Collage of people and topics mentioned in this article: Colleen Shogan, former archivist of the United States; the National Archives logo; text of executive orders; and books Freckleface Strawberry and No Truth Without Ruth

Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Libraries

March 19, 2025

While the legality of many of these actions is still being decided by the courts, librarians, archivists, and other information professionals have been working through the confusion to preserve access to information. Below are several examples of the challenges libraries have faced over the past two months and the ways in which librarians and advocates have … Continue reading Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Libraries


Headshot of Sarah Tribelhorn

Assessing AI

March 3, 2025

Training and operating AI tools like large language models, for instance, require substantial computational power. Generating one image could use as much energy as charging an average smartphone, according to a 2023 study by AI developer Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the first study of its kind to measure the carbon and … Continue reading Assessing AI


Youth Media Award Book cover images

2025 Youth Media Award Winners

January 27, 2025

A complete list of the 2025 award winners follows. John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature: The First State of Being, written by Erin Entrada Kelly, is the 2025 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Four Newbery Honor Books also were named: Across … Continue reading 2025 Youth Media Award Winners


Sitting area with fireplace in Brown County Library, East branch.

Submissions Open for Library Design Showcase

January 2, 2025

We are looking for examples of innovative library architecture that address patrons’ needs in unique and effective ways. We are especially interested in submissions from libraries that are approaching design with sustainability, accessibility, and smaller budgets in mind. Partial renovations, projects under $1 million, and school libraries are encouraged to apply. To be eligible, projects … Continue reading Submissions Open for Library Design Showcase


An older woman and a child look at a photo of a Ferris wheel.

For the Ages

November 1, 2024

“There’s so much that we share / That it’s time we’re aware / It’s a small world after all,” several older adults sang along with students, who were visiting from nearby Totoket Valley Elementary School (TVES) as part of an intergenerational book club. The song was part of the club’s discussion of the picture book Mr. … Continue reading For the Ages





Show Yourself

Show Yourself

May 1, 2024

You might be thinking, “Our school library has a brand?” Most of us associate the word with a name, logo, tagline, and design elements that a corporation uses to distinguish itself from others. It also involves marketing and merchandising to promote the organization’s product or service. When all these components are combined, the result is … Continue reading Show Yourself


A photo of a piece of sheet music from University of Michigan's collection of Thomas Edison's sheet music.

By the Numbers: Inventors

May 1, 2024

May is National Inventors Month 135,850 Number of items in the Edison Sheet Music Collection, housed at University of Michigan Library in Ann Arbor. Thomas Edison, who invented the phonograph in 1877, spearheaded this collection as a way for his phonograph company to select vocal and instrumental scores to record. 44 Number of agricultural bulletins … Continue reading By the Numbers: Inventors


Graphic of Field Guides with Nihar Malaviya's headshot

Protecting the Equalizers

April 8, 2024

Growing up in Rajkot, India, I regularly walked nearly an hour to the closest library to check out a book. It was there that I discovered new perspectives and places. My whole world expanded, and my imagination flourished. It didn’t take me long to read the entire children’s section! When my family moved to the … Continue reading Protecting the Equalizers


The World of AI

The World of AI

March 1, 2024

A hot topic in many industries, generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) has increasingly occupied our cultural consciousness since the large language model ChatGPT debuted for public use in November 2022. Some libraries are playing a unique role in charting a path through this new technological territory as the boundaries of AI’s uses and impacts continue … Continue reading The World of AI