Public Libraries

On January 30, in response to pressure from Gov. Kay Ivey, the Alabama Public Library Service—the agency that advises and administers funds to the state’s 220 public libraries—announced its official decision not to renew its membership with the American Library Association (ALA). But advocates are urged to look beyond the controversy over ALA to the larger issues in play, notably the growing influence that the state’s elected officials have on library freedoms.

The Kansas City Public Library (KCPL) and San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) last Thursday announced that they would team up on a Tackle Censorship campaign with a friendly wager on the game. As a result of Kansas City's 25–22 win last night, a library representative from SFPL will wear Kansas City gear and post a recording of themselves reading from a banned book on the library’s social media channels.

Budgets grew across all areas in 2023, and while it’s too early to predict what those gains bode, the upward trend is largely encouraging.

Most library measures passed in 2023, but the year also saw confusingly worded ballots and little new funding.

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially declared an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency in May 2023, many libraries reported a transition back to what felt like pre-pandemic days, with children joyfully attending story times and crowds reconvening to hear their favorite authors. Yet, just as we breathed a collective sigh of relief at the formal end of one emergency, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new advisory warning of a pernicious health risk: loneliness.

A project to record the memories of residents in King County, WA—particularly Asian Americans displaced during World War II—is set to begin soon. King County Library System was awarded an $800,000 Mellon Foundation grant that will be used to hire a staffer to oversee a project that will create memory labs at two different locations.

Design Institute Hayward looked at ways to design for inclusion, safety, sustainability, and extending a warm invitation to all.

At LJ’s 2023 Design Institute in Hayward, CA, held at the Hayward Public Library on September 28, five libraries in California and New Mexico enlisted architects and attendees to brainstorm on upcoming library design challenges.

When Patty Hector, former director of the Saline County Library in Benton, AR, was fired on October 9, it didn’t come as a surprise. A decision to shift control of the library from its board to county officials, driven primarily by Hector’s refusal to comply with a resolution to move certain books containing content about racism, LGBTQIA+ subjects, and sexual activity from areas where anyone under the age of 18 could access them, was proposed in April and passed in August. What may surprise some, however, is that Hector has thrown her hat in the ring for a spot on the Saline County Quorum Court, the same body that had her terminated.