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LaShawn Myles had not worked specifically with the disability community when she joined the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled in 2018. Her work as an educator led her to libraries, where she quickly became a champion for visually impaired patrons, advocating for resources and finding ways to make materials more accessible.

Mychal Threets, whose earnest TikTok videos have logged millions of views, started out sharing stories that epitomized what he calls “library joy” to inspire people to visit their library. He ended up capturing hearts across social media.

When Missouri’s Senate Bill 775 (SB 775) became law in 2022, calling for criminal penalties on educators who provide students with materials containing “explicit sexual material,” Melissa Corey recognized the severe implications for collection development and spearheaded a swift response to preserve compliant books in school libraries.

With a recent surge in book censorship efforts, Sarah DeMaria, cochair and president-elect of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association’s (PSLA) Advocacy Committee, hears from school librarians statewide who have faced public attacks, reassignments, and chosen resignation due to flawed policies.

Jensen, a librarian by trade, worked in a public library for several years before joining the Book Riot team in 2013, where she developed her passion about the right to read and access to books.

While she wears numerous hats at North Carolina State University Libraries, Tarida Anantachai says that “my work is centered on people and supporting not just who they are as fellow colleagues, but especially who they are more personally, and their individual lived experiences.”

When she was in college, Dr. Shamella Cromartie had a job at a public library where leadership and others were Black, which encouraged her to pursue a career in the field. “It’s important to see people that look like you in these positions so that you know that you can do it, too,” she says.

As a native Memphian, Kim Jordan-Fluker has unwavering affection for her hometown. As Regional Manager for LINC/2-1-1, Memphis Public Libraries’ social service department, Jordan-Fluker’s team is the driving force in connecting the city’s most vulnerable residents with resources they often don’t know exist, let alone how to access. 

Working in libraries, Matthew Landon found himself drawn to the sensitive emotional landscape of local youth. He became certified as a Youth Mental Health First Aid Provider, then dove into changing the conversation around mental health. 

Jenay Dougherty aims to increase representation of Pacific Islanders in leadership roles, both within librarianship and in everyday life.

When Texas governor Greg Abbott began busing migrants from the southern U.S. border into New York City in 2022, Steven Mahoney at New York Public Library (NYPL) began visiting migrant shelters to provide on-site English class demonstrations and facilitate library card sign-ups. He discovered that many migrants lacked the necessary language skills or living stability to join NYPL’s existing core language program. So he launched a pilot program specifically for asylum seekers, increasing their learning through weekly English classes.

Dr. Tameka Bradley Hobbs, Regional Manager for Broward County Libraries’ African American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC), recognizes the significance of historical awareness, particularly for the Black community. “As access to accurate Black history and diverse literature continues to be challenged in our state, AARLCC will continue to be a refuge to those seeking intellectual freedom and the freedom to read,” Hobbs says.

For Siva Ramakrishnan, being director of Young Adult Programs and Services for New York Public Library (NYPL)—part of NYPL’s Tisch Youth Education Programs—means giving teenagers the resources they need to grow, whether that involves 3-D printers or a sense of community.

Thanks to Nardia Cumberbatch’s leadership, Valencia College in Orlando, FL, was the first library in Florida (and second academic library overall) to complete the Sustainable Library Certification Program.

Zachary Stier’s journey to find acceptance of his own learning disability and bipolar disorder diagnosis has led to an appreciation for how he and others learn and experience the world; now Stier provides children with a range of opportunities that spark joy, kindness, and wonder while nurturing reading skills and development. 

Heather McCarthy teaches in the way great leaders lead: by example. Through her global travels, McCarthy introduces her students to people and places that differ from their experiences in the Chicago suburbs.

Rather than outreach, Lissa Staley focuses on “inreach,” inviting local agencies into the library to assist patrons with mental health screenings, Medicaid and health insurance information, FAFSA applications, workforce support, family legal and emergency aid, GED classes, and small business mentoring. 

Because older adults—who constitute 15 percent of the American population, projected to reach over 20 percent by 2030—are often overlooked in regular library programming, Jessica Young intentionally advocates for their inclusion at Yorba Linda Public Library. She mentors new librarians to do the same. 

When Elizabeth Muñoz-Rosas was presented with the opportunity to bring a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibit on Dolores Huerta, a leading activist in the 1960s and ’70s farm workers movement, to her community with a nearly 60 percent Latinx population, she jumped at the chance.  

As a reference manager for St. Louis County Library (SLCL), Phifer-Davis takes a proactive approach to outreach and programming. Under her watch, SLCL’s Reference by Mail for incarcerated individuals has grown from responding to fewer than 500 letters to about 2,600 in 2022.

Meredith Crawford, Community Engagement Librarian with the Cedar Rapids Public Library, launched the Be Heard program at a local youth detention center with the goal of reducing recidivism by engaging students with literature and art.

Dr. Aisha Johnson’s research, publication, and consulting on African American librarianship dates to her undergraduate years at Florida State, where—after growing up in a diverse area of south Florida—she found herself one of the few Black political science students.

Lucy Podmore became chair of the Texas Association of School Librarians at a key time, just as HB 900—the controversial state bill that would require vendors to rate books for explicit content before selling them to school libraries—was on its way to becoming law.

After working in school, academic, and museum libraries, Jennie Pu landed her first public library job as Hoboken Public Library (HPL) director two and a half years ago, and has already made her mark as a champion of intellectual freedom.

Huda Shaltry carries a copy of the U.S. Constitution in her purse. Referring to the First Amendment comes in handy when the Boise librarian meets with members of the Idaho Legislature in her role as Legislative Chair of the Idaho Library Association.

Recognizing that young girls in groups are often outvoiced by male peers, Amanda Chacon—School Library Journal’s 2024 School Librarian of the Year—founded STEM GEMS, a club offering no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech challenges for girls.

As Head, Advanced Research Services and Digital Scholarship Librarian with the University of Victoria Libraries, Matt Huculak examines librarians’ role in scholarly communication, archiving, and collecting, while collaborating with other disciplines to bring that documentation to life.

In her scholarship, as in her instruction, Allison Jennings-Roche aims to seize opportunities to make people think critically about libraries as public institutions and about the information systems that impact their lives.

As the adult services librarian at the Curtis Memorial Library (CML) in Brunswick, ME, Hazel Onsrud is a passionate advocate for sustainable living, developing programming focused on sustainability to help her community discover how best to improve their environmental impacts.

Phil Shapiro is an enthusiastic champion of digital inclusion and outside-of-school learning, assisting youth and adults with public Linux computers at the Takoma Park Maryland Library (TPML) and singing the praises of open-source software through his YouTube channel.

“Librarians have the wit and grit to get things done,” says Scott Summers, a former high school English teacher and school librarian who now brings that experience to his work as assistant director of the Media and Education Technology Resource Center at NC State University’s College of Education.

Guided by the strategic goal to support local community needs with reflective services throughout the Santa Clara County Library District, Library Services Manager Clare Varesio spearheaded systemwide efforts to educate both library workers and the greater community on responses to the opioid overdose epidemic and mental health.

Isaiah West, who taught seventh-grade English before becoming a librarian, has a passion for working with young people. “Teens get a bad rap,” he says. “They can be moody, apathetic, chaotic, and more, but they are also authentic, inspiring, and funny.… They give me hope that society might have hope for a brighter and longer future.”

When Rebecca Wolfe noticed groups of adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) come to her library, she saw an opportunity to make their library time more meaningful and engaging. She founded the monthly All Abilities Club, which offers crafts, games, literacy activities, music, and guest speakers to adults with IDD and caregivers.

Under Lauren Abner’s guidance, E-Rate participation levels and funding commitments to Kentucky libraries have risen to record highs, with the number of participating libraries in the state increasing from an average of 67 between 1998 and 2014 to an average of 99 each year from 2015 to 2022.

In 2023, Archibald’s work on two different projects generated enormous impact for the library and demonstrated that effective graphic design can make a difference in library programming.

Amber Gagliardi’s passion for gardening started as a child when she helped her grandfather plant seeds. She dreamed of starting a seed library at Middle Country Public Library for years before launching one in 2018 with 15 varieties of vegetable, herb, and flower seeds.

After being named library director in 2020, Tyler Hahn dove into calling attention to the rural digital divide and advocating for the crucial role of rural librarians on the radio, in news outlets, and to state and federal elected officials.

Marlon Moore isn’t one to sit back and wait for patrons to ask for assistance. Instead, he focuses on creating opportunities—and his contributions have earned the Miami-Dade Public Library System eight National Association of Counties Awards from 2013 to 2023 for unique and impactful programs.

As an archivist and division manager at Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, Derek Mosley sees his work as an opportunity to preserve the stories of everyday people, ensuring that diverse records fill our cultural context and contributing to a more extensive portrait of African American life.

Tara Somersall’s creativity serving children of all ages has made Yonkers Public Library a community leader in meeting kids’ needs and preparing them for a lifetime of reading.

When Alex Vancina joined the Helen Plum Library administration in 2017, plans to build a new $30 million facility had been put on hold—Vancina used the temporary setback as an opportunity to initiate a total revamp of the library’s IT and technical services departments.

Josselyn Atahualpa oversees adult education courses in literacy, English as a Second Language, and GED preparation. When she noticed a wave of asylum seekers coming to the library in early 2022, Atahaulpa alerted library leadership and pushed QPL to prioritize training on best practices for serving the community.

From her podcast, Allie the Librarian Booktalks, to her leadership with the Texas Library Association, Alexandra Cornejo demonstrates her unwavering commitment to intellectual freedom and promoting diverse voices in literature.

As an American Library Association Emerging Leader, Nicollette Davis is always looking for ways to improve the library field. Through the We Here organization, she helps BIPOC library and information science professionals support each other in a welcoming space.

The Christian Book Award winners are announced, and Beth Moore’s memoir All My Knotted-Up Life is named Christian Book of the Year. The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction shortlist is announced. The May Read with Jenna pick is Real Americans by Rachel Khong. Audiofile announces the May 2024 Earphones Award winners. Former national security advisor H. R. McMaster will publish At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House in August. Remembrances pour in for Paul Auster, the internationally acclaimed author of “The New York Trilogy,” who has died at the age of 77.

Over the past 22 years, Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers awards have offered a compelling snapshot of what’s up and coming in the library world, as well as how it has changed. Our 2024 Movers cohort represents a range of innovative, proactive, and supportive work; they are imaginative and kind and brave in a world that needs those qualities—and the results they produce—very much. 

Monnee Tong’s career has been shaped by her passion for social justice, which carries through to her work as supervising librarian at San Diego Public Library.

What do graphic novels, Grimace shakes, and Barbenheimer have in common? For 2022 Kentucky School Librarian of the Year Tim Jones, they can be tools for helping students develop media literacy.

Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, which opened on May 12, 1930, is the oldest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, and holds one of the largest collections of historic scientific instruments in the world, as well as rare books, manuscripts, archival materials, models, and photographs. Max Adler, the institution’s namesake, purchased and donated the initial collection of instruments, which included sundials, astrolabes, telescopes, and a projector.

Sara Ring's work with the 23 Linked Data Things project grew out of conversations with colleagues at a conference a few years ago, where they discussed the lack of resources for librarians to keep up to date on technology. But it wasn’t until she and other coworkers formed a Wikidata Book Club that the discussion extended into how to help people—including themselves—learn about linked data.

Visser's work on E-Rate policy and technology equity has been a game-changer for communities across the country, including in tribal libraries, where she helped improve access to broadband.

Becoming a library trustee wasn’t on Becky Keane’s radar until a neighbor gave her an earful about the shortcomings of her local board. Intrigued, Keane sought—and secured—appointment to the library board in fall 2019.

Rachel Khong’s Real Americans, the May B&N Book Club selection, garners reviews and buzz. The Ondaatje Prize releases its 2024 shortlist. The Tomorrow Prize finalists and Green Feather winner are announced. T.J. Newman’s Worst Case Scenario arrives August 13, in a new two-book deal with Little, Brown. USA Today talks with librarian Mychal Threets. Gypsy Rose Blanchard announces a  forthcoming memoir, Time To Stand, due out from BenBella Books in January 2025.

With only days to go before the May 1 deadline for signatures on House appropriation letters, the American Library Association (ALA) is urging all library supporters to act immediately, using the #FundLibraries campaign tool, to ask their members of Congress to cosign Dear Appropriator letters supporting the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) program for FY25. ALA’s #FundLibraries page lets users fill out a request to their elected officials, as well as check to see whether their members of Congress have signed on.

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Jeneva Rose, Danielle Steel, Rachel Khong, and Catherine Mack. Three LibraryReads and eight Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung. And crime writer CJ Sansom has died at the age of 71.

A pair of bills making their way through the Connecticut state legislature both aim to set parameters on the licensing terms and contracts for ebooks and e-audiobooks that libraries will be able to accept from publishers and aggregators. The bills are the legislature’s most recent attempt to make publishers offer ebooks and e-audiobooks to the state’s libraries on more favorable terms.

The winners of the Windham-Campbell Prize are announced. Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad wins the Aspen Words Literary Prize. Sid Marty wins the inaugural Al and Eurithe Purdy Poetry Prize for his collection Oldman’s River: New and Collected Poems. The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association has announced the ballot for the 2024 Aurora Awards. The Booker Prize is urged to consider a name change over its link to slavery.

The longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year is revealed. Oakland, CA, poet laureate Ayodele Nzinga receives a Rainin Arts Fellowship. Abrams ComicArts is launching a new adult-geared manga imprint, Kana. Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti will rerelease their BookTok-beloved self-published “Zodiac Academy” romantasy series under their new publishing company Dark Ink. Plus interviews with Robinne Lee and Salman Rushdie and new title best sellers.

PEN America announces two award winners: Javier Fuentes’s Countries of Origin for debut novel and The Blue House: Collected Works of Tomas Tranströmer, tr. by Patty Crane, for poetry in translation. The Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist is announced, featuring books by Anne Enright, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Kate Grenville, Isabella Hammad, Claire Kilroy, and Aube Rey. NYPL’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers selects its class of 2024–25 fellows. A climate fiction prize will launch at Hay Festival on June 2. The U.S. Senate passes the TikTok bill, setting up legal and First Amendment challenges. Plus, LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Funny Story by Emily Henry, the top holds title of the week. 

PEN America cancels its 2024 literary awards ceremony, originally set for April 29, due to controversy over its stance on the war in Gaza. The LA Times Book Prizes are announced. Yoko Ono is honored with the MacDowell Medal. The 2024 Age Book of the Year Award shortlists are announced. Actor Josh Brolin announces a new memoir, From Under the Truck, which arrives in November. Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley will star in the film adaptation of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club. Plus, Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom will be adapted for film.

Shavonn Matsuda, head librarian at the University of Hawai‘i Maui College Library, was named a 2023 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her efforts to incorporate traditional Hawaiian languages and cultures into the academic library and cataloging system to guide Hawaiian scholars and community members more efficiently and robustly. LJ recently followed up with her to learn more about her work.

Many librarians lauded the development of Open Access (OA) publishing models, which offered, at least initially, to help solve the problem of an unsustainable and inequitable scholarly communications ecosystem while simultaneously addressing a growing interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In the past year, the idea that, with appropriate guardrails, Artificial Intelligence (AI) can also play a role in changing scholarly communications has risen to the fore. But can OA, DEI, and AI ever live up to their promise of an affordable, equitable and sustainable publishing ecosystem?

Funny Story by Emily Henry leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Sally Hepworth, Elly Griffiths, Douglas Preston, and Nancy Thayer. People’s book of the week is Real Americans by Rachel Khong. Winners of the O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction are announced, as are the CWA Dagger longlists. Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians is headed to Broadway as a musical. And philosopher Daniel C. Dennett has died at the age of 82.

Fady Joudah, author of the collection […], wins the Jackson Poetry Prize for American poets. Winners of the Tolkien Society Awards are announced. Finalists are also announced for NYPL’s Young Lions Fiction Award and the Jhalak Awards. Nominees for the CrimeFest Awards are out. Actor Viola Davis and her husband are launching a publishing company to champion underrepresented voices. Facing criticism for its response to the war in Gaza, PEN announces plans to review the organization’s work going back a decade.

Winners are announced for the Publishing Triangle Awards for LGBTQIA+ books. Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia, tr. by Zoë Perry, wins the UK Republic of Consciousness Prize for small press books. The shortlist for the Donner Prize, recognizing the best public policy book by a Canadian, is announced. There’s more reporting on the turmoil surrounding the PEN Awards. Plus new title bestsellers and interviews with Marjane Satrapi and Emily Henry.

Rebecca Yarros will publish a stand-alone novel, Variation, in October. Kemi Ashing-Giwa wins the Compton Crook Award for The Splinter in the Sky. Oren Kessler wins the  Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist is announced. The May LibraryReads list arrives, featuring top pick The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci. Mick Herron’s Down Cemetery Road and Don Winslow’s City on Fire are slated for adaptations.

A new PEN America report out today, Banned In The USA: Narrating the Crisis, documents nearly 4,000 accounts of book banning in the first half of the current school year. Major publishers have joined Penguin Random House in supporting a suit challenging Iowa’s book ban. Finalists are announced for the  Gotham Book Prize, the Nova Scotia Book Awards, and the Atlantic Book Awards. Washington Post reports on the growing popularity of silent book clubs. Author Robin Cook has two new film/TV projects, including an adaptation of his forthcoming book Bellevue and a procedural featuring his iconic characters Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery.

A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by James Patterson and Candice Fox, Anthony Horowitz, Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, and Sara Paretsky. People’s book of the week is My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me by Caleb Carr. Salman Rushdie speaks about the attack that almost took his life and writing his new book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. As Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance turns 50 this year, fans will re-create his famous motorcycle ride. Plus, NYT celebrates 100 years of Simon & Schuster.

The winners of the Oregon Book Award are announced, as are the shortlists for the Tolkien Society Awards for excellence in Tolkien scholarship and fandom. PBS News Hour reports on the librarians fighting attempts to ban books. Plus Page to Screen.

The Greater Columbus Convention Center’s exhibit halls were full of activity during this month’s Public Library Association (PLA) 2024 conference in Ohio. Here are a few of the topics LJ had the opportunity to discuss in person at the show, as well as other vendor announcements within recent weeks.

By all accounts the 2024 Public Library Association (PLA) conference, held April 3–5 in Columbus, OH, was a resounding success. The 7,573 participants—including 5,702 attendees, 1,518 exhibitors, and 353 virtual registrants—packed the show floor, programs, and speaker sessions with palpable enthusiasm.

At the 2024 Public Library Association (PLA) conference, held April 3–5 in Columbus, OH, presentations were notably targeted and useful. And, as a number bore out, those concerns overlap in many areas. 

The winners of the Whiting Award for emerging authors are announced. Also announced are the shortlists for the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards for British food writing and the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Romantic Novel of the Year Awards, the longlists for the League of Canadian Poets Prizes, and the nominees for the Doug Wright Awards for best Canadian comics.

Michael Reynolds, editor-in-chief of Europa Editions, saw libraries and publishers as star-crossed lovers that have been kept far apart for as long as possible, finally meeting in one room in Columbus, OH, at IndieLib, a conference hosted by the Independent Publishers Caucus and the Digital Public Library of America on April 2.

The International Booker Prize shortlist and PEN America Literary Awards longlists are announced. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump will write a series of crime novels. How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin and Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra go head-to-head for a chance to be named the new Fallon Book Club pick. Earlyword’s April GalleyChat roundup arrives. Ina Garten previews her forthcoming memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens. Renée Zellweger will return as Bridget Jones in a new adaptation, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, based on the novels by Helen Fielding. 

The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction shortlist and the Plutarch Award longlist are announced. Heinz Janisch and Sydney Smith win Hans Christian Andersen Awards. NYPL announces 21 winners of its national teen writing contest on the freedom to read. Interviews arrive with Doris Kearns Goodwin, Percival Everett, Lauren Wesley Wilson, and Anne Lamott. Dolores Redondo’s “Baztan” novel series will be adapted for television. And Raymond Pun is elected to the ALA presidency for 2025–2026.

It’s National Library Week, and ALA releases a list of the top 10 most challenged books of 2023, along with the “State of America’s Libraries Report 2024.” The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo leads holds this week. Also buzzing are books by John Sandford, Megan Miranda, Yulin Kuang, and Amanda Montell. People’s book of the week is Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles. James Patterson, The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading, and librarian Mychal Threets discuss book bans, bookstores, and libraries with USA Today. The Ondaatje Prize releases its 2024 longlist.

Academic librarians are helping both students and instructors navigate the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence.

The winners of the British Science Fiction Association Awards and the Sheikh Zayed Book Awards are announced. The shortlist is announced for the Stella Prize. Horror novel sales have boomed recently. BookTok-favorite romance novelist T L Swan launches a publishing venture. Plus a report from PLA.

Reese’s Book Club selects Claire Lombardo’s The Most Fun We Ever Had as its next read. Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah is the 2024 pick for the One eRead Canada book club. This year’s Independent Bookstore Day will be held on April 27. Fantasy novelist Sharon Green has died at age 79.

Claire Jiménez wins the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez. The Windham-Campbell Prizes are announced. Remembrances arrive for writer John Barth, who has died at age 93. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy will publish a two-part memoir this fall, and Joan Baez will publish her first book of poetry later this month. LitHub reports on the fallout from the collapse of Small Press Publishing. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez. 

Bethany Jacobs wins the Philip K. Dick Award for These Burning Stars. The Chesley Award winners are announced, as are Audiofile’s April 2024 Earphones Award winners. April book club picks include The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (Read with Jenna), Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (GMA), and I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger (B&N). Don Winslow discusses his new novel, City in Ruins, and why it will be his final book. TV adaptations are on the way for Alexandra Tanner’s Worry, and Liza Palmer’s Family Reservations.

Library entertainment platforms offering movies and TV shows gain on commercial streaming services as consumers balk at subscription costs. With “subscription fatigue” on the rise, libraries are seeing a growing popularity in streaming services—and deciding how best to provide them.

It’s April, which means that in addition to celebrating spring’s arrival, I’ll be joining libraries across the nation in celebrating National Library Week.

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Amor Towles, Mary Kubica, Brandon Sanderson, and Sarah Adams. Seven LibraryReads and nine Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan. The Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards finalists are announced. Plus, Washington Post explores how new mysteries featuring autistic women challenge old stereotypes.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has announced the appointment of Deputy Director for Library Services Cyndee Landrum as Acting Director, effective March 21, following the conclusion of former Director Crosby Kemper’s four-year term. Landrum will lead the agency until a new director is nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. LJ caught up with her to hear her take on her past four and a half years at the agency, and what her new role will entail.

The Publishing Triangle announces the finalists for its annual awards. Sabrin Hasbun’s forthcoming memoir Wait for Her: A Family Memoir Between Italy and Palestine wins the Footnote x Counterpoints Writing Prize for writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds. Librarian and LJ reviewer Marlene Harris and LibraryReads win RUSA’s CODES Louis Shores Awards. EarlyWord publishes a round-up of the March 7 GalleyChat. Plus, Page to Screen.

The finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards and the shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Nonfiction are announced. Fantasy novelist James A. Moore has died at age 58, and Kate Banks, a children’s author who wrote about grief, has died at 64.

The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winners are announced, including books by Ned Blackhawk, Teju Cole, and Monica Youn, plus a lifetime achievement award for Maxine Hong Kingston. Paul Yoon wins the Story Prize for The Hive and the Honey. Shortlists for the Dublin Literary Award, James Tait Black Prizes, Australian Book Industry Awards, and Dinesh Allirajah Prize are announced. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for The Truth About the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline. Cynthia Erivo will narrate the audiobook of Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Anguish and Anarchy. Hoopla launches a new BingePass featuring TV content from UK gardening icon Monty Don.

Library development deserves to be on par with university and hospital fundraising. Yet many libraries find this work difficult, and few resources exist in the sector to support the professional development needed to be successful. But this is starting to change thanks to the Library Support Network.

The Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist and the SERAPH winners are announced. Jimmy Fallon announces the return of his book club, with bracket-style voting. Apple TV+’s The Last Thing He Told Me will get a second season, based on a forthcoming sequel novel by Laura Dave, due out in 2025. Cillian Murphy will star in a film adaptation of Mark A Bradley’s Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America. And sci-fi author Vernor Vinge has died at the age of 79.

It sounds like a story from Jack London or Jon Krakauer: In 1966, two men traveled down the Yukon River in Alaska by canoe to recover papers from abandoned cabins. Paul McCarthy and H. Theodore “Ted” Ryberg were concerned that the generation of former gold miners who came to Alaska in the late 19th century were dying off, and they wanted to preserve that piece of Alaska history. Those explorations would prove pivotal to the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives formally founded by McCarthy in 1965 at the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

The Truth About the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Kristen Perrin, Jonathan Haid, Heather Gudenkauf, and Dervla McTiernan. Six LibraryReads and four Indie Next picks publish this week. Svetlana Sterlin wins the Helen Anne Bell Poetry Bequest Award. At NYT, Margaret Atwood explains the enduring appeal of Stephen King’s Carrie as it turns 50. And Babar heir and author Laurent de Brunhoff has died at the age of 98.

The National Book Critics Circle Award winners are announced. Daniel Finkelstein wins the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize for Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival. Chris Newens’s Moveable Feasts: Paris in Twenty Meals wins the Jane Grigson Trust Award for New Food and Drink Writers. Dreamscape’s audiobook program expands its ambit. Plus, Page to Screen.

Baker & Taylor and Library Ideas have announced an exclusive partnership that will see Baker & Taylor distributing Library Ideas’ VOX and IR [Immersive Reality] Books to libraries and schools. VOX Books are hardcover print fiction, nonfiction, and picture books with permanently attached VOX Readers that transform the titles into all-in-one read-along audiobooks. IR Books are hardcover nonfiction print books featuring virtual reality and augmented reality elements.

The Horror Writers Association announces its Summer Scares reading list, including Jackal by Erin E. Adams, Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison, and This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno. Ebru Ojen’s Lojman wins the Republic of Consciousness Prize for independent-press books. Ajibola Tolase wins the Cave Canem Prize fellowship for Black poets. The shortlist for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the longlist for the Griffin Poetry Prize are announced. Primatologist and best-selling author Frans de Waal has died at 75. 

The National Book Foundation announces its 2024 5 Under 35 Honorees: Antonia Angress, Maya Binyam, Zain Khalid, Tyriek White, and Jenny Tinghui Zhang. Jonathan Eig wins the New-York Historical Society’s Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize for King: A Life. Tom Crewe, The New Life, wins the Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle. Mary L. Trump will publish Who Could Ever Love You: A Family Memoir. Karin Slaughter will adapt and executive-produce The Good Daughter for a Peacock series starring Jessica Biel.

On Saturday, March 16, a standing-room-only crowd—especially notable for one of the first warm days of spring and the day of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade—packed into Queens Public Library's (QPL) Queensbridge Tech Lab, a makerspace in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens. Drawing them to the space was the Queens Name Explorer Edit-a-Thon, hosted by QPL’s Memory Project, Wikimedia NYC, OpenStreetMap US, and Urban Archive.

Libraries are incorporating collaboration, creativity, and a steadfast commitment to create accessible and inclusive spaces. Also, LJ looks at EBSCO's academic ebook accessibility findings.