JLARC-report-150

July 16, 2025 150 × 100 Virginia commission says some school districts incorrectly citing law to remove library books

Cover of “School Library Book Removals in Virginia”

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Stefan Milne writes: “Seattle Public Library is the only US library system that makes its anonymized, granular checkout data public. The hitch is that the library’s data set contains nearly 50 million rows. To track trends in the catalog over the last 20 years, University of Washington researchers analyzed the checkout data of the 93 authors included in the post-1945 volume of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, which is instrumental in standardizing the books and writers we’ve deemed culturally important.”

University of Washington News, Jan. 8
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Janette Wright writes: “I was appointed to a leadership role in local government during a period of corporate change and budget constraint. Staff had a low level of trust in leadership, a history of conflict and incivility, and low expectations of the opportunity for service improvements or development. In this article, I’ll reflect on the leadership challenges inherent in such transitions, drawing on my personal experience across the library sector and applying a theoretical framework to offer practical insights for leaders navigating similar terrain.”

Katina, Jan. 8
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Hong Zhou and Hiba Bishtawi write: “For decades, discovery has revolved around keywords: carefully chosen terms, Boolean operators, and increasingly sophisticated relevance ranking. Today, generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems are introducing a different interaction model altogether. Instead of asking how to search, researchers are starting to ask what they want to know and expecting the system to figure out the rest. When does natural language outperform traditional approaches, and what do current AI-powered discovery tools actually do well? We conducted a comparative analysis of four widely used AI-enabled research discovery tools.”

The Scholarly Kitchen, Jan. 6
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Hillel Aron writes: “The estate of legendary author Kurt Vonnegut, three authors, and two unnamed high school students sued the Utah Board of Education on January 6 over the removal of hundreds of books from school libraries. Among the books that have been effectively banned from certain school libraries are Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Utah’s so-called “book removal law,” H.B. 29, was updated in 2024 and automatically removes books from all school libraries that have been banned by three or more school districts.”

Courthouse News Service, Jan. 6
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Kelly Jensen writes: “On January 12, the first day back on campus for many universities following winter break, at least eight college and university libraries received bomb threats. Campuses received the threats via email. None resulted in the discovery of a physical threat in or near the targeted area.” At least 15 universities faced similar threats in August, believed to be made by the swatting group Purgatory and mostly directed at library buildings. In January, universities in Nebraska, Missouri, Kentucky, and Massachusetts received the threats. The Association of College and Research Libraries and Core offer a LibGuide on safety and security.

Book Riot, Jan. 13; Inside Higher Ed, Aug. 26; Center for Internet Security and Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Aug. 27; ACRL, June 25, 2024
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ALA has officially launched its 150th anniversary year, marking a century and a half of empowering library professionals, advancing access to knowledge and protecting the freedom to read. The association will celebrate year-round in 2026 with key flagship events, kicking off with the 2026 Youth Media Awards, honoring outstanding books, videos and materials for children and teens, on January 26 at the Hilton Chicago. ALA President Sam Helmick marked the anniversary with an essay at ala150.org, and ALA has produced a new anniversary video.

ALA Communications and Media Relations Office, Jan. 8; ALA150.org, Jan. 5; YouTube, Jan. 8
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On October 21, Penguin Random House and United for Libraries announced a 2026 grant program for rural and small libraries across the country. Grants of $500 and $1,000 (totaling $25,000), will be awarded to support libraries in need. Specifically, grant funds will assist Friends of Library groups, or nonprofit groups that support and fundraise for libraries in their communities, with priority projects. Applications for the program are open until January 21; learn more in the FAQ, which includes a link to watch a recording of the grant information session.

United for Libraries, Oct. 21

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