To celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month, the Boston Public Library (BPL) is releasing the We Are Pride booklist, hosting a variety of programs across BPL locations, and highlighting items from the Special Collections department during the month of June. The We Are Pride booklist contains 75 recently published fiction and non-fiction titles for children, teenagers, and adults from authors such as Janelle Monáe, Akwaeke Emezi, Andrew Holleran, Maulik Pancholy, Casey McQuiston, Joshua Whitehead, and Danica Roem.

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.

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.

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.

COVID shifts drove falling print circ and rising ebooks. But will it last? LJ's 2021 Materials Survey looks at some of the last year's trends.

This is the 13th year of the LJ Index of Public Library Service and Star Library ratings. The 2020 scores and ratings are based on FY18 data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Public Library Survey (PLS). Because of that delay, they don’t reflect the impact of the coronavirus; that won’t be reflected in the data until 2022. The big news in this year’s edition is that successful retrievals of electronic information (e-retrievals)—measuring usage of online content, such as databases, other than by title checkout—joins the six other measures that determine the LJ Index.

Whether librarians are providing services in-person or virtually, reference has changed with the pandemic.

Library Journal’s annual Placements & Salaries survey reports on the experiences of LIS students who graduated and sought their first librarian jobs in the previous year: in this case, 2019. Salaries and full-time employment are up, but so are unemployment and the gender gap; 2019 graduates faced a mixed job market even before the pandemic.

From Circana: Sales of LGBTQ fiction in the U.S. reached an all-time high in the 12 months ending May 2023, according to Circana, formerly IRI and The NPD Group, increasing by 6.1 million units. This growth represents an 11% increase over the previous 12-month period and a 173% surge compared to the pre-pandemic benchmark of 2019 […]

From the University of Maryland Libraries: The University of Maryland Libraries is excited to announce the acquisition of Ford’s Theatre records. The Ford’s Theatre records will be archived with Special Collections in Performing Arts (SCPA) and located in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. The historic Ford’s Theatre opened in Washington D.C. in 1863. Less […]

AI Is Used Widely, but Lawmakers Have Set Few Rules (via Stateline) Are Public Computers in Libraries Becoming Obsolete? (via Government Technology) EveryLibrary and GLAAD Partner On a “Playbook to Fight Against Book Bans” (via EL) Chicago Sun-Times Introduces a ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ Policy (via CST) LIBER Appoints New Executive Director (via Assoc. of […]

From  Loughborough University (via Newswise): By 2025, it is estimated that the global data will surpass 180 zettabytes The amount of digital data is doubling every two years A typical data-driven business employing 100 full-time employees will generate approximately 2,203 tons of CO2 emissions annually due to new data The inclusion of the data CO2 […]

When the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccines began to roll out in mid-December 2020, their distribution was immediately complicated by a shortage of doses and widespread uncertainty about who would be given priority. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued suggested guidelines for phased allocation. When it was not yet clear who would be next, many library workers, leaders, and associations began advocating for public facing library workers to be vaccinated as soon as feasible.

In the messy middle of the pandemic, library leaders share how things have changed since March 2020, their takeways, and continuing challenges.

Whether librarians are providing services in-person or virtually, reference has changed with the pandemic.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of books on the subject has been increasing exponentially. This introductory list, which will be updated regularly, is meant to help collection development librarians get started on determining which books work best for their collections.

When Alice Rose Barnes wins the lottery and hires grumpy carpenter Angus Drummond to do extensive renovations on her new house, she doesn’t realize how much he’s going to change her life. Readers will love the banter between Rose and Angus and cheer them on as they slowly build their relationship in this romance debut.

The June issue’s romance pick of the month is a hilarious, slow-burn romantic comedy, featuring a full cast of fun, quirky characters and intriguing, likable protagonists. This unputdownable novel will fly off shelves, and readers will clamor for Desai’s backlist.

Valdes delivers with her epic worldbuilding and characterizations in this sharp and poignant novel that's the SFF highlight from the June issue.

From its resourceful, resilient protagonist to its seamlessly constructed, au courant plot, everything about Ware’s newest novel is guaranteed to keep her fans up way past their bedtimes.