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A dispute over leadership at the Library of Congress has emerged in what appears to be a test over the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government.

The sweeping preliminary injunction issued by Judge John G. McConnell in Rhode Island v. Trump marked a victory for the fight against President Trump’s executive order that sought to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The federal lawsuit, filed by 21 state attorneys general, challenged the March 14 executive order that put most of IMLS’s staff members on administrative leave and canceled or failed to fund grants and contracts. Under the preliminary injunction, issued by McConnell on May 13, the administration is ordered to return all IMLS staff to work and to reinstate some of the terminated grants, and “shall not take any further actions to eliminate IMLS” or the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the Minority Business Development Agency, the two other agencies named in the suit.

Library Open Workflows is a new no-code solution from Ex Libris that empowers libraries to create customized, secure, and efficient workflows across their systems. Designed for accessibility and innovation, it simplifies complex integrations and enhances operational agility. General availability is expected in May 2025.

Nam Le’s 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem wins the New South Wales Book of the Year Award. Winners of the League of Canadian Poets Prizes are revealed. Dawn Macdonald’s poetry collection Northerny wins the Canadian First Book Prize. Clare Pollard’s The Modern Fairies wins the Tadeusz Bradecki Prize. The shortlist is announced for the Leacock Medal for Canadian humor writing. The Community of Literary Magazines & Presses announces the finalists for the Firecracker Awards. NYT, Vulture, and CrimeReads preview titles coming out this summer. LJ offers beach reads. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Madeleine Thien, Alison Bechdel, and Naomi Xu Elegant.

RIPM Jazz Periodicals captures a rich and fascinating slice of history and music culture. An excellent resource to support research on 20th-century U.S. history, Black history, entertainment, and music education. This singular primary-source collection is not easily matched.

Library displays highlight the collection and aid readers as they browse and find their next read, view, or listen. To help prompt display ideas and find titles to keep them stocked, LJ offers Display Shelf. Use this list to generate a quick display on the circulation desk or to fill an end-cap. The suggestions also offer RA librarians a handy list of popular titles on a range of high-interest genres and subjects. This list features books perfect for a summer escape.

Nightshade by Michael Connelly is the top holds title of the week. LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for patrons waiting to read this buzziest book.

Heart Lamp: Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq wins the International Booker Prize, marking the first time a story collection has won the award. Sasha Vasilyuk wins the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for her debut novel, Your Presence Is Mandatory. The Society of Authors’ Awards shortlists are announced, along with the Romantic Novel of the Year Awards winners. Several major newspapers recently published an AI-generated summer reading list featuring fake titles. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Nightshade by Michael Connelly. Plus, Quentin Tarantino will release books on three of his films.

This constantly growing collection pushes past traditional boundaries to preserve critically important endangered materials centered on LGBTQIA+ communities and history. It is a heartening, essential resource for all libraries.

Ann Cleeves reveals that her next Vera Stanhope book will be the last. Kevin Quigley, Kaitlynne Lowe, Sarah Moore, and Brianna Wolfe win the Donner Prize for Seized by Uncertainty: The Markets, Media, and Special Interests That Shaped Canada’s Response to COVID-19. Publishers Lunch’s Fall/Winter Fiction Buzz Panel is available to watch now. NYT catches up with “The Dresden Files” series author Jim Butcher after 25 years and 14 million books sold. Sourcebooks will publish new editions of Claire Legrand’s “Empirium” trilogy for adult readers. Plus, HBO Max’s It prequel, Welcome to Derry, gets a trailer today.

Nightshade by Michael Connelly leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by Katherine Center, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, and Rachel Gillig. Haruki Murakami wins the Center for Fiction’s Lifetime of Excellence in Fiction Award. The Gotham Book Prize winners are announced, including Paradise Bronx: The Life and Times of New York’s Greatest Borough by Ian Frazier and Movement: New York’s Long War To Take Back Its Streets from the Car by Nicole Gelinas. Finalists for the Orwell Prizes are announced. People’s book of the week is Whistle by Linwood Barclay. Plus, June’s LibraryReads list is out, featuring top pick The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater.

Mrs. Claus made her debut on the written page in 1849. Over the past two centuries, as this literary and pictorial review discovered, the Christmas character was continually reimagined for juvenile and adult works of fiction, in poetry, lyrics and for musical, theatrical and film productions. This publication is the first to extensively chronicle Mrs. Claus, as presented and published through the years.

Yasmin Zaher’s The Coin wins the Dylan Thomas Prize. Carys Davies’s Clear wins the Ondaatje Prize. Paul Reitter wins the Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize for his translation of Marx’s Capital: Critique of Political Economy, Vol. 1. The Atlantic publishes its 2025 summer reading guide. Film studio Somesuch launches its own book imprint. Netflix is adapting S.A. Cosby’s All the Sinners Bleed as a series. Plus, Page to Screen and a Time magazine feature on Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Academic libraries are essential in supporting student success by expanding access to course materials, a goal often challenged by issues of cost, availability, and gaps in digital integration. Leganto, along with its AI-powered Syllabus Assistant, offers a scalable, efficient solution that transforms syllabus into a dynamic, accessible resource list, fostering deeper faculty collaboration and measurable institutional impact.

The mission of the California State Railroad Museum (CSRM) in Sacramento, CA, is to collect, preserve, and share the deep history of railroads and railroading in California and the rest of the western United States. The organization is also home to a large 19th-century reconstruction of a railroad station and railroad depot, with a still-functional train that gives tours to patrons.

Abi Daré’s And So I Roar wins the inaugural Climate Fiction Prize. Winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are announced. Don Winslow comes out of retirement to publish a new collection of crime novellas, The Final Score. Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben team up to write a thriller. Joe Sacco suggests that The Once and Future Riot could be his last work of graphic nonfiction, a genre he pioneered. Iranian novelist Nahid Rachlin has died at age 85. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Prabal Gurung, Daniel Kehlmann, Wendy Corsi Staub, and Michelle Young.

Armstrong delivers a hit for fans of second-chance romance, a perfect summer beach read.

Not since Michael Crichton entertained and thrilled readers with science-driven novels like Sphere and Jurassic Park has there been anything this frightfully fun.

Fast-paced fun that will appeal to fans of Elle Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan and Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Meddelin Chan.

From works by Trevor Noah and Marjorie Liu to a foray into the secret lives of trees, these titles are most in demand by libraries and bookstores nationwide.

Anders’s latest is a breathtaking work of magic, grief, and love. The vulnerable depiction of relationships and challenges within queer and trans communities is heart-wrenching but still reflects hope and optimism throughout.

UPDATE: On May 13, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. issued a sweeping preliminary injunction blocking Trump administration officials from acting on the March 14 executive order to dismantle the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Furthermore, the court ordered the administration to immediately takes steps to restore the agency’s employees and grant funding activities.

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz is the top holds title of the week. LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for patrons waiting to read this buzziest book.

Oprah selects Ocean Vuong’s novel The Emperor of Gladness for her book club. LA Times previews 30 books for summer. Audible opens AI narration to selected publishers. Original Sin by Jake Tapper & Alex Thompson gets buzz. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz. Jeanine Cummins publishes a new novel, Speak to Me of Home, five years after the American Dirt controversy. LitHub celebrates 100 years of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. PW reports on the situation at Library of Congress. Plus, a federal judge orders the IMLS to be restored.

From Words and Money: On May 13, federal judge John G. McConnell in Rhode Island issued a sweeping preliminary injunction blocking Trump administration officials from acting on the president’s March 14 executive order to dismantle the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Furthermore, the court ordered the administration to immediately takes steps to restore the agency’s employees and grant funding activities.

The British Book Awards are announced; Percival Everett is named Author of the Year and his book James wins Fiction Book of the Year; Patriot by Alexei Navalny wins Overall Book of the Year and best narrative nonfiction book; Margaret Atwood laments the threat to words as she accepts the Freedom To Publish Prize. The PEN America Literary Awards winners are announced, along with shortlists for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Wales’s Book of the Year. HarperVia will launch a pocket-sized paperbacks imprint, Nomad Editions, in November. Plus, Trump names an acting librarian of Congress.