Perhaps one of the truest versions of life in America’s small and rural communities can found each day in their public libraries, where residents connect.

A genre perfect for fall, these books feature academic pursuits that take an unexpected and often perilous turn.

Paola Velez is an award-winning chef, entrepreneur, fierce community activist, and author. Her debut cookbook, Bodega Bakes, will be published in October. Growing up between the Bronx and the Dominican Republic, Velez is known for combining the flavors of her childhood and heritage and reinterpreting them through her experience as a professional chef specializing in the pastry arts.

I realize that genealogical research has long been associated with the retiree demographic, something one’s grandparents might do in their free time, and not what today’s students would gravitate toward on their own initiative. But that is where the wonder of the required assignment comes in, and where budding amateur genealogists are made. As the great American novelist William Faulkner once said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” And that’s what I try to instill in the students I teach about the wonders and magic of genealogical research.

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 the BBC:  A typical paperback book accounts for around 1kg of carbon dioxide, according to sustainability expert Mike Berners-Lee. Perhaps that does not sound like much. But in the US alone, where 767 million paperback books were sold in 2023, this is equivalent to the electricity use of more than 150,000 homes for a year. […]

Academia Quantitative Insights into Language Model Usage and Trust in Academia: An Empirical Study (preprint; via arXiv) Collaboration  Enhancing LLM Collaboration for Smarter, More Efficient Solutions (via MIT) Competencies Must-Have Competencies and Skills in Our New AI World: A Synthesis for Educational Reform (via EDUCAUSE Review) Health/Mental Health Artificial Intelligence in Education and Mental Health […]

From Tech EU: Today Wikimedia Deutschland announced the launch of a semantic search concept in collaboration with search experts from DataStax and Berlin’s Jina AI. The concept makes Wikidata’s openly licensed data available in an easier-to-use format for AI application developers. This simplifies the process of developing open-source, non-profit AI applications and contributes to a more reliable […]

The article linked below was published today by Insights. Title Library Partnership Rating: A Case Study About an Open, Community-Built Rubric to Evaluate Journal Publishers Authors Robin Sinn Iowa State University Libraries Rachel Caldwell UMass Amherst Libraries Source Insights Volume 37 (2024) DOI:  10.1629/uksg.658 Abstract This case study describes the formation of Library Partnership Rating […]

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.

Harrow’s breathtaking debut delves deep into the raw emotions of grief and the pure beauty of rediscovering joy in an exquisite tale of second chances, featuring an enemies-to-lovers romance.

The Booker Prize shortlist is announced. Entitlement by Rumaan Alam gets reviewed. Memoirs arrive from James Middleton, Eric Roberts, Ina Garten, and Mark Hoppus. Plus, interviews with Gillian Anderson, Coco Mellors, Mirya R. Holman, and Connie Chung.

These are only a few of the wide-ranging limited edition library card iterations popping up seemingly everywhere. Why are all these libraries putting time and resources into small-run cards?

As the November election approaches, public and academic libraries step up efforts to ensure voters have what they need before they go to the polls.