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On December 3, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem released the state budget for FY26, which includes devastating news for the State Library in Pierre, the state capital. The institution will have its budget cut by 12.5 FTE in staff, $1,030,267 in general funds, and $1,399,443 in federal fund expenditure authority. The library currently has 21 staff members, but if the measure passes, seven remaining staff members will work in accessibility services for disabled users, leaving two employees to cover everything else.

The theme of the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2025 LibLearnX, “Reimagine, Refocus, Reset: Charting a Path for the Future,” has particular resonance, as this will be the final LibLearnX. The event, which replaced ALA’s Midwinter Meeting in 2022, had seen low attendance—just over 2,000 at last year’s conference in Baltimore—and ALA has opted to stop hosting the conference.

Shamella Cromartie, associate dean of organizational performance and administration at Clemson University Libraries, was named a 2024 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her work to expand outreach, membership, and support for Black librarians in South Carolina. We recently spoke with Cromartie to learn more about these projects.

NYT chooses the best book covers of 2024, CrimeReads selects the year’s best espionage fiction, and CBC names the year’s best Canadian nonfiction. The Bookseller analyzes over 900 titles named in the media’s best books lists this year and finds that Percival Everett’s James features most prominently. The longlists for the Porchlight Business Book Awards are revealed. Sourcebooks launches an in-house audiobook program. Plus Page to Screen and interviews with Kristin Hannah, the Colberts, and Patrick Radden Keefe.

Joseph Earl Thomas’s God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer wins the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Poets & Writers shares its 20th annual look at debut poets. Tessa Hull’s Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir and Leela Corman’s Victory Parade top Publishers Weekly’s 2024 Graphic Novel Critics Poll. CrimeReads selects the best horror novels of 2024. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Bryce Stevenson and S.E. Hinton.

Parmy Olson’s Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race That Will Change the World is named Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year. Yan F Zhang’s short story “Fleeting Marrow” wins the 4thWrite Prize. The 2024 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant recipients are announced. Best-of-2024 lists arrive from NPR’s Maureen Corrigan, Time, Reactor, CBC, Seattle Times, BookRiot, and CrimeReads. LitHub shares the best-reviewed books of the year. Phaidon Press appoints Bob Miller as new CEO. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane. Sarah J. Maas teases a new ACOTAR book, along with new audiobook recordings for spring. Plus, Clare Mulley’s The Woman Who Saved the Children will be adapted for film.

Philanthropic foundation Carnegie Corporation of New York on December 9 announced a new $5 million pool of grant funding available for public libraries nationwide. The new initiative—Libraries as Pillars of Education and Democracy—“will help public libraries deliver critical services that promote socioeconomic mobility, civic participation, and social belonging,” according to an announcement. The $5 million will be awarded to 10 to 15 library systems in regions serving 500,000 people or more, with each system receiving up to $500,000 in funding over 24 months.

Poet Nikki Giovanni, a star of the Black Arts Movement, has died at the age of 81. Ariel Lawhon wins the Nero award for The Frozen River. Best-of-2024 lists arrive from CrimeReads, LA Times, and Slate, while The Atlantic’s “Books Briefing” writes in defense of best-of-the-year lists. The Booker Prize judges are announced, including Sarah Jessica Parker and Roddy Doyle. The Goodreads account of the suspect in the United Healthcare CEO shooting is under scrutiny for a review of Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski's manifesto. The Golden Globes nominations features several adaptations. Actor Jeremy Renner is finishing up a memoir about his snow-plow accident and recovery. New Jersey becomes the latest state to prohibit bans on books in school and public libraries.

What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane leads holds this week. January’s Indie Next Preview is out, featuring #1 pick Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix. Best of 2024 lists arrive from People, Time, ElectricLit, and Vox. USA Today covers librarians’ efforts to stand up for freedom to read in a number of states, while librarian and author Amanda Jones files a new defamation suit. Caleb Azumah Nelson will adapt his novel Open Water for television. Plus, “romantasy” loses out to “brat” as Collins Dictionary’s word of the year.

Winners of the Goodreads Choice Awards and shortlists for the Nero Book Awards are revealed. NYT releases its selections for the year’s best graphic novels and SFF. CrimeReads shares its picks for the best psychological thrillers of 2024. The Internet Archive has decided not to appeal its copyright case to the Supreme Court. Plus, Page to Screen and an interview with Jacqueline Woodson.

Ferdia Lennon’s Glorious Exploits wins the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. The winners of the Christianity Today Book Awards and the longlist for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize are revealed. Susannah Dickey’s ISDAL wins the inaugural PEN Heaney Prize for poetry published in the UK or Ireland. Spotify Wrapped now includes audiobook listens; Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses was the most-streamed audiobook of 2024. Audiofile shares its lists of the best audiobooks of the year.

Library vendors have announced several new products, partnerships, and programs during the past two months. Here’s a sampling of recent news. 

Oprah selects Claire Keegan’s novel Small Things Like These for her book club and launches a new podcast. Read with Jenna picks Mary Oliver’s Devotions. Joya Chatterji wins the Wolfson History Prize for Shadows at Noon. Best of 2024 booklists arrive from The Atlantic, The Guardian, NYT, LitHub, Bill Gates and ELLE. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson. Netflix nabs film rights to Callie Hart’s fantasy romance Quicksilver, and Alan Moore’s The Great When will be adapted for television.

The NYT announces the 10 best books of 2024. Reese Witherspoon selects City of Night Birds by Juhea Kim for her December book club. The Last One by Rachel Howzell Hall is GMA’s pick. Target’s pick is Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet by Samantha Allen. Liza Minnelli’s forthcoming memoir, due out in 2026, will be adapted for television. Peter Mackay has been named Scotland’s national poet, and Kate Beaton wins the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature. Marian Keyes’s “Walsh Sisters” books will be adapted for TV in Ireland and the UK. Plus, Oxford University Press selects “brain rot” as its word of the year.

Brandon Sanderson’s Wind and Truth leads holds this week. People’s book of the week is Trial by Ambush: Murder, Injustice, and the Truth About the Case of Barbara Graham by Marcia Clark. Jon Ransom wins the Polari Book Prize. LJ's Best Books 2024 arrives, NYT names 100 Notable Books of 2024, and NPR releases their 2024 Books We Love. Costco announces it will stop selling books year-round in stores. Plus, LJ’s December starred reviews.

On November 19, the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) released a report presenting the results of its 2024 Library Insights Survey, which charts the successes and challenges North American public libraries have seen in service to their communities since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Takeaways included a steady increase in attendance since the lows of 2022, with some notable differences in how libraries are being used.

One painful part of living through the pandemic for me was the sense that Americans were failing one another. Recent catastrophic weather events have brought back that same sense of unease. When deadly Hurricanes Helene and Milton made landfall last month, conspiracy theorists suggested they were manufactured for political benefit. Federal relief efforts were stymied by online misinformation, and a man was arrested for threatening FEMA workers. America, we’re not okay.

Washington Post shares its 10 best books of 2024. Alice Loxton’s Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives is Blackwell’s Book of the Year. Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo is named Foyles Book of the Year. The Racket: On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation—and the Other 99% by Conor Niland wins the William Hill Sports Book Award. Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America’s Legendary Racehorse by Kim Wickens wins the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award. Winners of the James Berry Poetry Prize and the shortlist for the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year are also announced. Plus, Page to Screen.

When thinking of how to best sum up this year’s Charleston Conference, held November 11–15 and available to view online December 9–13 (along with exclusive “online only” sessions), one word sprung to mind: collaboration. As a first-time attendee from a publishing technology background, it was wonderful to see so many professionals from the worlds of libraries and publishing come together to tackle challenges that are affecting the entire information industry.

The National Book Awards winners are announced: Percival Everett’s James in fiction, Yáng Shuāng-zi’s Taiwan Travelogue in translated literature, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha’s Something About Living in poetry, and Jason De León’s Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling in nonfiction. Washington Post publishes its lists of the best books of 2024. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Sergio de la Pava, Glory Edim, and Ruben Reyes Jr.

As libraries face increasingly challenging funding landscapes, a key to securing public support lies in mobilizing a coalition of foundation donors, Friends members, and board volunteers. Successful advocacy campaigns happen when these key stakeholders unite behind the library’s mission, reinforcing its value and amplifying its message to decision-makers. To that end, library directors can use several types of advocacy to strengthen their budget campaigns, including community-driven advocacy, public-private partnerships, and the concept of advocacy through fundraising.

Richard Flanagan wins the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction for his memoir Question 7 but refuses the £50,000 cash award over the sponsor’s ties to fossil fuel. Colm Tóibín’s Long Island is named Waterstones Irish Book of the Year. The Christy Award winners are announced. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Now or Never by Janet Evanovich, the top holds title of the week. Agents and authors react to Harper Collins’s AI deal. Microsoft launches a new publishing imprint. Plus, the winners of the 75th Annual National Book Awards will be announced tonight.

Anne Michaels wins the Giller Prize for her novel Held. Agustín Fernández Mallo wins the Cercador Prize for The Book of All Loves. The Salam Award winners are announced, along with the Aspen Words Literary Prize longlist. Earlyword’s November Galleychat spreadsheet is out now. National Book Network announces its closure next year. B&N sells Union Square Publishing to Hachette, and PGW will distribute McNally Editions starting January 1. Stephen King previews his forthcoming novel, Never Flinch, due out May 27, and Ruth Ware announces a sequel to The Woman in Cabin 10. Legendary guidebook publisher Arthur Frommer has died at the age of 95.

In the days after the election, LJ spoke with library colleagues for their takes on what may be in store from the new administration—and potential next steps.

Now or Never by Janet Evanovich leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by Nora Roberts, Sophie Cousens, Danielle Steel, and Cher. People’s book of the week is Time of the Child by Niall Williams. Six LibraryReads and eight Indie Next picks publish this week. Percival Everett’s James is named the Barnes & Noble Book of the Year. Earlyword announces that GalleyChat will move platforms from X to BlueSky, starting December 5.

Whatever our personal politics across library land, the truth is that we live in a nation where a majority of voting Americans chose the candidate whose positions run counter to many policies and values that libraries support. So, what are we going to do about it?

Alexis Wright’s Praiseworthy wins the Melbourne Prize for Literature. The winners of Canada Council for the Arts Governor General's Literary Awards are revealed. Edenville by Sam Rebelein and All I Want Is To Take Shrooms and Listen to the Color of Nazi Screams by John Baltisberger win Wonderland Book Awards for Excellence in Bizarro Fiction. The shortlist is announced for the Eccles Institute and Hay Festival Global Writer’s Award. CrimeReads releases its list of the best gothic novels of 2024. Trinidad-born novelist Elizabeth Nunez has died at age 80. Plus, Page to Screen

Amazon and Kirkus reveal their lists of the best books of 2024. Libro.fm shares its bestselling audiobooks of 2024. The shortlist for ALA’s Carnegie Medal and the longlist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize are announced. EveryLibrary has a chart tracking how library-related ballot measures fared in last week’s elections. Plus, interviews with Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey and the National Book Award nominees, and new title bestsellers.

Samantha Harvey’s Orbital wins the Booker Prize. Arthur Sze will receive the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, and the Ignyte Awards winners are announced. Time Releases “The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024.” LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for To Die For by David Baldacci. Lena Dunham will adapt Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis. Plus, Vox argues “why libraries need librarians.”

To Die For by David Baldacci leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Graham Brown, J.R. Ward, and Richard Price. People’s book of the week is The Magnificent Ruins by Nayantara Roy.The Booker Prize will be announced later today. Adam Shatz wins the American Library in Paris Book Award. Grammy nominations have been announced, including Best Audiobook. Fight Club, based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk, turns 25. And Bastard Out of Carolina author Dorothy Allison and “Magic School Bus” illustrator Bruce Degan have died.

As artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in work, creative pursuits, and the generation of online misinformation, public libraries have a major new role to play in digital literacy.

While Texas continues to be a leading state in the number of book bans reported each year, a recent challenge at the Montgomery County Memorial Library has been reversed. The Texas Freedom to Read Project reported that a children’s book, Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag)—an account of American colonization and Native traditions described from an Indigenous perspective—was challenged in September and subsequently moved out of the juvenile nonfiction area to the fiction collection.

Election Day 2024 held mixed results for libraries on the ballot across the country. EveryLibrary identified and tracked 79 library measures on local and statewide ballots about funding, buildings, and governance. Of those, 55 were for long-term operating revenue, 10 for building projects, seven for annual budgets, one was a defunding measure, two concerned library governance, and four were statewide issues. 

Rachel Cusk’s Parade wins the Goldsmiths Prize, Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo by Craig L. Symonds wins the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize, and Mara Faye Lethem’s translation of Irene Solà’s Catalan novel When I Sing, Mountains Dance wins the Lewis Galantière Award. The Booker Prize shortlist is announced, and Vulture adds to their list of the best books of 2024 so far. EveryLibrary warns that U.S. election results will mean more uncertainty for libraries. Plus new title bestsellers.

Suad Aldarra is awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. LJ kicks off its countdown to the reveal of the best books of 2024. People shares best books for Native American Heritage Month. DK acquires UK-based digital publisher Canelo. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage, the top holds title of the week. Plus, interviews arrive with Peter Ames Carlin, Jody Hobbs Hesler, and Jenna Tang.

Shortlists for the inaugural PEN Heaney Prize and the Voss Literary Prize are announced. Simon & Schuster will distribute ACC Art Books. Politico writes about how Jon Grinspan’s 2021 book, The Age of Acrimony: How Americans Fought To Fix Their Democracy, 1865–1915, has become a cult favorite among members of Congress. Martha Stewart’s 100th cookbook arrives this week, along with a new Netflix documentary on her life; Eater looks at Stewart’s other 99 cookbooks. Plus, USA Today highlights Salma Hayek’s new series adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s novel Like Water for Chocolate.

LJ’s 2024 Year in Architecture trends see libraries simultaneously designing for pragmatic concerns, such as safety and site constraints, and an equally important quotient of delight—achieving harmony in the process!

Color, color everywhere! To create welcoming, dynamic spaces, libraries have integrated vivid colors into their designs to connect, invite, comfort, and even surprise.

This year’s crop of libraries demonstrates a continued commitment to the well-being of library workers and patrons through biophilic design, a tried-and-true construct to connect people with nature in hopes of improving human health.

The successful renovation of a historic structure for contemporary use is a vivid example of how libraries respond to rapidly evolving community conditions. This year, a variety of approaches create modern facilities that honor history.

Designing for delight and flexibility is demonstrated in many of this year’s submissions, fostering gathering, play, and communal experiences.

As libraries expand into community hubs serving multiple purposes, they have introduced playfulness into their designs to encourage exploration, discovery, and above all, wonder.

Libraries continue to emerge from the pandemic, with spaces designed to promote social interaction along with quiet study—places that work for everyone.

Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by Isabel Ibañez, Phillip Margolin, Bill Zehme, and Beatriz Williams. People’s book of the week is The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins. The Southern Book Prize finalists, Waterstones Book of the Year shortlist, and Audiofile November Earphones Award winners are announced. Martha Stewart’s latest cookbook arrives, along with November book previews. Music legend Quincy Jones has died at the age of 91.

LJ has received an Eddie award for its February 2024 cover story “Hungry for Connection: Addressing Loneliness Through the Library,” by Editor-in-Chief Hallie Rich. In May, 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory calling attention to loneliness, isolation, and a lack of connection as a public health crisis increasing the risk of mental health challenges and even premature death. LJ’s feature examined how library programs “can build the very relationships our nation’s public health experts say we most need to cultivate.”

LJ’s 2024 Year in Architecture trends see libraries simultaneously designing for pragmatic concerns, such as safety and site constraints, and an equally important quotient of delight—achieving harmony in the process!

The data for new academic library buildings and renovations featured in LJ's Year in Architecture 2024.

The data for new public library buildings and renovations featured in LJ's Year in Architecture 2024.

The shortlists for Scotland’s National Book Awards and for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year are announced. Barnes & Noble has selected 13 finalists for the 2024 Book of the Year. Suzanne Nossel is stepping down as CEO of PEN America. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Jeff VanderMeer, Paula Hawkins, and William Boyd.

Kathleen DuVal’s Native Nations: A Millennium in North America wins the Cundill History Prize. NYT reports on librarian burnout in the face of the “crisis of violence and abuse” that libraries are encountering. Some Nobel and Pulitzer winners have signed an open letter denouncing cultural boycotts of Israel. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Stanley Tucci, Scott Hawkins, Jane Hirshfield, and Jess Walter.

As Lorcan Dempsey, formerly with OCLC, observed in portal: Libraries and the Academy (2008), “discovery happens elsewhere”—that is, people are using internet search engines, recommendations from social media, or emails from friends and colleagues to discover content. Search can be a powerful tool, provided you know what you are looking for. Yet there are significant problems associated with the search process.

December’s Indie Next list features #1 pick The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer. GMA's November book club pick is The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins, and Reese Witherspoon’s pick is We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People by Nemonte Nenquimo & Mitch Anderson. Taylor Jenkins Reid previews her forthcoming novel Atmosphere. Tina Knowles announces her memoir, Matriarch, due out in April. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Louise Penny’s buzzy book, The Grey Wolf. Alan Murrin’s The Coast Road will be adapted for TV. Plus, authors Joe Hill and Stephen Graham Jones recommend great horror books on the NYT Book Review podcast.

On October 24, the Association of College and Research Libraries announced the publication of its 2024 report for the Project Outcome for Academic Libraries (POAL) toolkit. Data in the report offers a snapshot of POAL’s use and impact in FY24, from September 1, 2023, to August 31 of this year. The report is available as a free download from the Project Outcome for Academic Libraries website.

Shortlists for the An Post Irish Book Awards and winners of the National Translation Awards and the World Fantasy Awards are announced. Jenna Bush Hager selects This Motherless Land by Nikki May for her November book club. Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger is B&N’s pick. Ingram’s Consortium adds seven new publishers for distribution. Nick Offerman joins the cast of Apple TV+’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles, based on the book by Rufi Thorpe. Novelist and poet Paul Bailey has died at the age of 87.

The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Paula Hawkins, M.L. Wang, and Kerri Maniscalco. Publishers Weekly touts the best books of 2024. People’s book of the week is Roman Year: A Memoir by André Aciman. Winners of the Geffen Awards are announced.  Plus, Earlyword’s October “GalleyChat” spreadsheet arrives.

A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith wins the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. The longlists for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, the shortlist for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, and the finalists for the Kitschies are announced. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Danzy Senna, Frieda McFadden, and Ada Limón.

About 100 lawyers, library professionals, educators, students, and activists attended the Banned Books and Libraries Under Attack Conference at the Cleveland State University (CSU) College of Law, which featured more than a dozen speakers and panelists.

Melissa Lucashenko’s Edenglassie wins both the ARA Historical Novel Society Australasia Prize and the Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award. A Texas county library system has reversed its decision to classify a children’s Indigenous history book as fiction. Plus, interviews with Yael van der Wouden, Mosab Abu Toha, Ben Okri, and Richard McGuire and new title bestsellers.

Essie Chambers’s Swift River wins Barnes & Noble’s 2024 Discover Prize. Ross Perlin wins the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding for Language City: The Fight To Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York. Barnes & Noble releases its best books of 2024 lists. Publishers Weekly reports from the 2024 New York Comic Con. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for buzzy book In Too Deep by Lee Child & Andrew Child. WSJ profiles Teen Mom 2 star and rising book influencer Kailyn Lowry. Interviews arrive with Alex van Halen, Danielle Trussoni, Jeff VanderMeer, and Evan Friss  Plus, buzz builds for Netflix’s forthcoming adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden.

Anne de Marcken wins the Ursula LeGuin Prize for Fiction for It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over. Margaret Owen wins the Endeavour Award for Painted Devils. Winners of the Canadian Jewish Literary Awards are announced, and President Biden awards 2022 and 2023 National Humanities Medals. OverDrive has launched the new Cleveland-inspired imprint Heights Press. Interviews arrive with Bethany Joy Lenz, Jenny Slate, Nick Harkaway, and Alex van Halen. Plus, a new series adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie is in development.

Tarida Anantachai, director of inclusion and talent management for North Carolina State University Libraries, was named a 2024 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her work rethinking how to approach recruitment and hiring through a more inclusive, diversity-focused approach. LJ recently spoke with Anantachai to learn more about her work in this area.

In Too Deep by Lee Child & Andrew Child leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Benjamin Stevenson, Bethany Joy Lenz, Robert Dugoni, and Jeff VanderMeer. People’s book of the week is The Time Keepers by Alyson Richman. Memoirs by Alexei Navalny and Shirley Maclaine arrive.

Naomi Shihab Nye wins the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award for lifetime achievement, and Evie Shockley wins the Academy of American Poets Fellowship. The shortlist has been unveiled for the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Kate McKinnon will host the 75th National Book Awards. Plus an interview with Karl Ove Knausgaard and Page to Screen.

Percival Everett’s James and Adam Higginbotham’s Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space win Kirkus Prizes. A shortlist is released for the Laurel Prize for environmental and nature poetry. Plus, interviews with Randy Newman, Emily Witt, and Colin Kaepernick, a new memoir by Pope Francis, and new title bestsellers.

November’s LibraryReads list is out, featuring top pick Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage. Ken Follett’s forthcoming historical epic Circle of Days will examine the mysteries of Stonehenge. James Patterson launches a new Substack, Hungry Dogs. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title The Waiting by Michael Connelly. Riku Onda’s crime novel The Aosawa Murders will get a limited series adaptation, and Phaedra Patrick’s The Little Italian Hotel will be adapted for TV. Plus, the Kirkus Prize winners will be announced tonight.

Alice McDermott wins the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award for her novel Absolution. The Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist is announced, along with the winners of the British Fantasy Awards and the Prix Utopiales. The Waiting by Michael Connelly leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey, Bob Woodward, Debbie Macomber, and David Rosenfelt. People’s book of the week is The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman. Al Pacino’s memoir, Sonny Boy, arrives. Plus, M.K. Oliver’s buzzy forthcoming debut novel, A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage, will get the series treatment at Hulu.

LJ’s 2024 Placements & Salaries Survey sees new grads grapple with questions of relocation, living wages, and job drift, but eager to begin careers in the field.

South Korean novelist Han Kang, best known for 2016’s Booker Prize–winning The Vegetarian, wins the Nobel Prize in literature. The shortlist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize is announced. BBC’s Between the Covers book club has revealed its books and guests for its eighth season, starting with Chris Whitaker’s All the Colors of the Dark. Winners of the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards and Scholastic UK’s inaugural Graphic Novel Prize are announced. Created by Humans, a company that helps writers license their works for use by AI, has forged a partnership with the Authors Guild. Plus new title bestsellers.

Oprah picks From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley, with Riley Keough, for her book club. Publishers Weekly rounds up the rest of October’s book club picks. Finalists for the Governor General’s Literary Awards and the Wonderland Awards are announced. October’s Loanstars features top pick The Waiting by Michael Connelly. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak. BBC will adapt Janice Hadlow’s The Other Bennet Sister, to be aired during the 30th anniversary of BBC’s classic Pride and Prejudice series. Plus, the latest on the Princess Diaries 3 film, based on the books by Meg Cabot.

On October 3, the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) announced the six North American public libraries named as Top Innovators for 2024 as part of its annual Innovations Initiative. 

In an effort to minimize student boredom while learning library information, Jacksonville State University (JSU) librarians implemented gamification―introducing game mechanics into non-game environments―which studies have shown can increase engagement and motivation, and in turn, improve learning across age groups and settings. JSU librarians Karlie Loren Johnson and Kimberly Westbrooks analyzed their results in “Quelling the Boredom with Alternative Instruction: Augmented Reality, Escape Kits, and Scavenger Hunts.” 

Former librarian Terah Shelton Harris has been named Target’s author of the year; The Women by Kristin Hannah is book of the year. The Elgin Awards winners are announced. The 2024 Nobel prize in literature will be awarded this Thursday. From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley with Riley Keough gets reviews and buzz. The Millions revisits Claudia Rankine’s Citizen 10 years after its publication. Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty will get a new series adaptation, courtesy of Nicole Kidman. Colleen Hoover’s Reminders of Him will be adapted for film. NYT looks at weeding in libraries. Plus, LJ announces a new partnership with the Libraries Lead podcast.

The American Library Association and the Sustainable Libraries Initiative have announced the new National Climate Action Strategy for Libraries and created an implementation guide to help libraries incorporate climate action locally into strategic and facility plans.

The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Sophie Kinsella, Patricia Cornwell, Melania Trump, and James Patterson and Brian Sitts. Five LibraryReads and five Indie Next picks publish this week. The Millions releases “The Great Fall 2024 Book Preview.” Salman Rushdie announced he will publish a series of novellas, his first works of fiction since his stabbing in 2022. And novelist Robert Coover has died at the age of 92.

Library Journal is proud to announce a new partnership with the “Libraries Lead” podcast. Hosted by Mike Eisenberg (Professor and Dean Emeritus, U. of Washington iSchool), David Lankes (Virginia & Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship, University of Texas at Austin), and Beth Patin (Assistant Professor, Syracuse University's School of Information Studies), the show explores the various social, cultural, and technological issues shaping (and being shaped by) libraries and librarians. New episodes drop monthly, and past episodes are now available at librarieslead.libraryjournal.com.

The finalists for the Cundill History Prize are announced, the winners of the Ned Kelly Award for Australian crime writing, the shortlist for the Endeavour Award for SFF by Pacific Northwest authors is announced, and the winners of the Rhysling Awards for speculative poetry are announced. The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore wins an Isle of Wight Book Award. A federal judge has ordered an Arkansas library to stop segregating controversial books into special “social sections.”

The shortlist for the Goldsmiths Prize and the finalists for the Writers’ Trust of Canada Balsillie Prize for Public Policy are announced. Reese Witherspoon announces her first novel, a thriller cowritten with Harlan Coben and due out next fall. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Ta-Nehisi Coates, Kate McKinnon, Lola Milholland, and Kate Conger and Ryan Mac.

The National Book Award Finalists are announced, as are the longlist for the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation and Audiofile’s October 2024 Earphones Award winners. The 2024 slate of MacArthur Fellows includes writers Ling Ma, Juan Felipe Herrera, Jason Reynolds, and Jericho Brown. Reese Witherspoon selects Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown for her October book club. The October book club pick for both Read with Jenna and B&N is The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich. According to NYT, Jimmy Carter, who turned 100 yesterday, is the most prolific author of all ex-presidents.

Full of personality and flavor, this book will be welcome in all collections.

Wilmington Public Library enlists community input alongside vibrant in-house marketing to build excitement around innovative events. San José Public Library, CA, and Worcester Public Library, MA, received honorable mentions.

Shortlists for the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Polari Prize are announced. The Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction finalists are announced. Jenna Bush Hager selects Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red for her October book club. StokerCon 2025 announces guests of honor including Joyce Carol Oates, Gaby Triana, and Tim Waggoner. October booklists arrive. Plus, it’s Stephen Graham Jones Day (#SGJday), in honor of new reissued editions of six of his previously out-of-print titles.

My journey into librarianship was a bit unusual: Unlike those who began as a page or in an LIS role fresh out of grad school, my library career started in marketing. It was my job to understand the many ways the library brought value to the community and to develop stories and campaigns that shed light on the best aspects of our work. I was so inspired by what I saw in our branches that I eventually pursued a library degree. And as I deepened my knowledge, I saw that libraries could benefit from more attention to external communication.

Even those well versed in slashers and their tropes will be surprised by the directions Jones takes. Readable both as representative of slasher films and book and as an exploration of the rules of the genre, this novel will have wide appeal to readers who are new to Jones’s work as well as established fans. Recommended as a contrast for fans of recent “final girl” books like the ones by Grady Hendrix and Riley Sager and readers who enjoyed The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay.

Nicollette Davis, assistant librarian for kinesiology, social work, and health sciences at the Louisiana State University library system, was named a 2024 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her work advocating for BIPOC people, both in the library system and in the community. We recently spoke with Davis to learn more about her projects.

While there are many botanical gardens across the United States, only one has the distinction of being a tropical botanical garden chartered by the U.S. Congress: the National Tropical Botanical Garden, located in Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi.

The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Ina Garten, Louise Erdrich, Malcolm Gladwell, James Patterson and David Ellis, and Nita Prose. Seven LibraryReads and seven Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is Love Can’t Feed You by Cherry Lou Sy. Plus, LitHub previews “The Literary Film & TV You Need to Stream in October.”

This novel is effective in innumerable ways, particularly with its attention to the generational gap and the emotional disconnection created by the internet. Pargin’s deft combination of mystery and satire will appeal to the YA audience and to older readers.

Costanza Casati’s Clytemnestra wins the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award. David Waldstreicher wins the George Washington Prize for The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence. Winners of the Alberta Book Publishing Awards are announced. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Emmanuel Acho, Elizabeth Strout, Garth Greenwell, and Lauren Elkin.

For readers curious about how museums work, this engaging new look at MoMA’s origins will whet appetites for further scholarship on these fascinating figures.

Between September 22 and 28, the nation’s library community once again “celebrates” Banned Books Week, an annual event established in 1982 by the American Library Association (ALA) to profile acts of censorship and book banning in schools and libraries across the nation. Beginning with a “Library Bill of Rights” that ALA adopted in 1939, library leaders worked hard during the 20th century to hone a national image as defenders of intellectual freedom, opponents of censorship, and proponents of the freedom to read. But between 1939 and 1982 that image evolved to become an information silo of librarianship’s own making, one that was silent on or indifferent to issues of race and libraries.

Shortlists for the Wolfson History Prize and the British Academy Book Prize are announced. The Treaties We Break by Tina Shah wins the Mo Siewcharran Prize for unpublished fiction writers from Black, Asian, mixed heritage and minority ethnic backgrounds. Llano County, TX, told the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that it should hand politicians near total authority over what books can go on public library shelves. Plus new title bestsellers and interviews with Richard Osman, Isabella Hammad, Paola Ramos, Uzo Aduba, and Myriam J.A. Chancy.

During Banned Books Week, this year September 22–28, LJ has seen a wide range of libraries celebrating the right to read in their communities: public, K–12, and academic; urban and rural; large and small—and, now, little. Little Free Libraries, the birdhouse-sized book exchange structures scattered across neighborhoods around the world, have joined forces with the American Library Association (ALA) and PEN America to encourage the distribution of banned books in the areas they’re needed most.

The Washington State Book Award and Dream Foundry Award winners are announced. Elly Griffiths wins Author of the Year at the BA Conference Awards. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo. Interviews arrive with Janice Hallett, Elyse Graham, Ed Burns, Kenny G, Ashley Spencer, David Sedaris, Aaron Zebley, and Wright Thompson. The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green will get a TV adaptation, and Garth Greenwell’s What Belongs to You goes to the opera. Plus, NYT delves into the “Strega Nona September” TikTok trend, inspired by the children’s books by Tomie dePaola.

Boyd’s treasure trove of information about the global impact of world music (particularly on the United States) is a tour de force that will fascinate music lovers.

Banned Books Week is underway, with newly released reports from PEN America and ALA on book challenges in the U.S. Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo garners rave reviews, including a four-star review from USA Today. Interviews arrive with Law Roach, Ashley Spencer, Robert A. Caro, Shayna Maci Warner, Elizabeth Strout, Morgan Talty, Wright Thompson, and Stephen Colbert and Evie McGee Colbert. Influential critic Fredric Jameson has died at the age of 90.

For the past four years, EveryLibrary has been working to fight the book-banning movement. A large part of that fight is developing effective messaging against book bans, as well as conducting extensive message testing, surveys, and focus groups to understand the impact of messaging and determine which messages perform best.

The Eleanor Roosevelt Center is seeking nominations for its 2025 Banned Book Awards now through September 30, 2024.

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney leads holds this week and is People’s book of the week. Also in demand are titles by Nicholas Sparks, Sharon McMahon, Emily Rath, Richard Powers, and Tami Hoag. The Wolfson History Prize shortlist is announced. October’s LibraryReads list is out, featuring top pick Exposure by Ramona Emerson. LitHub provides a flowchart to answer the question “Which Big Fall Book Should You Read?” Plus, Banned Books Week arrives amid a new surge in censorship.

Buttar makes brilliant use of primary sources and provides readers with a rich understanding of the unique nature of Leningrad, its military, and its people during a perilous time.

Two and a half years after launch, Books Unbanned has continued to grow as a vital resource for people in schools and communities where book challenges otherwise put content out of reach.