American Libraries Magazine

11/13/2024

📚 Here are the six finalists shortlisted for the 2025 Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. 📚 The two winners will be announced January 26 during ALA's LibLearnX25 conference.

Six books have been shortlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction.

11/12/2024

📣 Meet the 2025 candidates for ALA office:
🗳️ Lindsay Cronk, Andrea Jamison, and Maria McCauley will run for 2026-2027 ALA President!
🗳️ Larry Neal and Joel Thornton are candidates for ALA Treasurer!

https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/cronk-jamison-mccauley-seek-2026-2027-ala-presidency/

11/05/2024

Outside Chicago, in Lincolnshire, Illinois, a local library retained a nonpartisan, university-level political scientist in residence to help patrons navigate the 2024 election cycle.

At Vernon Area Public Library District, its first political scientist in residence helped patrons navigate the 2024 election cycle.

11/04/2024

Thousands of items in the political buttons collection at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government document campaigns, causes, and movements spanning more than a century.

Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government's political buttons collection has approximately 4,800 buttons and pins and 200 stickers.

11/01/2024

Our November/December issue is online now. Read about a rare book heist 20 years later, an Illinois library political scientist in residence, and what librarians tell Caldecott Medal-winner Vashti Harrison about her picture book Big.

➡️ bit.ly/AL-NovDec24

10/25/2024

Books flying off the shelves. Shadowy figures roaming the hallways. Is Peoria Public Library haunted? | 🎧:

Books flying off the shelves. Shadowy figures roaming the hallways. Unexplained sounds. Is Peoria (Ill.) Public Library haunted?

10/23/2024

Need a break from election sound bites and reports? Try a Booklist recommended election season read that explores the deeper themes around American elections.

True understanding takes breadth and depth. Often, it takes a book. For election season, Booklist editors have selected both fiction and nonfiction books for adult and young adult readers.

10/19/2024

"Book banning is an assault on our individual and collective health—our imaginative health, our intellectual health, our physical health, and the health of our society. Luckily, we already have a cure: fighting for the ."
—Dr. Sayantani DasGupta, pediatrician and founding member of (instagram.com/authorsagainstbookbans)

10/19/2024

Support the .📖 Sign the pledge. Spread the word.

On October 19, 2024, libraries, bookstores, readers, and partners nationwide are hosting rallies and community events to unite against book bans and demonstrate our shared commitment to the freedom to read.

10/13/2024

Heading out this weekend to see the new Lego biopic, “Piece by Piece,” about musical genius and proud kid of a librarian Pharrell Williams? Check out our interview with him from October 2015. bit.ly/PharrellAM

10/03/2024

ALA has reached out to offer support to state library associations in every state in the path of . Join us in supporting those impacted by this devastating storm. Here's more information from American Library Association and how you can help.

On October 3, ALA released a statement on what library professionals can do to support communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

10/01/2024

Jimmy Carter turns 100 years old today. When Meredith Evans, director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, was age 4, she mailed in money ($1.01) to then-President Carter to help him “be president.” She also sent a letter asking to have her birthday party at the White House. (Carter politely declined both.) Evans holds a copy of the letter she sent in 1977 in this photo accompanying our 2016 interview. https://bit.ly/EvansCarter

09/27/2024

Today at 4:00 PM CT! Across the country, young people are stepping up to defend their right to read. Hear what they have to say at this panel discussion moderated by Honorary Youth Chair Julia Garnett.
Leading Change: Youth Fighting Books Bans http://bit.ly/YouthFightingBookBans

09/24/2024

Though censorship attempts still far exceed pre-2020 numbers, data the American Library Association has collected for 2024 so far show the number of attempts to censor books is down compared to last year.

Coinciding with this year’s Banned Books Week (September 22–28), the American Library Association has released preliminary data on attempts to censor books and materials in libraries during the first eight months of 2024.

09/20/2024

At the Intellectual Freedom Summit this week, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., more than 120 anti-censorship advocates gathered to sharpen their strategy in the battle against book challenges.

More than 120 anti-censorship advocates convened September 17 at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, for the Intellectual Freedom Summit, organized by the American Library Association (ALA)

09/16/2024

In July 2023, a devastating flood hit Montpelier, Vermont, damaging the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Dan Groberg had only been executive director for 12 days when disaster struck.

Post-recovery, he reflects on what other libraries can take away from their crisis.

The executive director of Vermont's Kellogg-Hubbard Library shares lessons learned from recovering from last year's devastating floods.

09/12/2024

NEWSMAKER: US Poet Laureate Ada Limón discusses the role libraries have played in her life and sending one of her poems into outer space 🚀

US Poet Laureate Ada Limón talks about her signature project, the role libraries have played in her life, and how she feels about sending a poem into outer space.

09/11/2024

Two weeks after September 11, when a group of archivists convened in New York City, it became clear that what was needed wasn’t help with library recovery efforts; what was needed was help with documenting the event.

American Libraries looks at the libraries and treasures destroyed on September 11—and the archival work that came after this tragic event.