Related

A new national NPR/Ipsos poll reveals that 52% of Republicans are opposed to banning books from schools, whereas book bans are supported by 5% of Democrats, 16% of Independents, and 35% of Republicans. Paige Cowan-Hall has won the Women’s Prize Trust 2023 Discoveries Prize for her yet-to-be-published historical fiction novel Marooned. The Society of Authors announced this year’s Authors’ Awards shortlists across 11 categories. Donna Tartt’s agent has debunked the rumor that she is releasing a new novel in June 2023.

Dr. Shannon Jones, director of libraries and professor at the Medical University of South Carolina–Charleston, was named a 2021 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her significant commitment to mentoring other library workers in medical and academic librarianship, as well as creating a Medical Library Association book club focused on books discussing diversity, equity, and inclusion. LJ recently talked with her to learn what she’s been doing since then.

With the onslaught of pressures facing librarians today, how are library and information science programs preparing the next generation of graduates?

USA Today’s June Book Club pick is T.J. Newman’s Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421. The July Indie Next List is out; the top pick is The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel. Crime Writers’ Association appoints Vaseem Khan as its first non-white chair. The 2023 Premios Kelvin finalists are announced. Jasmine Sealy’s The Island of Forgetting wins the Amazon First Novel Award, honoring the best debut Canadian novel. The Royal Society of Literature has released a shortlist for the 2023 Encore Award, celebrating outstanding achievements in second novels. Plus new title best sellers.

It’s June—celebrate LGBTQIA+ resistance.

June book club picks are out, including the top hold title of the week, The Celebrants by Steven Rowley (Read with Jenna), Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs (GMA), and Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea (B&N). More summer booklists arrive, along with interviews with Megan Abbott, Amelia Possanza, Dr. Ian K. Smith, Emerson Whitney, Camille T. Dungy, James Comey, and Brandon Taylor.

Currently only three American research universities have anthropology libraries: Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and University of California (UC)–Berkeley. This could change as early as 2025, when Berkeley plans to close its George and Mary Foster Anthropology Library and disperse the library’s collections throughout the rest of the university’s library system.

Steven Rowley’s The Celebrants leads holds this week. Other titles in demand include new books by Martha Wells, Jo Nesbo, Megan Abbott, and T.J. Newman. The James Tait Black Prize shortlist is announced. ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation joins publishers and bookstores in a lawsuit over Arkansas SB 81. Three LibraryReads and seven Indie Next picks publish this week. Summer reading previews arrive, including People’s must-read picks for summer. NYT explores the staying power of Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Plus, The Guardian has a guide for “where to start with Kazuo Ishiguro.”

The 2023 Ignyte Awards finalists are announced. Starting their runs at the top of best seller lists are Only the Dead by Jack Carr, Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, King: A Life by Jonathan Eig, and The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings To Amass Power and Undermine the Republic by Stephen Vladeck. There are author interviews with Gene Luen Yang, Luis Alberto Urrea, Laura Tillman, and Suzannah Lessard.

Georgi Gospodinov wins the International Booker Prize for Time Shelter. Haruki Murakami wins Spain’s Princess of Asturias Award. Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb” has been banned from a Florida K–8 school. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Identity by Nora Roberts. Knopf will publish Gabriel García Márquez’s final novel, Until August, in 2024. Plus, summer booklists arrive. 

Biographers International Organization receives $1 million gift from famed biographer Kitty Kelley. Ryan Manucha wins the 2022 Donner Prize for Booze, Cigarettes, and Constitutional Dust-Ups. Mazin Lateef Ali Wins IPA’s Prix Voltaire. The TikTok Book Awards launch in the U.K. and Ireland. Mahmud El Sayed wins 2023 Future Worlds Prize for Fantasy. Andy Serkis narrates a new unabridged audiobook of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. A new Folio Society edition of Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy arrives in time for Towel Day on Thursday. The Color Purple gets a trailer, and Japanese Breakfast posts a casting call. Plus, PW has full coverage from this week’s U.S. Book Show.

Identity by Nora Roberts leads holds this week. Also popular are The Senator’s Wife by Liv Constantine and Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum, which is also People’s book of the week. One LibraryReads and three Indie Next picks publish this week. The Water Diviner by Zahran Alqasmi (Rashm) wins $50,000 2023 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. The Washington Post previews this season’s best baseball books. Plus, tributes pour in for British author Martin Amis who died at the age of 73.

The Mamaroneck Public Library, NY, has been hit with a budget shortfall of an estimated $1.4 million, Director Jennifer O’Neill told LJ. For years, the library has used cash reserves to balance its annual spending plans. But in January, the monthly report submitted by MPL’s longtime business manager unexpectedly showed almost no money in that fund to draw on.

There are announcements for the 2023 Mythopoeic Awards finalists and Eisner Awards nominees. Walter Isaacson’s forthcoming biography of Elon Musk will arrive September 12. Author interviews feature conversations with the likes of Nicole Cuffy, Emma Cline, Brittany Snow, R.F. Kuang, Jenny Fran Davis, Julia Quinn, and Samantha Irby. Benedict Cumberbatch will star in the adaptation of Max Porter’s Grief Is the Thing With Feathers.

PEN America and Penguin Random House sue a Florida school district over book bans. Debuting at the top of the best-seller lists are The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks, Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn, written with Shonda Rhimes, The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up by Andy Cohen, and Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain by Andrew McCarthy. There are conversations with authors Alex Pappademas, Polly Stewart, Andrea Bartz, Matthew Dallek, Juliet and Kelly Starrett, Stephen Vladeck, and David Fleming. There is adaptation news for Ernest Hemingway’s Across the River and into the Trees.

Salman Rushdie warns that free speech is under threat in a new public speech. Journalist Masha Gessen resigns from the PEN America board. Storytel Group acquires rights to Finnish Koskinen crime series. A new survey finds that Tiktok users report reading 50% more because of Booktok. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren. Interviews arrive with Andrew McCarthy, Samantha Irby, Dina Gachman, Laura Hankin, Emmanuel Iduma, R.F. Kuang, Max Porter, Kwame Alexander, Thom Shanker, and Andy Cohen. Elliot Page unboxes his forthcoming memoir, Pageboy. Plus, Roxane Gay, Carrie Brownstein, Roberta Colindrez, and Jane Lynch will star in an adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s comic strip, Dykes To Watch Out For.

The British Book Awards are announced; Menopausing by Davina McCall and Dr. Naomi Potter wins Overall Book of the Year, Bonnie Garmus is Author of the Year, and R.F. Kuang’s Babel wins Fiction Book of the Year. Salman Rushdie is also honored. WA Premier’s Book Awards shortlists are announced. The June LibraryReads list is out, featuring top pick The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon. Michael Lewis’s new book, Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon, about about FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried, arrives in October. Plus, the U.S. Book Show’s “Libraries Are Essential” virtual program is on May 22. 

The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren leads library holds this week. The Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Award winners are announced. The 2022 Nebula Awards Winners are announced, including R.F. Kuang for her novel Babel. Kuang’s new novel Yellowface arrives this week with reviews and lots of buzz. Charles E. Stanley Jr. wins the 2023 William E. Colby Military Writers’ Award for Lost Airmen. Entertainment Weekly releases its 2023 Summer Preview, including the 27 best books of the summer. People’s book of the week is The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks.

Arinze Ifeakandu wins the 2023 Dylan Thomas Prize with God’s Children Are Little Broken Things: Stories. The Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist is announced. Chris Turner wins the 2023 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing with How To Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World. Other awards announcements include the 2023 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize longlist and the 2023 Orwell Prizes shortlists. Urban historian Fred Siegel is remembered upon his death at 78. Interviews feature Rachel Cargle, Tembe Denton-Hurst, Sunny Hostin, Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Lisa Brideau, Christina Sharpe, Judy Blume, Kerri Arsenault, Isabella Hammad, Stephen Marche, and Felix Salmon. Plus, adaptation news for Chelene Knight’s Junie and Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo.

While it may seem counterintuitive for an event that asks participants to leave no trace to maintain an archive, the collection’s development grew out of Burning Man’s core principle of gifting. People have given artwork, photographs, and more to the archive, housed in the offices of the nonprofit Burning Man Project in San Francisco.

The Christian Book Awards winners are announced. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, The 23rd Midnight by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro, The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself by Luke Russert, and Lessons Learned and Cherished: The Teacher Who Changed My Life by Deborah Roberts are new to the bestseller lists. Interviews arrive with Mona Gables, Edan Lepucki, Julia Argy, James C. Jackson, Mariana Alessandri, Emma Nadler, Landon Jones, and Dave Eggers.

The Civic Data Education Series is an educational program for library workers to better support their civic data literacy and participation in their civic data ecosystems. Following the development of this program, Jane Thaler (Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas), Eleanor Mattern, and Marcia Rapchak (both of University of Pittsburgh) shared their instructional design process and first round of evaluation in the proceedings of the 2022 Association of Library and Information Science in Education Annual Conference.

Finalists for the 2023 Anthony Awards, 2023 Indigenous Voices Award, and the 2023 Trillium Book Awards are announced. May’s EarlyWord GalleyChat spreadsheet is available. Speculation about 4C Untitled Flatiron Nonfiction Summer 2023 heats up. The Guest by Emma Cline gets reviews and buzz. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks. Penguin Random House Acquires Callisto Media. Plus, Tomie dePaola’s Strega Nona is featured on a USPS Forever stamp. 

The 2023 Pulitzer Prizes are awarded with Trust by Hernan Diaz and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, sharing the top prize for fiction. His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage, Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power by Jefferson Cowie, and Stay True by Hua Hsu also win prizes. The 2023–2024 Steinbeck Fellows are announced. Coverage continues for the ongoing WGA strike. Plus, the AAP discusses AI and the book business. 

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks, leads holds this week. One Indie Next pick publishes this week. People’s book of the week is Swamp Story by Dave Barry. Also getting buzz is Andrew McCarthy’s Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain. A number of awards shortlists are announced. Plus, the Pulitzer Prizes will be announced today.

Fatimah Asghar wins the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction with When We Were Sisters. News sources covers more on Writers Guild of America strike, an Illinois law on anti–book banning policy for libraries. Authors Wolfgang Schivelbusch and Peter Robinson are remembered. Conversations feature author interviews with the likes of Camille T. Dungy, Hannah Matthews, Sunny Hostin, Gretchen Rubin, Kobe Campbell, Christina Wong, Alexandra Auder, Dave Eggers, Hugh Howey, Paul Kix, Brendan Ballou, Jaime Green, and Priscilla Gilman.

When Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education stopped gathering data on school library collections, Amy Taylor found herself talking to others equally concerned with the loss of the information school libraries needed to advocate for funding. While public libraries have a legislative committee to lobby at the state level, no school library advocacy committee existed. Taylor stepped up to chair a task force studying how school librarians could raise awareness of what they do.

In Shavonn-Haevyn Matsuda's MLISc program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, she focused on examining and challenging inadequacies of access in information systems and library services. Later, after becoming head librarian at the University of Hawai‘i Maui College Library, Matsuda’s doctoral research investigated creating a system of information for Hawaiian archives and librarianship.

As chair of the Meridian Library District (MLD) Board of Trustees, Megan Larsen passionately defends the right to read. Like many libraries around the country, MLD faces attacks from a vocal minority seeking to restrict access to titles featuring diverse content, and recently, a group filed a petition attempting to dissolve the district. “Sometimes, the fight comes to you, like it or not,” Larsen says.

In 2015, as an offshoot of a student leadership congress where he was a delegate, Kevin Conrad Tansiongco founded the Magbasa Tayo (Let’s Read) Movement, an advocacy campaign promoting the importance of community reading centers and public libraries in the Philippines. 

As senior librarian at San José Public Library, Lizzie Nolan manages programs, collections, and outreach for both the Children’s Room and teen space known as TeenHQ and has executed and evaluated yearlong literacy programs for the entire 26-branch system. In 2021, Nolan was tasked with leading San José’s Youth Commission, the official youth advisory group to the mayor and city council.

When Eryn Duffee moved to Washington from Tennessee in early 2021, she immediately jumped into leadership at the Washington Library Association, where she is working to transform the statewide school system.

As the synagogue librarian for Temple Rodef Shalom Library and a children’s book consultant, Kusel says she wants to see more literary mirrors for children who are Jewish and offer windows to youth of different faiths to better understand Jewish beliefs and culture.

Lindsey Kimery stepped up her advocacy efforts as the Tennessee legislature crafted bills such as the Age Appropriate Materials Act of 2022 and an Obscenity and Pornography bill, each an attack on intellectual freedom. “Lindsey rallied librarians across the district and state to speak up and speak out on behalf of those who would be affected,” says nominator Alyssa Littrell, Metro Nashville Public Schools district librarian.

Alicia Deal and KayCee Choi nominated each other for the same reason—their advocacy for d/Deaf (Hard of Hearing/Deaf) culture. The two have spearheaded Dallas Public Library programming for National Deaf History Month in April; Deal and Choi created programs about major league baseball player William Hoy and author and activist Helen Keller, among others, which drew about 100 patrons total.

Jaena Rae Cabrera has a “not-so-secret agenda,” according to Alan Wong, learning and instruction librarian at San Francisco Public Library (SFPL). “She wants to increase Filipino American visibility and representation at [SFPL],” he says. Cabrera’s efforts include joining forces with Pilipinx American Library, a mobile, noncirculating collection and programming platform, on two events at the Public Knowledge project, a collaboration with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in 2018 and 2019. 

In addition to being a beloved story time leader and early childhood literacy advocate, Katie Clausen—“Miss Katie” to her youngest stakeholders—holds a professional certification in Adverse Childhood Experiences. When she realized that families in her community needed age-appropriate mental-health resources, she and colleague Elizabeth Forkan created a circulating collection of Resiliency Kits—books, games, activities, and information for adults and children on themes of grief and loss, divorce, addiction, emotions, and bullying.

After completing her MLIS at the University of Rhode Island in 2014, Rhiannon Sorrell, a member of the Dineì (Navajo) nation, returned to reconnect with her community and deepen her work. As instruction and digital services librarian at Diné College—the first tribally governed and accredited college in the United States—Sorrell has taken on projects that dive deeply into Navajo language and culture.

At the University of Victoria, Ry Moran has brought his experience to the libraries’ work of reconciliation, decolonization, and understanding Indigenous history, supporting students and faculty through a range of initiatives. The most recent of these is hosting and producing a podcast, Taapwaywin, which means “truth” or “speaking truthfully” in Michif, a language of the Métis people.

As the lead instructor with the On the Road to Kindergarten mobile library, Irma Fernandez helps transform the lives of children in Howard County’s underserved communities through early literacy programs. The van visits all of the pre–K students at every elementary school in the county, bringing library resources and material to children of all backgrounds to help them get ready for kindergarten.

Growing up as a Black girl in a suburban neighborhood, Kymberlee Powe found it almost impossible to locate books reflecting her lived experience. Today Powe strives to support libraries in growing their evolving role as community hubs, training librarians to curate collections that reflect a range of people, stories, and experiences.

As a librarian at Tazewell–New Tazewell Primary School, TN, Blake Hopper strives to keep the library space student-centered. One of his most ambitious initiatives involves challenging students to read 40 books per school year, which he promotes through family events. He’s made it a priority to have the library collection reflect the diverse student body as well.

As an eighth grade reading teacher in the Rio Grande Valley, Margarita Longoria noticed a lack of literacy events and diversity in curriculum offered for young adults. Most libraries and bookstores focused on elementary readers; Longoria felt that young adults deserved attention, too. She also knew that it was crucial for young people to see themselves in the books and authors they read, so she founded the Border Book Bash festival.

Willa Liburd Tavernier was an attorney in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) when she entered the MA program at the University of Iowa, aiming to lead knowledge-management initiatives at her law firm. Toward the end of the program, hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged the BVI. Unable to return, she applied to U.S. academic library residency programs and received an offer from Indiana University–Bloomington, where she’s been ever since.

“Literacy justice is critical to social justice,” insists Amy Kyung-Eun Breslin, whose days are spent out in her community spearheading branch-style literacy programs at schools and other stakeholder venues—and busting through access barriers.

The Russo-Ukrainian War is more than a war between armies—it is a war between societies. Russia’s intention is not solely to defeat the Ukrainian military but to turn Ukraine into a gray zone by destroying it as a nation. Among the key casualties of the war are cultural heritage institutions, specifically those where ideas are preserved and exchanged: libraries.

The June 2023 Indie Next List Preview is out, featuring #1 pick Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2023 winners are announced. Multiple sources cover the targeting of journalists worldwide and the repercussions of Writers Guild of America’s strike. Starting their run as best sellers are Happy Place by Emily Henry, In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune, Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane, Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You by Lucinda Williams, and Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding) by Laura Dern and Diane Ladd. 

After two days of hearings in Ada County, ID, on March 29 the Ada County Board of Commissioners decided against putting a question before local voters that could have potentially dissolved the Meridian Library District. The hearings, held on March 20 and March 22, were convened in response to petitions from a politically conservative local group, the Concerned Citizens of Meridian.

The Librarian Parlor (aka LibParlor), which Chelsea Heinbach cofounded and operates with Nimisha Bhat, Hailley Fargo, and Charissa Powell, is a platform for library workers and LIS students to ask questions, discuss issues, and share expertise on developing, pursuing, and publishing library research. The project was conceived when Heinbach attended her first large library conference and encountered likeminded library workers who also felt the need for a centralized meeting place.

For researchers at North Carolina State University, computing and data resources are plentiful. However, finding and employing the right tools for a particular project can be challenging, whether for a researcher still in the planning or discovery phases of a project or an administrator. Susan Ivey’s mission as director of the new Research Facilitation Service: Cut through that confusion.

While serving as Open Educational Resources (OER) and Student Success Librarian at Michigan State University (MSU) Libraries, Gong launched a student-centered OER program in 2019 to address the overwhelming barriers of affordability and access students faced. At the time, fewer academic libraries utilized free open learning, teaching, and research materials.

May Book Club picks arrive: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Oprah), Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith (Reese Witherspoon), Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Read with Jenna), The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters (GMA), and The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry (B&N). The Reading the West Book Awards announces its shortlist. The Tony Award nominees are announced. Variety reports on the WGA strike. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for The 23rd Midnight by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown). Plus, Taika Waititi is in talks to direct an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun.

Lydia Lopez’s work opened access to services for Miami-Dade county residents who might not otherwise have had them—lifesaving medical tests and vaccines, entry into one’s home following a hurricane or fire, or even just the opportunity to reserve government-owned tennis courts—all because they don’t meet the requirements to obtain a driver’s license or state-issued identification.

In 2016, Frost founded Sewing Rebellion at Boulder Public Library's BLDG 61 to encourage people to make their own clothes or repair damaged clothing rather than buy new. The program became popular in Boulder as the upcycling and creative reuse movements grew. In 2019, Frost retired Sewing Rebellion. But when approached by a colleague about joining a project called Slay the Runway, in collaboration with the library and local LGBTQIA+ organizations, Frost jumped at the chance.

Christopher Brannon and George Williams are go-to experts helping the free, open source Koha integrated library system (ILS) grow and thrive in U.S. libraries. Both have been active leaders in the koha-US user group: In addition to their work on committees and regular appearances as presenters and panelists at conferences and events, Brannon is the organization’s current president, and Williams is a past president. 

Karla Alvarez has come full circle. While in high school, she got her first job at the San José Public Library as an after-school tutor. Today, after more than 15 years spent traveling to work in conflict studies and community building—a journey that included Mexico, Belize, Kenya, the Philippines, and more—the San José native is back at the city’s library system as Community Programs Administrator, Equity & Inclusion Services. Throughout, she has focused on eliminating barriers and strengthening access to services.

The 2023 RSL Ondaatje shortlist is announced. Madeleine Dale wins the 2023 Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. Booklists arrive for AANHPI Heritage Month. Eleanor Wachtel, longtime host of Canada’s Writers & Company, is moving on after 33 years, and Laurie Hertzel is retiring as books editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Plus, a new novel from Gabriel García Márquez will be published in 2024. 

Ashley Allen guides YA patrons along multimedia-related job paths by organizing industry networking opportunities and educational presentations, facilitating their access to scholarships, and overseeing the “Voices of Queens” podcast program. More than 165 students have created 100 episodes of this strictly for-teens, by-teens published program. Combined, they’ve completed at least 900 after-school hours of career training.

Rakisha Kearns-White established the Cycle Alliance, a teen advocacy group that fights period poverty and the stigma of menstruation. Since spring 2020, more than 170 teens have attended workshops, helped with distribution days, or volunteered for Cycle Alliance programs. The Cycle Alliance has partnered with international and local organizations to offer period-product distribution days and safe-sex workshops, giving out 200 period kits since 2021.

David Greisen is founder, CEO, and the driving force behind Open Law Library, a nonprofit open-access publisher helping governments collaborate, draft, and publish consistent laws with legislative history built to withstand nation state–level cyberattacks and comply with the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act, all without going through for-profit publishers.

On any given day, Schuylerville Public Library patrons might find director Caitlin Johnson stacking apples or cleaning the public produce fridge. Collaboration with local farmers, food pantries, and the Southern Adirondack Library System, NY, as part of the Farm-2-Library program has allowed SPL to offer tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce to patrons free of charge.

Although students are the focus of her work, Quilantan-Garza has also helped more than 25 teachers earn certification as Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts—and her “Tech Yourself” online, self-paced microcredentialing courses help teachers and staff document how they are staying current with the latest educational tools and technology.

When the Democratic nominee for state representative in Ohio’s 99th district was forced to withdraw from an upcoming election after her home was redistricted by 20 feet, Kathy Zappitello stepped into the race, largely to oppose pending censorship legislation introduced by her opponent that would “prohibit teaching, advocating, or promoting divisive concepts.”

When Daniel Zeiger arrived at Georgia Public Library Service, a major financial and operational challenge faced the state’s library systems—the plethora of individually managed, high-cost, public-access desktop computers. Small library systems were maintaining their own machines with a single IT professional, a tech-savvy director, or no in-house IT at all.

Courtney Shaw's innovative programming across numerous communities—including prisons and a local nonprofit that supports youth and adults experiencing homelessness—features Techie Senior classes to help decrease social isolation for the elderly, story time and early literacy education, youth STEM programs focused on coding and robotics, health and financial literacy programs, library card signups and mobile phone circulation, and arts and cultural offerings. 

In 2019, Lambert was selected to be part of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Equity and Action Forum. ISTE wanted participants to work on a yearlong project involving equity in education.

Brooke McCauley’s career spans activism and politics, anti-hunger/anti-poverty advocacy, and lobbying. In 2019, she learned about a new role at the Howard County Library System—customer experience manager—and made it her own.

The 23rd Midnight by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro leads holds this week. Audiofile announces the May Earphones Award winners. Jenna Bush Hager picks Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah for her May book club. B&N selects The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry. Seven LibraryReads and twelve Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg. The May Costco Connection features new books by Danielle Steel, Emily Henry, and Tom Hanks. Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian will be adapted for film. USA Today looks at new Vietnamese voices in literature. 

This month, as we have every year since 2002, LJ celebrates a new cohort of Movers & Shakers. The 49 individuals profiled hail from every corner of libraryland and beyond. And while I agree that the award can’t compare with the sheer number of bright lights in the library firmament, I also think the emphasis on individuals isn’t a bad thing. Yes, these services need everyone on board, every day, to carry them forward and turn them into reality. But someone jump-started those realities, and that’s what Movers & Shakers celebrates.

In 2022, Tara Sypniewski—a longtime trans activist—opened the Trans Library in a former antique store on one of Ottawa’s most diverse main streets. It’s a safe space for trans and gender diverse people, she says, “where they can meet, learn about themselves, and investigate their history; a place for parents of trans kids; and a place where the community can engage with trans folks on a personal level.”

In 2019, Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden was planning a radio interview at the same time that singer, songwriter, and rapper Lizzo was doing a round of publicity. Solomon HaileSelassie suggested that Hayden invite Lizzo—a classically trained flutist—to the Library of Congress (LC) to see its Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection, which contains nearly 1,700 flutes and related materials dating back to the 16th century. 

Libraries provide food for the spirit through books, information, and services. Lu Bangura wants to ensure they also nurture their community through the stomach and wallet.

If you missed the viral video by teen punk Asian American–Latine band The Linda Lindas, streamed during the pandemic from a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), you can’t blame Keith Kesler. The social media librarian for LAPL, Kesler boosted the signal of one song, “Racist Sexist Boy,” which has now reached over 10 million people across the library’s channels via YouTube.

Noelle Cruz and Melissa Santosa may seem like an unlikely team. Santosa worked for years in education and counseling before landing at Alameda County Library (ACL). Cruz worked multiple jobs simultaneously while earning her MLIS and searching for a library position. Both have leadership roles in the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) initiative, ACL’s effort to confront racism in both its organization and its community.

As anti-Asian–based racism increased during COVID-19, Lynn Nguyen and the Chinatown Teen Council (CTC), a program she created in 2019, participated in the library’s Teens Leading Change civic engagement project to study the impact of food insecurity in Chinatown—and, under Nguyen’s guidance, were able to take intentional, meaningful action.

When Sara Elisa Proaño-Motta arrived in Michigan in 2008, she worked as a translator and interpreter serving communities that faced barriers to services or resources. “This led me to recognize the library as one of the most important resources for case managers, advocates, and community navigators,” recalls the Ecuadorian native. “The work humbled me, informing my understanding of the many cultures represented in Kent County.”

When Robert Weinstein began working at Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) in early 2021, most branches still offered only lobby services because of COVID-19 restrictions, and bookmobile services were shut down entirely. Weinstein was hired to get the library’s bookmobiles back up and running using an all-outdoor bookmobile service model.

Angela Hursh’s passion for helping libraries promote their programs and services is unrivaled, and her blog, superlibrarymarketing.com, is an invaluable resource for libraries around the world. Since the blog’s launch in 2015, she’s published 425 articles and videos, which have been viewed more than 426,000 times. As manager of engagement and marketing for NoveList, Hursh lately has been using her skills and hands-on experience to help libraries uphold their First Amendment rights by fighting book bans.

The list of luminaries who have made in-person appearances at the Wilmington Public Library (WPL) since Jamar Rahming became executive director in 2018 is a long one. Angela Davis, LeVar Burton, Dolly Parton (who selected WPL for her early childhood reading initiative), Dennis Rodman, Pam Grier, Anthony Ray Hinton, Jennifer Lewis, Malcolm Jamal Warner, and a cast reunion of A Different World are just a few.

The Edgar Award winners are announced; Best Novel goes to Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka, while Eli Cranor wins Best First Novel for Don’t Know Tough. Ebony highlights “5 Black Male Poets Whose Words Enthrall Us.” The NYT romance column is out. There are new efforts to pass the Right To Read Act. Nora Robert faces censorship in Florida. Killers of the Flower Moon makes news. Plus, Page to Screen.

The James Beard 2023 Media Award nominees are announced. Sarah Holland-Batt wins the 2023 Stella Prize for The Jaguar. The 77th Edgar Awards ceremony will be held tonight. The 2023 RBC Bronwen Wallace Awards shortlist is announced. The 2023 Seiun Awards nominees are announced. The Russell Prize for Humour Writing 2023 shortlists are announced. The 2023 Roswell finalists are announced. Simply Lies by David Baldacci and The Wager by David Grann land atop the NYT bestsellers lists. Interviews arrive with Lucinda Williams, Sarah Cypher, Sara Petersen, Claire Dederer, Terese Svoboda, Judy Blume, Gretchen Morgenson, Matika Wilbur, Neil Gaiman, and David Grann. Plus, Grady Hendrix’s How To Sell a Haunted House will be adapted for film. 

The American Kennel Club (AKC) Library and Archives has been collecting practically everything dog-related, with a significant focus on purebred dogs, since 1934. For its 138th anniversary last fall, AKC announced the launch of its digital library, where people can search for specific breeders, read about the results of shows, learn about updates to breeds over time, and more.

The Women’s Prize for Fiction announces its shortlist. Kaliane Bradley wins the V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize. Shortlists for the League of Canadian Poets, the BC and Yukon Book Prizes, the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing, and the Atlantic Book Awards are announced. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Happy Place by Emily Henry. Interviews arrive with Dennis Lehane, Abraham Verghese, and more. Stephen L. Carter’s The Emperor of Ocean Park will get a series adaptation. 

U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón has been appointed to a historic second two-year term. The 2023 Gotham Book Prize is shared by two winners: Sidik Fofana for Stories from the Tenants Downstairs and John Wood Sweet for The Sewing Girl’s Tale. The 2023 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction winners are announced. The winners of the 2023–2024 Rome Prize in literature are announced, including Elif Batuman, Erica Hunt, Katie Kitamura, and Shruti Swamy. Coverage continues for ALA’s report on the rise in book bans. Claire Dederer’s Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma garners buzz. Apple TV+ releases a first-look trailer for Lessons in Chemistry, based on the novel by Bonnie Garmus. And Mo Willems’s “The Pigeon” makes his operatic debut at Washington’s Kennedy Center.

Robin Davis, associate head of user experience at North Carolina State University Libraries, was named a 2022 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her innovative work to make libraries accessible for all, including the development of sensory maps. LJ recently reached out to learn more about what she’s been doing since then.

Happy Place by Emily Henry leads holds this week. It is also People’s book of the week and Indie Next’s #1 pick. Other titles getting buzz include Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane and The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths. The LA Times Book Prize winners are announced, as is the IPA Prix Voltaire shortlist. Five LibraryReads and six Indie Next picks publish this week. The Guardian has an excerpt from an unpublished Hillary Mantell work. A new report from PEN American details the rise of censorship. Plus, the Library of Congress celebrates a birthday.

Jamil Jan Kochai wins the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize for The Haunting of Hajji Hotak And Other Stories. More award news arrives from the Writers’ Trust Rising Stars and the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize shortlist. Several interviews feature the voices of authors such as Melissa Coss Aquino, Genevieve Wheeler, Tove Danovich and Neil King. There is adaptation news for Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

Announcements include 2023 Young Lions Fiction Award finalists, Nancy Drew action figures, and a new digital publishing imprint, Orbit Works. Beginning their debuts on the best-seller lists are Dark Angel by John Sandford, The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda, Lassiter by J.R. Ward, You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith, I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan by Katie Porter, and It. Goes. So. Fast.: The Year of No Do-Overs by Mary Louise Kelly. Author conversations include the thoughts of Alison L. Strayer, Elizabeth Graver, J.C. Hallman, Jonathan Rosen, Lauren Oyler, Minka Kelly, Julia Lee, Tanis Rideout, and Daniel F. Runde.

Library leaders, staff, and boards need to be prepared for increasingly sophisticated attacks on readers’ rights.

All the Light We Cannot See, based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning book by Anthony Doerr, will premiere November 2 on Netflix. Will Richter wins the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize. Margaret Busby is named the new president of PEN. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Simply Lies by David Baldacci. Interviews arrive with Orlando Ortega-Medina, Molly Ringwald, Ling Ling Huang, Katy Simpson Smith, and David Grann. Jeff VanderMeer considers wheather climate fiction can promote useful change at Esquire. There is memoir news for Serena Williams and Liz Cheney. Plus, Bret Easton Ellis’s The Shards will be adapted as an HBO series. 

When a planned event came under attack, Downers Grove Public Library staff handled the hostilities, keeping safety a priority.

A bill that explicitly prohibits Illinois libraries from banning books is speeding its way toward passage by the General Assembly, and the Illinois Secretary of State said he wants “every librarian in the country to know we have their backs.”

Time released its 2023 TIME100 list, including Judy Blume, Suzan Lori-Parks, Neil Gaiman, Colleen Hoover, Salman Rushdie, and librarian Tracy D. Hall. The 2022 Sarton and Gilda Women's Book Award winners are announced. The International Booker Shortlist is announced along with finalists for the 2023 Plutarch Award, and the 2023 Sir Julius Vogel Awards. The May LibraryReads list is out, featuring #1 pick The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. Malala Yousafzai and Hanif Kureishi will publish new memoirs. Don Winslow discusses retiring as a novelist. Olivia Wilde will direct TV adaptations of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad and The Candy House. Plus, GMA speaks with Rob Schwartz, who edited his father’s writing into a new book, The Wisdom of Morrie: Living and Aging Creatively and Joyfully.

Simply Lies by David Baldacci leads holds this week. The Wager by David Grann gathers buzz, along with Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal and City of Dreams by Don Winslow. Four LibraryReads and four Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel. The Age Book of the Year 2023 announces its shortlists. April’s EarlyWord GalleyChat spreadsheet is available now. Plus, Questlove and S.A. Cosby have a new children’s book out tomorrow. 

Censorship efforts in the 2020s have moved beyond concerned parents to include restrictive legislation, library board power plays, and defunding.

Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists are announced. Scotland’s Highland Book Prize shortlist and Canada’s Donner Prize shortlist are out. Author interviews include Rachel Heng, Maggie Smith, and Ella Berman. New books are on the way from Salman Rushdie and Beth O’Leary.

The 2023 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize longlist is announced. Starting at the top of the best sellers list are Homecoming by Kate Morton, Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld, Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, Choosing to Run: A Memoir by Des Linden with Bonnie D. Ford, and Got Your Number: The Greatest Sports Legends and the Numbers They Own by Mike Greenberg with Paul Hembekides. There are conversations with authors such as David Grann, Gina Chung, Anjan Sundaram, William Brewer, and Dr. Sandeep Jauhar. Regarding adaptations, there is an announcement that Billy Porter will portray James Baldwin in a biopic, plus news about The Warlock Effect by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman and a Game of Thrones prequel series.

Public and academic libraries should be leaders in moving away from fossil fuels, prioritizing investments in net-zero energy construction, renewable energy, and electric vehicles. This requires commitment from leadership in facility and budget planning. Library administration and governing boards of trustees need to step up to prioritize greenhouse gas emission reduction in their strategic and operational planning.

The Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards 2023 shortlist is out. WNBA star Brittney Griner is working on a memoir about her Russian captivity, due out from Knopf in spring 2024. Hachette Book Group releases fourth annual DEI report.  LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Dark Angel by John Sandford. Booklists abound. The Last Thing He Told Me, based on the book by Laura Dave, premieres this Friday on Apple TV+. 

Can libraries afford open access? LJ’s latest Periodicals Price Survey examines the state of the market.