The Collection Development and Evaluation Section (a part of the Reference and User Services Association, or RUSA) has announced its selections of the most outstanding works of 2012 (though the winners and contenders were largely published in 2011). These awards are unique in the pantheon of best lists, representing as they do the judgments of collection development, readers’ advisory, and reference librarians. Honoring the power and pleasure of reading, these titles were selected for readers and researchers by the librarians who work with them every day. Click on the hotlinks for annotations, readalikes, listenalikes, and honor titles. [Check LJ's Best Books of 2011 articles for crossover.—Ed.]

Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks (Ecco: HarperCollins)

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (Knopf)

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (Ecco)

Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman (Grove)

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (Little, Brown)

Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod (Biblioasis)

The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (Random)

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje (Knopf)

The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips (Random)

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (Knopf)

We the Animals by Justin Torres (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Selected Stories by William Trevor (Viking)