Banned Books Week takes place October 5–11. This year’s theme is “Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights.” 1982 Year that ALA held its first Banned Books Week. 2,452 Total number of unique titles challenged in libraries in in 2024 that were documented by ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. While that number is a … Continue reading By the Numbers: Banned Books Week 2025
What is your earliest memory of a library? I think it’s probably my elementary school library. I went to public school in a suburb of Detroit called Bloomfield Hills—Pine Lake Elementary. It was this really beautiful building. The classrooms were all round. In my memory, we’d be in the library a few times a week. … Continue reading Meet Dan Montgomery
Within an hour, library leaders had been alerted to the suspicious activity, and the IT director had disconnected the servers, halting a ransomware attack mid-strike. “We caught them in the act,” says OTPL Director Chase McMunn. Ransomware attacks and cybersecurity incidents are no longer rare, with more than 15 million cyberattacks worldwide annually since 2020, … Continue reading Road to Recovery
“If you have anxiety, you can build your worst-case [driving] scenario and then play through it as many times as you need to realize that you have power over that scenario,” says Gabriella Norton, a librarian at MEBAL who helped bring the technology to the library. “What could you do if, God forbid, an actual … Continue reading License to Learn
In 2022, as part of the City Librarian’s Innovation Challenge, Toronto Public Library (TPL) asked staff to submit ideas for workforce development initiatives. Recognizing Canada’s high unemployment rate among autistic adults, TPL librarians Tim Feller and Melanie LaFleche suggested an event at which neurodivergent job seekers could connect with employers and employment resources in a … Continue reading An Accessible Expo
London, Milan, New York, and Paris will host their Fashion Weeks throughout September and October. 754 Number of 20th-century vintage sewing and knitting patterns held by Arizona State University’s California Center Library in Los Angeles. 1,500 Number of fashion designers whose files can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s Irene Lewisohn … Continue reading By the Numbers: Fashion and Beauty
“We’ve always had a hardcore group of local writers,” says Erin Helmrich, librarian at AADL. The library first launched a program to provide support, learning, and advice for local emerging writers. That program, she says, “started the idea percolating of how else we could support the local writing community.” And so emerged Fifth Avenue Press, … Continue reading Going to Press
PowerPoint is finding new life among young people as a tool to share humorous, creative, and niche slideshows with friends on TikTok and other social media platforms. Now libraries across the country are hosting their own PowerPoint Parties, using the events to engage a younger crowd. Eighth graders at Vestavia Hills (Ala.) Library’s (VHL) summer … Continue reading Slide into the Library
Misinformation: It seems to be everywhere, is getting increasingly sophisticated, and can have dangerous consequences. So how do librarians adapt their instruction to keep patrons from falling for false claims? In 2022, researchers at University of Washington’s (UW) Information School and Center for an Informed Public in Seattle released the first in a set of … Continue reading Stopping the Spread
99% Percentage of public libraries that offer a summer reading program for kids, teens, or adults, according to the Public Library Association’s 2022 Public Library Services for Strong Communities Report. 61% Percentage of school-age kids who enjoy summer reading, according to the 2024 Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report. 20% Percentage of school-year gains in … Continue reading By the Numbers: Summer Reading
The pre-Prohibition-style lager they crafted together was called 1895, a nod to the founding year of Johnson City Public Library (JCPL), located just a few blocks from the brewery’s downtown taproom. Inspired by beers of the late 19th century, it features three flavors: coffee (for its connection to books), black currant (for a vintage flare), … Continue reading Brewing Connections
At George A. Jackson Elementary School in Jericho, New York, educators wanted to help students discover the power of their voices. During the 2023–2024 school year, as part of a unit about natural hazards and disasters, 4th-graders used library and classroom time to create podcasts about their research. After National Public Radio (NPR) recognized one … Continue reading Amplifying Voices
