Reference and User Services Association Archives

A Generation-Defining Issue

By Sanhita SinhaRoy | June 28, 2026

As this population continues to grow, the need to combat age-related discrimination must grow with it, said presenters at “Elders Deserve Social Justice Too,” a June 28 session of the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. With advances in technology and medicine that have extended the average lifespan, “this is … Continue reading A Generation-Defining Issue →

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction 2026 winners: A Guardian and a Thief and Things in Nature Merely Grow

2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals Announced

January 27, 2026

A Guardian and a Thief, Majumdar’s second novel following her acclaimed 2020 title Burning, is set in a near-future Kolkata besieged by worsening climate crises. Privileged Ma, along with her widowed father Dadu and 2-year-old daughter Mishti, are spending one last week in their native city before they escape to Michigan, when Ma’s purse, filled … Continue reading 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals Announced →

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. Congratulations to the 2026 Finalists. Winners announced January 27!

ALA Unveils 2026 Carnegie Medals Shortlist

November 18, 2025

The shortlisted titles for the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction are: Fiction A Guardian and a Thief (Knopf) By Megha Majumdar Desperation permeates Majumdar’s wrenching novel, set in a near-future Kolkata besieged by worsening climate crises. Privileged Ma, widowed Dadu, and 2-year-old Mishti are spending one last week in their native … Continue reading ALA Unveils 2026 Carnegie Medals Shortlist →

11 Questions: Bill Ladewski

November 19, 2024

Ladewski answered our 11 Questions to reintroduce himself to the ALA community. Coffee, tea, other? Coffee, one cup of hot coffee in the morning. What’s the first website or app you check in the morning? Weather app. On weekends, probably YouTube. Best career advice you’ve ever received? I’ve received a lot of good advice from … Continue reading 11 Questions: Bill Ladewski →

Covers of the six books on the shortlist for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in fiction and nonfiction: Martyr!, James, Cinema Love, A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, and Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV

ALA Announces 2025 Carnegie Medals Shortlist

November 13, 2024

The two medal winners will be announced at 10:30 a.m. Mountain on January 26, 2025, at the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) Book and Media Awards’ virtual event, held during ALA’s LibLearnX conference in Phoenix. The 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction shortlist titles include: Fiction Martyr! (Knopf) By Kaveh … Continue reading ALA Announces 2025 Carnegie Medals Shortlist →

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in fiction and nonfiction 2024 shortlist, with covers of The Berry Pickers, Denison Avenue, Let Us Descend, The Great Displacement, The Talk, and We Were Once a Family

ALA Unveils 2024 Carnegie Medals Shortlist

November 14, 2023

The two medal winners will be announced at 9:45 a.m. Eastern on January 20, 2024, during the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Book and Media Awards virtual event, held during ALA’s LibLearnX conference in Baltimore. The 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction shortlist titles include: Fiction The Berry Pickers, by … Continue reading ALA Unveils 2024 Carnegie Medals Shortlist →

ALA Unveils 2023 Carnegie Medals Shortlist

November 15, 2022

The 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction shortlist titles include: Fiction Greenland, by David Santos Donaldson (Amistad). While working on a historical novel about British author E. M. Forster’s Egyptian lover, Mohammed el Adl, writer Kip confronts his own trauma and alienation. Donaldson delivers a psychologically acute portrayal of a queer Black … Continue reading ALA Unveils 2023 Carnegie Medals Shortlist →

ALA Unveils 2022 Carnegie Medals Shortlist

November 8, 2021

The 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction shortlist titles include the following: Fiction The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade (W. W. Norton & Company). Amadeo Padilla filled the role of Jesus during the re-creation of the Crucifixion as part of Holy Week. He also has heavy burdens to bear in his real … Continue reading ALA Unveils 2022 Carnegie Medals Shortlist →

Text graphic showing possible changes to Library of Congress Subject Headings, such as "undocumented immigrant" for "illegal alien."

Decolonizing the Catalog

November 1, 2021

The panelists included Elizabeth Hobart, special collections cataloging librarian at Penn State University; Staci Ross, cataloging and metadata librarian at University of Pittsburgh; Michelle Cronquist, special collections cataloger at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Kelly Farrell, program officer for the Triangle Research Libraries Network, a consortium of academic libraries in North Carolina. … Continue reading Decolonizing the Catalog →

2021 Carnegie Medal Winners for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction

2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winners Announced

February 4, 2021

The selections were announced February 4 at the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Book and Media Awards virtual event, sponsored by NoveList. McBride’s novel takes place in a vibrant, multicultural 1969 Brooklyn neighborhood, and introduces readers to Cuffy “Sportcoat” Lambkin, the titular deacon and least likely of heroes. When Sportcoat shoots Deems Clemens, the … Continue reading 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winners Announced →

Longlist for 2021 Carnegie Medals Announced

October 26, 2020

“This was unquestionably a challenging year for all the obvious reasons,” said 2021 Selection Committee Chair Bill Kelly in an October 26 statement. “And yet, in the end, reading proved to be just the balm one needs to sustain us, to give hope and strength and resilience in the face of an oppressively uncertain future. … Continue reading Longlist for 2021 Carnegie Medals Announced →

ALA Unveils 2020 Carnegie Medals Shortlist

November 4, 2019

The 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction shortlist titles include: Nonfiction Figuring, by Maria Popova (Pantheon). Popova brings her zest for facts and passion for biography to this inquiry into the lives of geniuses who “bridged the scientific and poetic,” spinning a fine web connecting such barrier-breakers as Rachel Carson, Frederick Douglass, … Continue reading ALA Unveils 2020 Carnegie Medals Shortlist →

Latest Library Links

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Alejandro Marquez writes: “The immediate aftermath of a hospital visit is a whirlwind of logistics—coordinating care, offering support, trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy. And then, I have to go to work. The shift in focus is jarring. Suddenly, I’m expected to compartmentalize, switch gears, leave behind the anxieties swirling in my mind, and focus on instruction, deadlines, and research consultations. I am arguing for a fundamental shift in how we acknowledge and address the impact of life’s challenges on our work lives.”

Choice Toward Inclusive Excellence, July 14
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Rachel Rosenberg writes: “Regardless of what kind of library you work in, you’ll likely have to provide readers’ advisory, a task that can be as daunting as it is fun. It can feel like a gamble to suggest books you haven’t read yourself or in an unfamiliar genre, especially when there’s so much out there. Here are a few books that will help level up your skills.”

American Libraries column, Summer
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ALA’s Council has adopted “Guidance on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Libraries,” a new resource designed to help libraries develop and revise policies for the ethical, human-centered use of artificial intelligence. Developed by ALA’s AI Policy Working Group, the guidance reflects the perspectives and expertise of members from across the association. The working group considered the practical, philosophical, ethical and operational implications of AI for libraries and library workers. The adopted guidance affirms ALA’s role in supporting libraries of all types as they navigate emerging technologies while maintaining a humanistic approach to library service.

ALA Communications and Media Relations Office, July 16
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Charlie Osborne writes: “Quishing, or QR code-based phishing, embeds malicious links in QR codes to bypass traditional phishing filters and slip through security nets. What makes this tactic more dangerous than traditional phishing, especially for businesses, is that victims use their handsets to scan a QR code, bypassing network-based security and safety nets, such as phishing detection. QR codes, especially those you aren’t expecting, should be treated with the same suspicion as emailed links or attachments.”

ZDNet, July 13
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Wintre Foxworth Johnson et al. write: “Targeting books by or about Black people has a long history in the US. When these books are taken out of circulation, they become less available to children of all backgrounds. We describe Black livingness as Black children’s fiction by Black authors that depicts Black children and families as whole, joyful, thriving, and engaged in everyday acts of living. Children’s literature can humanize Black people in a way that news coverage, television, films, and school textbooks and curriculum often do not, helping to combat racial bias and stereotypes.”

The Conversation, July 14; English Teaching: Practice and Critique, vol. 20, no. 4, Nov. 2021
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Meg Ecclestone writes: “In 2025 I was very privileged to take a research leave, finally able to step out of the hustled days of work life. Time slowed down dramatically during my leave. When I returned to the library after my leave, I felt unmoored from the busyness that surrounded me. Time was moving at the pace of a high-speed train, but I was an onlooker. I risked getting left behind, sure, but I’d been a passenger on that train before, and I knew its final stop was Burnout Station. Perhaps I was fine to miss the trip.”

Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, vol. 21, no. 1, July 9
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Nick Potkalitsky writes: “A student who puts their phone in a pouch at 8 a.m. and picks it up at 3 p.m., having learned nothing about why that seven-hour gap is critical for their engagement with school, is being managed, not taught. This is the distinction I want to spend the next school year exploring: What habits of mind do we want young people to develop in relation to technology, and what would it take to cultivate them deliberately? That question activates a deeper concept: digital wellness.”

Educating AI, July 12

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