The EveryLibrary Institute, the companion organization of library advocacy group EveryLibrary, commissioned Embold Research, a nonpartisan research firm, to poll 1,223 U.S. voters on book banning. The survey found that nearly all (92 percent) have heard at least something about such censorship, and at least 75 percent will consider the issue of book banning when voting this November.

While most people think of postcards as inexpensive media showing iconic places, they may not realize the opportunities that postcards can hold for understanding the past. The Chicago-based Newberry Library houses one of the largest collections of postcards in the United States.

Disability in Publishing, a United States–based organization of disabled individuals who work in traditional publishing, launched in late July via a virtual town hall. The group’s mission to “create community, provide resources, and increase accessibility across the industry in order to increase disability visibility and retain the talent of disabled publishing professionals” was well represented in the highly accessible event, which was simulcast on YouTube and Twitter and attended by people who are personally disabled and others looking to make their organizations more inclusive. 

LJ focuses on the most promising debut novels for fall, with titles ranging widely in theme and genre. 

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.

Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights: A Vision for Protecting Our Civil Rights in the Algorithmic Age (via OSTP: The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy) Internet Archive Seeks Donations of Materials to Build a Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (via IA Blog) Lisa Browar to Retire as Linda Hall […]

From The Washington Post: [Marcus] Gould’s banner — and 1,601 other artifacts from the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence — was saved. More than two years after he attached it to the fence, it was scanned, archived and published Friday in an online collection on Dig DC, the D.C. Public Library’s online archive. [Clip] The collection is a […]

From The New York Public Library: Spider-Senses will be tingling across New York City as The New York Public Library (NYPL) and Marvel Entertainment join forces to release a special, limited-edition Spider-Man library card on October 11 to inspire new and existing patrons to explore a multitude of free books, resources, and programs at the […]

The abstract linked below was posted today by The Journal of Academic Librarianship. Title Ethical Issues and Learning Analytics: Are Academic Library Practitioners Prepared? Authors Kyle M.L. Jones Indiana University-Indianapolis (IUPUI) Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Source The Journal of Academic Librarianship DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102621 Abstract Academic libraries are participating in the collection […]

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.

October book club picks feature The Night Ship by Jess Kidd, River Woman, River Demon by Jennifer Givhan, The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn, and Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. Also on the book club list is Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng, which gets a 4-star review from USA Today. The inaugural Utopia Awards winners are announced. Interviews arrive with Adam Hochschild, Constance Wu, Elizabeth Strout, Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe, GennaRose Nethercott, and Thomas E. Ricks.

Life stories: expect the unexpected. 

In p opular fiction, looking for second chances. 

From 1700s London to 1930s Wyoming to 1960s Sài Gòn.