been promoted to Senior VP, Library Sales and Digital Strategy at Penguin Random House; Allison Hill will succeed Oren Teicher as CEO of the American Booksellers Association; Karen Estlund has been named the new Dean of Colorado State University Libraries, Fort Collins; and more new hires, promotions, retirements, and obituaries.
A new Apple TV adaptation arrives this week, as does a blast from the book-controversy past. Barnes & Noble names The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (HarperOne) as its Book of the Year. Bernardine Evaristo recommends her "Top 5 Reads of 2019.” Random House will publish the impeachment report.
Hendrick Hudson Free Library in Montrose, Lindenhurst Memorial Library, and Saratoga Springs Public Library this year became the first libraries to complete the New York Library Association's Sustainable Libraries Certification Program, demonstrating their commitment to environmental stewardship, economic feasibility, and social equity.
Each week, the hardworking editors of LJ scour the web for the best library and book news and views. This week asks “What was the first book you fell in love with?”, looks at a book club in Texas’s Harris County Jail, and mourn’s the end of the Apostrophe Protection Society.
The Rise of Magicks: Chronicles of The One, Book 3 by Nora Roberts leads the count of new bestsellers. The NYT book critics pick their top books of the year. Marilyn Stasio names the best crime books. LibraryReads releases its “Voter Favorites” for 2019 and LitHub offers “Our 50 Favorite Books of the Year.” Janet Evanovich lands two new TV series and there is more adaptation news as well.
In a move that further consolidates the market for commercial integrated library systems, library services platforms, and other library software solutions, Ex Libris on December 5 announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Innovative Interfaces.
On October 29, writer Meghan Murphy spoke at a rented theater space in Canada’s Toronto Public Library (TPL) Palmerston branch. The discussion—“Gender Identity: What Does It Mean for Society, the Law and Women?"—was booked by an outside group, Radical Feminists Unite, and was not part of library programming. The appearance sparked protests against the library’s decision to rent the space to Murphy, particularly from the transgender and broader LGBTQ communities, as well as a barrage of criticism on social media.
NPR’s Book Concierge returns for 2019 with more than 2,000 titles broken into 34 categories. LitHub suggests “26 Books From the Last Decade that More People Should Read.” Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl is the December "Read with Jenna" book selection. Circe by Madeline Miller is the PBS NewsHour-NYT book club pick for December. The winners of the Reading Women’s Award are announced. Black Widow gets a trailer.
The White House recently honored the bestselling author for his work supporting citizens’ engagement with literature. Patterson has committed extensive philanthropic support to literacy, public libraries, teachers, and bookstores. He has also developed programming nationwide to improve literacy and education among Americans, and to support all citizens’ love of reading. LJ asked Patterson about the books he loves, how he feels about winning, and what libraries can do collectively to support literacy and create stronger readers.
Throughout 2016, Oxford University Press has traveled all around the world meeting and talking with librarians to learn about their favorite books.
Many more "Best Of" lists arrive. YA, romance, and Chinese SF get features. There is new trouble for the Nobel prize for literature. In adaptation news, new trailers arrive and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women gets more coverage.
Good website design is nearly invisible, and many features can have a significant impact on the user experience without being immediately apparent. Web security is one such feature. All websites should prioritize security. Librarians should take note, and patrons should feel assured of the veracity of the web content they access on a library’s domain, and of the security of any data they share.
Debates over what libraries should fund can get heated, but don't let that stop you from having them. All stakeholders need to not only prepare but discuss the budget, and to understand what new services will meet user demand. Good negotiators need to know when to stick to their guns, even if it means risking an argument. Good leaders also know when to concede and join with the team to ensure progress. Collegiality, civility, and good working relationships are important, but we can’t let the desire to get along prevent us from fully tackling the tough questions
I am very excited to see the recent positive activity around libraries in the United Kingdom. The community there seems to be rallying in a new way to increase understanding of the urgency for library investment—an effort lifted by a renewed effort to articulate how much libraries contribute to the social fabric. Now is the time to build on that good news story, and their strategy is worth a look.
Clem Guthro has been named the University Librarian for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa; Joanneke Elliott is the new African Studies and West European Studies Librarian at UNC–Chapel Hill Libraries; Christian Zabriskie will be the new Director of Onondaga County Public Libraries, NY; and more new hires, promotions, retirements, and obituaries.
The Internet Archive (IA) on November 6 announced that its longtime not-for-profit partner, Better World Libraries, had acquired Better World Books. When libraries and other organizations weed or deaccession titles and donate to Better World Books, selected titles will now be directed into IA’s massive book digitization program.
Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi leads holds this week. Six new books made the bestsellers lists. Reese Witherspoon picks Conviction by Denise Mina as her December book club title. In Costco Connection, Pennie Clark Ianniciello picks The Ambassador's Daughter by Pam Jenoff. There are many December booklists, along with more choices for the year and the decade. The NYT begins a new column on books for kids and teens.
Page to Screen comes early with the Thanksgiving holiday: DC's Harley Quinn and Jonathan Maberry's V Wars lead the way. In award news, the Costa category shortlists are announced. Also, Edna O’Brien wins the David Cohen Prize for Literature, and Shelf Awareness picks the Best Children’s & Teen Books of the Year.
The NYT selects its 100 Notable Books of 2019. The New York Public Library and the Chicago Public Library each pick their best books of the year. Entertainment Weekly names A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan the best novel of the decade.
A class action lawsuit was filed this morning over accessibility issues with the new Hunters Point Library in New York City (a branch of the Queens Public Library) listing multiple causes of action.
Library trustees are charged with evaluating the director’s performance—and, often, securing a director when the position opens up. Trustees need to act efficiently, in these moments of pending vacancy, to secure leadership for their library. There are many considerations that arise when a director submits that dreaded resignation letter. Here are a few.
Politics spurred a library budget and spending decision in Citrus County, FL, in October, when the Citrus County Commission withdrew a motion for the Citrus County Library’s request to purchase a digital New York Times subscription. While library acquisitions are often scrutinized from a budget perspective, this refusal raised attention when county commissioners went on record with non-financial reasons for voting against the electronic subscription.
The Rise of Magicks: Chronicles of The One, Book 3 by Nora Roberts leads holds this week. More best-of booklists for the decade, year, and week are out. The Walking Dead, Frozen 2, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker all make news.
A twelve-year-old boy struggles with the worst kind of fame—as the sole survivor of a notorious plane crash—in Ann Napolitano’s Dear Edward. Jen Dayton, Reference Librarian at Fairfield Public Library, spoke with the author about her inspiration for the novel, the fascinating characters we meet throughout, and the central message of the book.
Frozen returns to the movies and The Irishman finally opens in wide release. The Washington Post picks the best books of the year. There are reports on the public memorial for Toni Morrison.
Each week, the hardworking editors of LJ scour the web for the best library and book news and views. This week saw an uneven Twitter battle, Brooklyn Library's Cookmobile, two top-ten-of-the-decade lists (one from LJ Best Books 2019 short-story writer Bryan Washington, and stickers!
The National Book Awards are announced. Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich leads six new titles onto the bestseller lists. The Grammy Award nominations for Best Spoken Word Album are out. Best-of-the-Decade lists are out for Fantasy and True Crime.
An argument for the importance of plural language, a history of the art of persuasive speech, and a study of the emergence of linguistic and ethnoracial categories in the context of Latinidad top the list of best-selling language books, as compiled by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.
On November 20, the National Book Foundation offered five book awards and two lifetime achievement awards in an evening that celebrated what books can accomplish.
The National Book Awards will be announced tonight. Hallie Rubenhold wins the Baillie Gifford prize for The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. Ian Williams wins the Scotiabank Giller Prize for Reproduction. More "best of" lists for the decade and year are out, as are holiday reading and listening suggestions.
As a librarian, I am there to perform duties such as guiding clinical laboratory students and faculty on how to perform systematic reviews (whose definition includes the term “exhaustive search”). I am here to teach what resources people should be looking for, why to use those resources, and to sometimes interpret those results for users.
The National Book Awards will be announced tomorrow. Events begin today. Entertainment Weekly decides that “the unreliable narrator is the biggest book trend of the decade.” Kirkus announces its picks for the Best Picture Books of 2019. Random House has a new publisher.
Radiant. Soaring. Extraordinarily original. The best literary fiction published in 2019.
Tales from Iceland, Spain, China, Syria, and around the globe. The best world literature translated into English and published in 2019.
Dig in for music history, trailblazing animators, and incisive critiques of film and TV. The best arts titles published in 2019.
Mouth-wateringly good reads. The best cooking and food books published in 2019.
Explorations of faith, history, and culture. The best religion and spirituality books published in 2019.
Disappearing ice, air pollution, the wonders of algae. The best science and technology titles published in 2019.
Deep dives into contemporary issues of mass incarceration, gun violence, systemic injustice. The best social science books published in 2019.
Visual storytelling at the higest level. The best graphic novels published in 2019.
As part of its ongoing work to support open access (OA) both on campus and in the wider world of academia, in October the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released two documents that will amplify open sharing of MIT resources and clarify communications with scholarly publishers.
On Wednesday, November 13, Nikole Hannah-Jones joined Jamelle Bouie for a conversation, moderated by Jelani Cobb, about the making of The New York Times Magazine's 1619 Project.
The Crown returns. The 2018 VIDA Count is out. The longlist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize is announced. The winner of The Cundill History Prize is announced. Vogue picks the Best Novels of 2019. The EarlyWord GalleyChat Roundup for November is posted.
Several new initiatives will expand African American experiences beyond the archives and make them publicly available.
Wrecking Ball (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 14) by Jeff Kinney leads 15 new books onto the bestseller lists. Lucy Ellmann, Ducks, Newburyport, wins the Goldsmiths Prize. Bryan Washington, Lot: Stories, wins the Ernest J. Gaines Award. Time's new 100 NEXT list includes authors. Spike Lee will direct Prince Of Cats, based on Ron Wimberly’s graphic novel. A name to know: Deepti Kapoor.
From open outdoor areas to fantastic and functional fixtures, sustainable systems to to study spaces, LJ's 2019 Year in Architecture roundup celebrates the best new construction and renovation in public and academic libraries across the country.
The Norman Public Library East branch of the Pioneer Library System, OK; Temple University’s Charles Library; Westport Library, CT; and Brambleton Library, Loudon County, VA.
The Jack R. Hunt Library at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL; Princeton University’s Firestone Library; and the Cheryl and Philip Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning at Barnard College, NY.
The Centennial Branch of the Anoka County Library, MN; the South Branch of Cleveland Public Library; Auglaize County Library’s Wapakoneta Branch, OH; and Baldwin Borough Public Library, Pittsburgh.
Toledo Lucas County Public Library’s Mott branch, OH; Thornhill Branch, St. Louis County Library, MO; Michigan Road Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library, IN; and Lenexa City Center Library, KS.
Sanibel Public Library, FL; Borrego Springs Library of San Diego County Library, CA; Gutekunst Public Library, IA; Mission Branch Library of the City of Santa Clara Library System, CA; and the Dublin Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, OH.
Galaxie Library, Dakota County Library, Apple Valley, MN; Keene Public Library, NH; Chicago Public Library’s Northtown Branch; Half Moon Bay Library, CA; and the Missouri City Branch Library, Fort Bend County Libraries, TX.
The data for academic new buildings and renovations featured in LJ's Year in Architecture 2019.
If you’re looking for drama, you’ll find it in some of the stunning design on display in the 2019 Year in Architecture roundup.
More lists counting the best of the decade and of the year arrive. Barnes & Noble launches a new award for book of the year. A Warning by Anonymous is breaking in-house presale records. The Turkish police have rearrested Ahmet Altan.
Philadelphia’s Temple University unveils its state-of-the-art Charles Library; Long Beach Public Library, CA, opens its newest branch, the Billie Jean King Main Library; Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning completes the Mui Ho Fine Arts Library; and more new construction and renovation news from the November 2019 issue of Library Journal.
On November 1, Macmillan enacted its eight-week embargo period for new library ebook licenses. Many libraries have responded by announcing boycotts, as library organizations continue outreach and advocacy efforts.
I have always loved libraries. They were a place of enchantment for me as a child: the idea that I could have any book, as many books as I could carry! But I have never felt as urgently about libraries as I do now.
More lists come out naming the best of the decade, even as end-of-the-year accountings start to accumulate. The Dublin Literary Award Longlist is announced. Judd Apatow's It's Garry Shandling's Book gets the buzz. Disney+ launches today.
Profiles of African American women in chemistry, an incisive look into carbon's political economy, and an exploration of the "troubled territory" where biotechnology and disability meet top the list of best-selling chemistry books, as compiled by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO.
Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich leads holds this week. With All Due Respect: Defending America with Grit and Grace by Nikki R. Haley is getting today's political book buzz. Queer literature takes the spotlight. The Largehearted Boy starts work on the aggregated master list of best books for 2019.
Gregory joins with drama critic Todd London to talk about his passion for performing, Windham-Campbell Prize winner Laing argues that today we need the arts more than ever, Lippman offers an essay collection reflecting on her life and work, and Perl wraps up his big Alexander Calder biography. Plus Fifth Harmony’s Ally Brooke on inspiration in her life, Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on his life in music, veteran journalist David Kamp on 1970s American children’s TV, and critic Wendy Lesser on Scandinavian crime fiction.
At least 50 libraries had referenda on the ballots on November 5. While results are still coming in, returns are in on some notable measures.
Oprah's new book club pic is Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout. WaPo has an early look at A Warning, the anonymous insider book about the Trump administration. Steven King and John Green's works come to big screens today, and a new Star Wars saga begins.
Blue Moon by Lee Child leads nine new books onto the bestseller lists. There are reading vigils in Italy as fans await the release of Elena Ferrante’s next novel (U.S. readers will have to wait until next summer). Ahmet Altan has been released from prison. Trailers are out for Wendy, based on Peter Pan, the Color Out of Space, based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story, and the upcoming Star Wars series, The Mandalorian.
Lehigh University Library has partnered with software developer Index Data ahead of the library’s planned summer 2020 launch of the FOLIO open source library services platform.
Each year, millions of dollars awarded to libraries, archives, and museums (LAM) fund a variety of processing, digitization, and digital infrastructure projects. In the process, the field creates hundreds of contingent and precarious positions. Workers dedicated to their fields’ missions to steward, preserve, and share knowledge and culture accept low salaries, benefit-less positions, and cycles of precarity.
Ernest Gaines (The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman) has died. The Andrew Carnegie Medals shortlist is out. The opening round of the Goodreads Choice Awards is open. Not without controversy, Richard Ford is set to receive the Hadada prize. The Belletrist November book club pick is Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur. The BBC's “Novels That Shaped Our World” is off and running with a list of 100 books.
Citrus County, FL, Commissioner Scott Carnahan nixed the library's plan to subscribe to the newspaper's digital service, which would have provided access to 70,000 card holders for $2,657 annually.
Election results of interest to the library community from November 5, 2019.
Folio: has announced its annual Eddie and Ozzie awards. LJ and its sister publication, School Library Journal (SLJ), were honored in several categories for B2B, Education publications.
More November book lists arrive and a good handful of awards are in the news. In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado, The Great Pretender by Susannah Cahalan, Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson, and Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert keep building buzz. Fantastic Beasts 3 is getting started soon. James Patterson’s forthcoming The House of Kennedy is getting adapted. The Justice Department issues a warning letter to the anonymous author.
Three hundred thirty-eight days. That’s the length of time between August 2018, when we first saw the news coverage of Greta Thunberg, a young climate activist in Sweden who started striking in front of Stockholm's parliament every Friday to demand climate action from her country’s leaders, and September 20, 2019, when global Climate Strike Marches brought an estimated four million young people and their supporters onto our streets to demand meaningful action from adults on climate change.
A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.
Wrecking Ball (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 14) by Jeff Kinney leads holds this week. The World Fantasy Awards are announced. The winners of the 2019 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books are out. The finalists for the Southern Book Prize are announced. Reese Witherspoon picks Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes for her November book club title while Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson is the November pick for Read with Jenna.
In the weeks following the opening of the Queens Public Library's new Hunters Point branch, a number of visitors pointed out that many areas are not accessible to people with mobility issues that would interfere with their ability to climb stairs.
Celebrated historian Bernard Bailyn offers a career retrospective, Robert Dallek assays the presidency, Morgan Jerkins retraces her family’s steps during the Great Migration, and Matthew Van Meter recaps Duncan v. Louisiana, a significant case of the Civil Rights era.
When you think about climate change, what do you feel? I asked my daughter, Harper, who is ten, that question last month. The exercise was part of a talk at a Drawdown Learn event held at the Omega Center for Sustainable Living. Despite how often we discuss the climate, this was the first time I had actually asked her that. Her answer was not surprising, but it was painful to hear. “I get this bad feeling in my gut,” she said.
To help prepare their patrons for the long hours of studying, writing, and prepping, librarians have created anti-procrastination, stress-relieving events that seek to ease the pain of the finals push. We chatted with librarians from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada about their specific programs, and the impact they have on students’ health and well-being during this tense time.
Bill Ptacek, former head of the Calgary Public Library, Alta., Canada, died on October 15 of cancer, at age 69.
November sees best book lists and a host of new book-based shows and films, including works based on the novels of Jonathan Lethem and Philip Pullman. Get a first look at the Normal People adaptation. Books of Blood, based on Clive Barker’s horror anthology, is headed to Hulu.