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Lisa Bird-Wilson wins the 2022 Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award for Probably Ruby. This year’s Gordon Burn Prize longlist is announced, which includes authors Margo Jefferson, Ali Smith, Lea Ypi and Tice Cin. LibraryReads and LJ share read-alikes for Suspects by Danielle Steel. Interviews feature conversations with Zachary Levi, Elisa Albert, Keri Blakinger, Carlos PenaVega and Alexa PenaVega,  John Vercher, and Meron Hadero. Plus, B&N and TikTok team up for the #BookTokChallenge.

The 2022 Colorado Book Awards, Indie Book Awards, and Rhysling Award winners are announced. Ukranian writer Serhiy Zhadan wins the German Peace Prize. Macmillan remains closed today to address a cybersecurity incident. Interviews arrive with Kristin Marguerite Doidge, Joseph Han, Ada Calhoun, and Nishant Batsha, along with booklists for a post-Roe landscape. Plus, a look at the criminal world of tree theft in Lyndsie Bourgon's Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods.

Suspects by Danielle Steel leads holds this week. The Firecracker Award and Analog AnLab Award winners are announced. Three LibraryReads and five Indie Next picks publish this week. People's book of the week is Horse by Geraldine Brooks. Authors protest over Amazon’s read and return e-book policy. Plus, screenwriter Abi Morgan will adapt, direct, and executive produce a TV adaptation of her book, This Is Not a Pity Memoir.

Texas A&M University restructured its University Libraries’ administrative system, including rescinding tenure—and eliminating the tenure process—for librarians. As of the fall semester, library faculty will be required to either give up their tenured status to remain full-time library staff members, or transfer to another academic department to keep or continue to pursue tenure, and teach credit-bearing courses with between 10 and 70 percent service in the libraries.

More summer reading picks arrive. There are author interviews with Chelsea T. Hicks, Jenny Mollen, Ottessa Moshfegh, Michelle Huneven. Adaptation news is out for J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Númenor and the Archie comic Jake Chang. Plus, page to screen.

George Chauncey wins the John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity. Clare Jackson wins the 2022 Wolfson History Prize for Devil-Land: England Under Siege 1588-1688. The 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist and the 2022 Ignotus Awards finalists are announced. At the top of the best sellers lists are The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand, Horse by Geraldine Brooks, Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation by Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin, and I'd Like to Play Alone, Please by Tom Segura. 

Ann Shin wins the Trillium Book Award. The fifth annual Indigenous Voices Award winners are announced. So are the 2022 Alberta Book Publishing Awards shortlists. Audible, Inc. announces a first-look production deal with the Obama's media company, Higher Ground. Library Reads and LJ offer read-likes for Riley Sager's buzzy book, The House Across the Lake. The ALA Annual Conference returns in-person tomorrow. Also, Emma Straub will adapt her novel This Time Tomorrow for the big screen. 

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager leads holds this week. The Yoto Carnegie Greenaway 2022 Awards winners are announced. Malorie Blackman becomes the first children's and YA author to win PEN Pinter prize. James Robertson wins the 2022 Walter Scott Prize and Kalani Pickhart wins the New York Public Library’s 2022 Young Lions Fiction Award. Mystery Writers of America announces a new Lilian Jackson Braun Award. Three LibraryReads and four Indie Next picks publish this week. People's book of the week is Jackie & Me by Louis Bayard. Also, The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas will be adapted into a movie. 

On Earth Day 2022, Suffolk County, NY, Executive Steven Bellone announced a $12 million investment in electric vehicle charging stations. He chose the Lindenhurst Memorial Library—the second library in the country to be certified under the Sustainable Libraries Initiative’s Sustainable Library Certification Program—as the location for the press conference.

Two branch libraries at Prince George’s County Memorial Library System were targeted with anti-LGBTQIA+ graffiti during the Washington, DC area’s Capital Pride Week. At press time, Prince George’s County Police detectives had arrested and charged a man, who confessed to the vandalism and is currently facing two counts of malicious destruction of property and multiple hate crimes.

Ruth Ozeki wins the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction for The Book of Form and Emptiness. Topping the best sellers lists are Tom Clancy: Zero Hour by Don Bentley, Chainsaw Man, Vol. 11 by Tatsuki Fukimoto, Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen, James Patterson by James Patterson by James Patterson, and Battling the Big Lie by Dan Pfeiffer. Interviews feature conversations with authors Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Jhumpa Lahiri, Sloane Crosley, and LeVar Burton.

The James Beard Awards were announced this week including Media Award winners Mooncakes and Milk Bread by Kristina Cho, Everyone's Table by Gregory Gourdet and JJ Goode, The Korean Vegan Cookbook by Joanne Lee Molinaro, The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers, and more. The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan wins the 2022 European Bank Prize. Library Reads and LJ share read-alikes for Elin Hilderbrand's The Hotel Nantucket. Candice Fox’s thriller Gathering Dark and Andrew DeYoung's The Temps will get television treatment. Plus, LitHub releases its annual “Ultimate Summer 2022 Reading List.”

On Saturday, June 11, a group of five men disrupted a children’s Drag Queen Story Hour at the San Lorenzo branch of the Alameda County Library, CA, shouting homophobic and transphobic insults. No one was injured, and library staff were able to move the children and their caregivers, as well as performer Panda Dulce, to a safe area of the library before members of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office arrived and led the intruders—believed by library administration and law enforcement to be members of the East Bay Proud Boys, a local far-right group—from the building.

A lawsuit filed by OCLC in U.S. Federal Court, Southern District of Ohio, claims that representatives from Clarivate have been contacting OCLC customers and encouraging them to contribute bibliographic records from WorldCat to an under-development platform called MetaDoor, in direct breach of those customers’ contractual obligations to OCLC.

The 2022 Manitoba Book Awards are announced. Andrew Roberts wins the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography for George III: The Life and Reign of Britain’s Most Misunderstood Monarch. Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh gets reviews and a book trailer. Interviews arrive with Jessica Nabongo, Ottessa Moshfegh, John Waters, Christine Kandic Torres, Liz Prato, Nina LaCour, Rachel Krantz, Katy Tur, Joseph Han, J. Kenji López-Alt, and Carla Hayden. Plus, author A.B. Yehoshua has died at the age of 85.

Responses to the pandemic from rural librarians represent an opportunity to better understand how libraries that want to make social well-being impacts can do so. The recent Institute of Museum and Library Services’ “Empowering Readers, Empowering Citizens” convening highlighted a host of pressing challenges facing libraries in this late-pandemic period—and the variation in the responses from urban and rural libraries couldn’t have been starker.

From the East Bay Times: Several apparent Proud Boys members disrupted a Drag Queen Story Hour event at the San Lorenzo Library on Saturday afternoon—threatening the event’s organizer with homophobic and transphobic slurs and briefly forcing the performer to flee for safety.

For librarians looking to change career course, post-MLIS certificates can help them learn a new specialization or catch up on technologies.

Queen of the Beach Elin Hilderbrand’s The Hotel Nantucket leads holds this week. The Lambda Literary Award 2022 winners are announced. The Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Longlist 2022 and the 2021 Ladies of Horror Fiction Awards nominees are announced. Two LibraryReads and five Indie Next picks publish this week, including Flying Solo by Linda Holmes and Horse by Geraldine Brooks. People’s book of the week is The Midcoast by Adam White. Plus, Tessa Bailey’s It Happened One Summer is getting a big screen adaptation. 

Award winners and finalists announced for the Lammy’s and Reading the West. There are many author interviews with Clyde W. Ford, Fariha Róisín, Anna Dorn, Vanessa Hua, Grant Ginder, Percival Everett, Nathan Chen, and Chris Blackwell. Also, adaptation news for Sekret Machines by Tom DeLonge and A. J. Hartley.

The 2022 Colorado Book Awards finalists and debut Utopia Awards nominees are announced. Topping the best seller lists are Sparring Partners by John Grisham, Meant to Be by Emily Giffin, Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris, and The Power of One More: The Ultimate Guide to Happiness and Success by Ed Mylett. There are author interviews with Cara Black, Tara Moss, Colton Haynes, and Werner Herzog. A new podcast, Screen After Reading, starts with a conversation about Sarah Vaughan’s Anatomy of a Scandal.

Oprah picks Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley for her book club. Reese Witherspoon selects Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen as her June read. The GMA pick is More Than You'll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez. B&N releases its Best Books of 2022 (So Far) list. The work of Maxine Hong Kingston is revisited in a new Library of America edition. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia tops July's Loanstars list. Plus, read-alikes arrive for Sulari Gentill's buzzy book, The Woman in the Library.

Like many people around the world, I have become enamored with Ted Lasso. This comedy from Apple stars Jason Sudeikis as the titular character in a show with storylines that are funny, sweet, sad, and, at their heart, kind.

The papers of Samson Occom—Presbyterian minister, scholar, educator, and early funder of what would become Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH—have been restored to Occom’s Mohegan homeland in Connecticut from their previous location at Dartmouth’s Rauner Special Collections Library. On April 27, Dartmouth President Philip J. Hanlon led a delegation bringing the papers from New Hampshire to Connecticut in a repatriation ceremony.

In a new insights report from Gale, academic thought leaders discuss their role in championing EDI on campus—and provide advice to help other colleges and universities develop effective, sustainable programs.

From IMLS: The Institute of Museum and Library Services today is pleased to announce the six recipients of the 2022 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest honor given to libraries and museums that make significant and exceptional contributions to their communities.

Aisha Sabatini Sloan wins the 2022 Jeanne Córdova Prize for Borealis. Julia Parry wins the 2022 RSL Christopher Bland Prize. The 2022 Desmond Elliott Prize shortlist is announced. Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley gets critical attention. The Hunger Games Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes gets a trailer, as does Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. Plus, Cheryl Strayed's Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar is coming to Hulu. 

How diversity, equity, and inclusion auditing tools help build stronger collections.

Library leaders share the strides they’re making to shift strategic plans and policies to center equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Hiring an EDI officer requires system-wide support, a clear definition of the role’s parameters, and providing authority to effect changes, not just make suggestions.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill leads holds this week. Six LibraryReads and ten Indie Next picks publish this week. People's book of the week is The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz. These Impossible Things by Salma El-Wardany is the new Read with Jenna pick. Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley gets reviews and buzz. James Patterson's memoir publishes today. Plus, interviews arrive with Katie Gutierrez, Nabil Ayers, Tom Perrotta, Sulari Gentill, Leila Mottley, David Sedaris, Colton Haynes, Michelle Zauner, and James Patterson. 

Treshani Perera, Music and Fine Arts Cataloging Librarian at the University of Kentucky, has written and spoken on critical cataloging—looking at knowledge organization though an equity lens, examining not only at how content is described, but why those systems exist and how they can be changed.

The 2022 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize shortlist is announced. Arnolda Dufour Bowes wins the 25th annual Danuta Gleed Literary Award. June’s Costco Connection is out featuring By Her Own Design: A Novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register by Piper Huguley and The Boardwalk Bookshop by Susan Mallery. Page to Screen spotlights adaptations arriving this weekend. Interviews arrive with authors Patrice Nganang, Susan Hartman, Keith Gessen, Imogen Binnie, Dan Chaon, Kim Kelly, and Golden Voice Narrator Juliet Stevenson. Plus, booklists highlight Pride Month reading. 

Sabba Khan wins the Jhalak prize for best book by a writer of color for The Roles We Play. Dan Breznitz wins the 2021 Donner Prize. The 2022 Indie Reader Discovery Award winners are announced. At the top of the best selling book lists are Nightwork by Nora Roberts, Clive Cussler's Dark Vector by Graham Brown, and Here's the Deal by Kellyanne Conway. Library Reads and LJ share read-alikes for John Grisham's Sparring Partners. There are author interviews with Holly Black, Colton Haynes, Casey McQuiston and Jessamine Chan. Plus, Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day turns 50.

The American Library Association’s (ALA) annual conference returns to a live event after a two year run of virtual-only conventions owing to COVID. The in-person event will be held June 23–28 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. Here is a curated selection of sessions that appealed to the LJ editors who are attending the conference.

Audiofile announces the recipients of the 2022 Golden Voices Audiobook Lifetime Achievement honors. Audiofile also announces the June 2022 Earphones Award winners. Sui Annuka wins the 2022 Discoveries Programme from the Women’s Prize. B&N selects Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith for its June Book Club, which also gets featured by Amazon. Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour is the Target book club selection. Tom Perrotta's Tracy Flick Can’t Win gets reviewed. There are interviews with David Sedaris, Aaron Foley, Karen Jennings, and Noon Naga. Plus, booklists arrive for Pride month.  

In the midst of the myriad problems facing libraries in the United States—from the pandemic to burnout to the drastic increase in materials challenges—I want to celebrate a big win: the shift to libraries as at-scale providers of home connectivity for the digitally disenfranchised in their communities.

Sparring Partners by John Grisham leads holds this week. Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree trans. by Daisy Rockwell wins the 2022 International Booker Prize for translated fiction. Stephan Malinowski wins the €25,000 German Nonfiction Prize. IPA Prix Voltaire announces its shortlist. Two LibraryReads and five Indie Next picks publish this week. People shares the best books for summer. Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris gets reviewed. Plus, buzz builds for Akwaeke Emezi's You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty. 

From Tutakhamen to the Tudors and more. 

Joanna Chiu wins the 2022 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for China Unbound: A New World Disorder. At the top of the best selling lists are In the Blood by Jack Carr, This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub, The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, and Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar by Alan Shipnuck. Interviews feature authors Dov Forman, Robert Samuels, Toluse Olorunnipa, and Simon Parkin. Adaptation news for Oliver Sacks’s book Awakenings.

The Seattle Public Library; District of Columbia Public Library; and Fayette Public Library, Museum & Archives, La Grange, TX, in partnership with the University of Washington, have launched VRtality.org, a website that provides libraries and other institutions with a roadmap for co-designing virtual reality (VR) apps to support the mental health of teens. The roadmap and website were informed by three separate VR pilot programs developed by the three libraries. Librarians worked directly with teen patrons to create the VR programs, treating them as equal partners in the projects.

The British Book Awards are announced with Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason, Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, The Dark Remains by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin, and Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson winning top fiction honors. You Are a Champion by Marcus Rashford and Carl Anka wins best overall book of the year. The 2022 Xingyun Awards finalists are announced along with the 2022 Kurd Laßwitz Preis winners. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for buzzy book Nightwork by Nora Roberts. Amanda Gorman writes a poem about the Texas school shooting. Plus, Margaret Atwood takes a flamethrower to an unburnable edition of The Handmaid's Tale. 

Alice Zeniter and translator Frank Wynne win the 2022 Dublin Literary Award for The Art of Losing. The 2022 Mythopoeic Awards finalists are announced. The 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist is announced. The 2022 Roswell Award and Prix Imaginales winners are announced. Sales spike for banned or challenged books. Interviews arrive with John Waters, Elif Batuman, Courtney Maum, and Emma Straub. Plus, The U.S. Book Show kicks off its first full day of programming including the Libraries are Essential Track.

As book banning and censorship continues to ramp up across the country, particularly of work aimed at teens and young adults, New York City public libraries are stepping up to help young readers connect with challenged books. 

The leak of the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft decision on abortion rights has sent people scrambling to understand the current state of abortion care in the United States. As tensions are at an all-time high, librarians have an opportunity to dispel some myths about abortion care and abortion access. Here is some background to help you answer patron questions that may arise.

The Nebula Awards winners are announced. Mohammed Alnaas wins the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. The 2022 Australian Book Industry Awards shortlist is announced. Fijian writer Mary Rokonadravu wins the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize in the Pacific category. Nightwork by Nora Roberts leads holds this week. One LibraryReads and five Indie Next picks publish this week. People's book of the week is Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner. Plus, booklists start to arrive for summer reading. 

The 2022 Orwell Prizes finalists and Owned Voices Novel Award are announced. Page to Screen highlights adaptations arriving this weekend. Interviews abound with authors Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Christine Quinn, Naheed Phiroze Patel, Tom Daley, Cynthia Clampitt, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey, Mesha Maren, and Fernando Flores.

The 2022 Firecracker Awards finalists are announced. There is a new banned book subscription service called Getting the Banned Back Together. At the top of the best sellers lists are The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner, The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian, A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times by Mark T. Esper, and How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going by Vaclav Smil. Author interviews feature Colton Haynes and Stephanie Foo. There is adaptation news for Margalit Fox’s The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History.

Wesley Morgan wins the 2022 William E. Colby Award for The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley. NPR Books Editor Petra Mayer is honored with posthumous Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. The 2022 Nommo Awards shortlist is announced. The 2022 Premios Kelvin finalists are announced. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Christina Lauren's buzzy book, Something Wilder. Colin Kaepernick will publish a memoir. Margaret Atwood’s Stone Mattress adaptation casts leads. Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen gets a reboot and Spiderhead gets a trailer. 

The 2021 Bram Stoker Awards are announced, with My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones taking the top award. Burning Man: The Trials of D. H. Lawrence by Frances Wilson wins the Plutarch Award for best biography of the year. The 2022 Ohioana Book Award finalists are announced along with shortlists for the 2022 Indie Book Awards and the 2022 Seiun Awards. The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill tops the June Library Reads list. The Atlantic and Zando partner to launch the new imprint, Atlantic Editions. Plus, The Believer literary magazine returns to its original publisher, McSweeney’s. 

Christina Lauren’s Something Wilder leads holds this week. Three LibraryReads selections and four Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. Entertainment Weekly releases its 2022 Summer Preview. The Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards 2022 are announced. The U.S. Book Show kicks off next week. The Atlantic expands its book section. Plus, Stephen King weighs in on the new Firestarter film.

Kazuo Ishiguro has won the Tähtivaeltaja Award for Klara and the Sun, and Patricia Lockwood wins the 2022 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize with No One Is Talking About This. Interviews with authors feature Kennedy Ryan, Bud Smith, Norman Reedus, Chloe Caldwell, Jokha Alharthi, Jill Gutowitz, Viola Davis, Matt Sienkiewicz, Nick Marx, Lan Samantha Chang, and Omarion. There is adaptation news for Colleen Hoover’s Maybe Someday.

Celeste Mohammed wins the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature for Pleasantview. The 2022 Triangle Award winners are announced. Topping the best sellers lists are Book Lovers by Emily Henry, 22 Seconds by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, Book of Night by Holly Black, Killing the Killers: The Secret War Against Terrorists by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, and This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns. Author interviews include conversations with Selma Blair, Jim Shepard, and Steve Almond.

“Freedom and the Press before Freedom of the Press,” a digital humanities project based at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh, has received a $324,931 National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Humanities Advancement grant to develop a set of digital tools to analyze type and paper used in late 17th- and 18th-century English language works.

Bono’s long-awaited memoir, Surrender, will arrive in November from Knopf. The 2022 Locus Awards announces top ten finalists. The 2022 Amazon Canada First Novel Award shortlist is announced. The Women’s Prize Trust announces Discoveries longlist. The Canadian Leisure and Reading Study 2021 from Booknet Canada is released. Unite Against Book Bans, a coalition of librarians, teachers and publishers to fight book challenges across the U.S., gets coverage. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner. Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go is being adapted for television. 

The Doris S. Kirschner Cookbook Collection at the University of Minnesota–St. Paul provides an excellent window into the history of food, cooking, and technology—and some surprises—through cookbooks and other related ephemera.

The 2022 Pulitzer Prizes are awarded with The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family by Joshua Cohen, winning the top prize for fiction. Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Eliott, Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South by Winfred Rembert & Erin I. Kelly, and Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America by Nicole Eustace are also winners. Shortlists arrive for the Canadian ReLit Awards, the Saskatchewan Book Awards, and the Trillium Book Awards. Plus, The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner and Star Wars: Brotherhood by Mike Chen are 4-star reads. 

From ALA: The American Library Association (ALA) and a coalition of more than 25 groups are banding together to empower individuals and communities to fight censorship and protect the freedom to read.

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner leads holds this week. The 2022 Sheikh Zayed Book Award and the Christian Book Award winners are announced. U.S. Selfies announces shortlist. Puerto Rican writer Giannina Braschi is awarded the 2022 Enrique Anderson Imbert Award. Publishers Lunch and the American Booksellers Association are sponsoring a Fall/Winter Buzz Books Editors panel on May 18th. Three LibraryReads and four Indie Next selections publish this week. People's book of the week is Vigil Harbor by Julia Glass. Plus, Ncuti Gatwa becomes the first Black actor to play Doctor Who.

Who is in charge of your library? In Kentucky, in 2023, the answer will change. Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a state Senate bill was unexpectedly overridden in mid-April, enabling local politicians to take control of public library board appointments, and thus spending, and even the continued existence of facilities.

The 2022 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award finalists are announced. There are many author interviews sharing the perspectives of Angela Garbes, Steve Almond, Jennifer Egan, Julia Quinn, Jennifer Grey, and Courtney Maum. Plus, page-to-screen.

Jillian Rudes didn’t grow up reading manga. But when she discovered it in her first year as a school librarian, she realized that it is a critical format for teaching, cultivating a love of reading, and giving kids what they want, and took a deep dive in, reading everything she could get her hands on.  

During a job hunt while unemployed, Jessica Chaney learned about the opening of CLOUD901, Memphis Public Library’s social, creative, production, research, and performance technology lab. Chaney thought she might be able to contribute her film experience—but library leadership realized she had management potential.

Bill Smith’s love for community service and music led to him work with Dallas Public Library (DPL) staff and volunteers to create a schedule of classes in musical instruction and theory for underserved communities. 

With disinformation more prevalent than ever, teaching students how to analyze and understand what’s coming at them has never been more important.

The Outreach Department at High Plains Library District in Erie, CO, was a seven-person department when Brittany Raines became supervisor. Under her leadership, it grew to 25 staff spread out across the entire county and was retitled as MOVE (Mobile, Outreach, Virtual, and Experiences).  

As 2020 Maryland Library Association (MLA) Conference Director, rather than cancel the conference due to the pandemic, Naomi Keppler worked with staff to reenvision the event online, collaborating with MLA’s technology committee to build a virtual platform that other states replicated.

Barbara Alvarez, while teaching at three iSchools, focuses on building community partnerships for health. To investigate the pandemic’s impact on abortion services for Wisconsin residents, Alvarez conducted weekly mystery calls to 29 abortion clinics in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and upper Michigan..

A few years ago, Melissa Thom attended Nerd Camp for the first time. “I was hooked,” she says. “It’s such a high-energy day where educators, librarians, teachers, illustrators, and authors are all there to nerd out about books. And it’s such an amazing model—it’s a free event, and everybody is there because of the pure joy of books and reading and literacy.” 

Ninety-one percent of academic librarians believe that analytics improve their understanding of how students, faculty, and researchers engage with their library, and 85 percent believe analytics can help show the library’s value to administrators and help libraries justify budget decisions, according to a recent national survey of 196 academic librarians conducted by LJ in conjunction with EBSCO.

Lea Ypi wins the 2022 RSL Ondaajte Prize for Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History. Musician and author Dolly Parton has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The best seller lists are topped by City on Fire by Don Winslow, The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani, Shadow Fire by Christine Feehan, Finding Me by Viola Davis, and The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor--the Truth and the Turmoil by Tina Brown. Interviews feature the thoughts of actor/writer Nyle DiMarco and Minnie Driver. There is adaptation news for The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery and On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.

Marquita Gooch-Voyd—who became the first person of color to receive the Georgia Public Librarian of the Year award in 2020—sees the impact that technology can have on patrons’ lives and careers. 

Babak Zarin has expanded Access Services at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library (CRRL) to include accessibility in all forms, developed and conducted an accessibility audit, and shared information and insight through presentations for other library systems and one-on-one conversations with library staff. The Deaf Culture Digital Library is the culmination of two years’ work reviewing and developing a program to meet the needs of the Deaf and hearing-impaired community, not just within CRRL, but throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Robin Davis knows that “accessibility isn’t one person’s domain, but everyone’s responsibility.” This shows in the work she does with her colleagues at North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries in the User Experience department and on the recently formed Accessibility Committee, as well as mentoring students. 

No matter how robust a library’s services, they can’t reach those who aren’t aware of them. St. Louis County Library (SLCL) Reference Manager Jennifer Gibson has been working to bridge the library’s outreach gap in several critical areas. 

Throughout his career, Elisandro Cabada has been closely involved with the creation of tech spaces in libraries, including the design and development of the IDEA Lab, and the Breakerspace digital scholarship and innovation center at the University of Minnesota’s Walter Library. In addition, he is currently developing library services for CI COM—described as the world’s first engineering-based college of medicine—with a focus on "innovative instructional support, scholarly productivity tools, and entrepreneurship."

Jessica Fitzpatrick meets student athletes on their turf as she grows the next generation of book enthusiasts. “I became aware that our athletes weren’t reading because of how many different responsibilities they handled,” she explains. “At a Title 1 school, our students are not only busy being athletes, students, and just teenagers but they are also working to put food on the table and support their families.”  

Queens Public Library’s (QPL) Immediate Access: Technology Reentry program helps new parolees overcome the many barriers to restarting their lives outside of prison. Program Manager Jill Anderson is an expert in removing roadblocks. This includes listening to program participants and community partners about what they need or can offer, and to funders about what opportunities are available.

When life gives you honeybees, make honey. That could be the motto of Amy Thatcher, manager of the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Richmond Branch. “I believe pushing against boundaries yields opportunity,” she says. “Be adventurous. Try implementing what appears to be impossible. Most of the time, it’s possible.”  

Reese Witherspoon picks The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams for her May book club. Recently reviewed books on the topic of legal abortion are highlighted. The 2022 Omega Sci-Fi Awards finalists and 2022 Branford Boase Award shortlist are announced. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Emily Henry’s buzzy Book Lovers. Chris Bohjalian’s forthcoming historical thriller, The Lioness, will be adapted for television. LJ's Spring Virtual Day of Dialog is set for tomorrow, May 5th. Plus, Disney+ teases a new Obi-wan Kenobi trailer for Star Wars Day. 

Library Journal’s recent survey on College Student Library Usage, sponsored by ProQuest, looks at how students in American colleges and universities use their institutions’ libraries, and whether those libraries are meeting students' needs. Most are pleased with the quality of resources provided, and more than three quarters feel the library contributes to their academic success. However, the number of visits, whether in-person or virtual, are hit-and-miss—as many students use the library more than 10 times a semester as never use it at all.

When Nicole Bryan took on the position of Neighborhood Library Supervisor for the Macon Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) in January 2020, she could not have imagined guiding her branch through a pandemic. In those two years, however, Bryan developed outdoor community programming, a systemwide special edition library card, and programs to reinforce community connections.

When Amy Hermon transitioned from being a history teacher to a school librarian, she found that her on-campus support network drastically dwindled. Teachers and staff were great, but there was no one with the same job available to talk to and draw inspiration from. This inspired Hermon “to create something that has the potential to help people all around the world, and then commit to creating that connection week in and week out.” In 2018, she created School Librarians United.

Jane Gov believes that “to really understand what teens want, they must be involved in the planning.” This is the foundation for the Teen Volunteer and Teen Advisory Board (TAB) programs. The programs’ goal is to be strategic in how the library utilizes the skills of volunteers, and to support a team that doesn’t only give advice and assist with library activities, but creates ideas and makes them happen. 

Among Katie DiSalvo-Thronson projects is building a portal for students and families in need with information about finding food, housing and rental assistance, unemployment, and mental health resources. Knowing that many students didn’t have access to the internet, she worked to produce a print version included with free lunches distributed by local schools. 

Ady Huertas grew up in the library, first while learning English as a preteen and then at 16 serving as library aide at the San Diego Public Library. She celebrates 25 years with the system this year. 

“It’s been the most rewarding career move I never anticipated,” Luke Kirkland says of becoming a librarian. Kirkland initially set out to be a musician, but found his stride leading the teen department at Waltham Public Library. “I’m incredibly honored to receive this recognition. The credit should really go to the teens who made the Teen Room and Real Talk the space that it is.”  

Perry joined Mid-Continent Public Library in 2013 in the new role of business specialist. She spent four years working on a plan to provide business information education in Spanish with two community partners, hosted a support group during quarantine about virtual programming, and helped develop a small business support team that was active in the community.

Shortly before Gregory Stall completed his MLIS, two simultaneous internships—at the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress—introduced him to the excitement of public programming with formidable collections. At New York Public Library (NYPL), he has tapped into his own curiosity to stoke interest and bring the community to the library, both in person and virtually.  

Raemona Little Taylor is not satisfied with libraries’ success as spaces of inclusion. “I feel like the first step is acknowledging the long history of libraries as segregated spaces,” she says. “Until libraries and librarians grapple with their history as gatekeepers for white-dominant culture, they will struggle to create welcoming and inclusive workplaces where diverse workers feel like they truly belong.” 

Dieter Cantu knows the power of education. And after having spent three years incarcerated in Texas’s juvenile justice system, he also knows the difficulties teens face getting an education in those systems.

Xenia Yolanda Hernández has collaborated with agencies and nonprofits to help families and businesses in Saint Paul, MN, most impacted by the economic fallout of the pandemic.

After George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, Cindy Khatri advocated for Downers Grove Public Library (DGPL) to issue its first anti-hate statement. She was then tasked with writing the next, following the March 2021 murder of eight people at three Atlanta spas, six of whom were Asian women. She recruited Van McGary as coauthor because “I don’t know if I can do this on my own, and I want to share my platform of power,” she remembers thinking. “We’ve been a dynamic duo ever since.” 

May book club picks are announced, including Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Read with Jenna), Elektra by Jennifer Saint (B&N), and The Change by Kirsten Miller (GMA). Audiofile announces the May 2022 Earphones Awards. The 2022 ReLit Awards shortlist is out. May book lists arrive. Plus, Lauren Groff publishes a new standalone story about literary privilege.

From a Macmillan Publishers Statement: Don Weisberg announced today that he will be stepping aside as CEO, Macmillan Publishers at the end of the year. Jon Yaged has been appointed his successor as CEO, Macmillan Publishers US. Weisberg will continue in an advisory capacity to Stefan von Holtzbrinck starting in January 2023.

In late 2020, Sophie Kenney founded the Reaching Across Illinois System (RAILS) BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) Library Workers group. At the first meeting, Kenney opened the floor to anyone who wanted to be a co-leader, paying forward the leadership opportunities she’d received. Heidi Estrada stepped up. “The rest is amazing history,” says Estrada. 

Librarians face problems ranging from budgets to book challenges, and it takes time, effort, and dedication to battle them. Elissa Malespina was galvanized to act when the South Orange–Maplewood  district, where she lived and formerly worked, wanted to reduce the number of librarians in the middle and high schools. It didn’t happen overnight, but eventually the positions were restored. 

Jessica Alvarado was drawn to library work after seeing how involved the Dallas Public Library (DPL) was within the city and local communities and loves being able to provide diverse, inclusive, and engaging programming. Recently Alvarado has become one of the lead creators of the city’s first Poet Laureate, created to encourage greater literacy awareness and advocacy for the literary arts in the Dallas community.

Jeanie Austin is a champion of information for people experiencing incarceration and returning from it. Previously a juvenile detention center librarian, they not only provide direct service to local facilities, but broadened San Francisco Public Library’s (SFPL) JARS letter-writing reference service program to incarcerated patrons throughout the country.

Virginia Cononie is a tireless advocate for libraries. She conceived, compiled, published, and promoted the book Share Your Story, a collection of more than 100 testimonials and photos from library supporters to be sent to lawmakers in the state of South Carolina, illustrating the value of libraries in their communities.