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Beyond merely helping students find answers to questions, information literacy instruction ought to ignite within students a spirit of inquiry: a discerning curiosity that will spur them to dig deeper when conducting research. In Inquiry and Research: A Relational Approach in the Classroom, published by ALA Editions, Michelle Reale outlines such an approach. Showing how to deprioritize tools-based research in favor of encouraging critical thinking, in this book she demonstrates why inquiry is the first step toward deep learning.

ALA Editions, Jan. 18
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This July is Booklist’s Graphic Novels in Libraries Month, an innovative, first-of-its-kind program through which ALA’s review journal for public libraries will forge key partnerships between libraries and publishers while providing librarians with the tools they need to select, curate, and promote graphic titles for patrons of all ages. The program kicks off at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., June 20–25, with a panel featuring star authors and illustrators and a meet-and-greet in the Booklist booth on the exhibit floor.

Booklist, Jan. 18
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ACRL has published Motivating Students on a Time Budget: Pedagogical Frames and Lesson Plans for In-Person and Online Information Literacy Instruction, edited by Sarah Steiner and Miriam Rigby, a collection of lesson plans, activities, and techniques that utilize strategies and pedagogies to help keep students engaged. The book begins with a section of research-based, broad-level considerations of student motivation, and continues with activities and lesson plans that highlight specific motivational strategies.

ACRL, Jan. 18
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If you want to know the most scenic train rides in Switzerland, the best fjords in Norway, or the most underrated seaport in Italy, Rick Steves is your guide. Steves will appear as an Auditorium Speaker at the ALA 2019 Midwinter Meeting in Seattle on January 27 to talk about the third edition of his book, Travel as a Political Act (Hachette Book Group, 2018). American Libraries talked with Steves about being a cultural chameleon, his favorite libraries, and the one surprising place he still hasn’t visited. (To hear some of Rick Steves’s off-the-beaten-path recommendations, listen to our Dewey Decibel podcast episode, “Insider’s Guide to Seattle.”)

American Libraries Trend, Jan. 18
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Richard Byrne writes: “I couldn’t create this post on tools for creating timelines without mentioning Timeline JS. Timeline JS has been my go-to recommendation for years. With it, students can create timelines that include pictures, videos, maps, audio files, text, and hyperlinks. Because the creation work is done inside of Google Sheets, Timeline JS can be used as a collaborative timeline creation tool. Watch my video to see how it works. If Timeline JS seems a bit too complicated for your students, Flippity.net offers another way to create a multimedia timeline through a Google Spreadsheet.”

Free Technology for Teachers, Jan. 18
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American author Joyce Carol Oates has won the $10,000 Jerusalem Prize, Israel’s highest literary honor for foreign writers. Oates will receive the prize on May 12 during the opening ceremony of the Jerusalem International Book Forum and the International Writers Festival of Mishkenot Sha’ananim. Judges cited Oates for throwing light “on the tension between the hidden anxieties and desires that permeate the human psyche.”

The Bookseller (UK), Jan. 18
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Terry Hong writes: “In just over a week, Seattle’s population will temporarily expand with tens of thousands of librarians. Talk about a convergence of brains, guts, dedication, faith—and unconditional love of knowledge! Because that’s what it takes to be a librarian in today’s rapidly changing, globally interlinked, ever-more technological, brave new world. Today we celebrate all that librarians do with these 12 engrossing titles in which librarians get to be the major players in their own adventures.”

The Booklist Reader, Jan. 17