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Terra Dankowski writes: “Min Jin Lee has notched career milestones that few authors reach.
Her immigration saga Pachinko was both a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Top 10 Best Book of 2017. Lee is also a Guggenheim fellow and the first Korean American to hold the role of New York State author laureate.
Her latest title, American Hagwon (Cardinal, September), examines the influence of Korean ‘cram schools’ among families in the Korean diaspora.
American Libraries spoke with Lee about her new book, the library that shaped her, and her antidote to book bans.”...
American Libraries Trend, Fall
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Rino Landa writes: “After serving its community for nearly 45 years in the same building, Escondido (Calif.) Public Library closed in April 2025 for an $11.6 million renovation. It was important to us, as the city’s lone library, to preserve access during construction.
So one month later, our library opened a temporary location in a very different kind of facility: the nearby North County Mall, where services and collections were spread across six storefronts, including a former Abercrombie & Fitch clothing store.”...
American Libraries column, Fall
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Award-winning authors and free expression advocates Bess Kalb (Buffalo Fluffalo series) and Tony Weaver, Jr.
(Weirdo), have been named honorary chairs for Banned Books Week 2026, to be observed October 4–10 with the theme “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.” They will be joined by youth honorary chairs Marshall Romero and Azeemah Sadiq, two passionate student advocacy leaders for Students Engaged in Advancing Texas.
Since 1982, Banned Books Week has enlightened the public about attempts to censor books in libraries, schools, and bookstores....
ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, Sept.
16
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Renee Kitson writes: “A board book has a pretty clear job.
Open it. Read it. Turn the pages. And, if you’re a toddler, perhaps taste a corner.
Eventually, some of those much-loved books reach the end of their library lives.
The book is withdrawn and headed for the discard pile.
Except sometimes I look at those thick, colorful pages and think: What else could this be? Finding ways to reuse board books has become one of my favorite creative challenges, because a board book that can’t be a library book anymore can still become quite a lot of things.”...
ALSC Blog, Sept. 21
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Lucy Campbell and Keven Jeffery write: “The predominance of artificial intelligence (AI) tools has resulted in challenges for library and information professionals, particularly in academic research libraries.
For example, these tools frequently hide the underlying search logic from the user, creating an opacity that misses opportunities for learning about advanced search.
Results are siloed to specific platforms instead of surfacing all content owned or subscribed to by a library.
This case study outlines a project at San Diego State University Library to build an AI discovery assistant that can surface search logic, retrieve results from across holdings, and provide learning opportunities for users.”...
Information Technology and Libraries, Sept.
21
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Kelly Jensen writes: “This fall marks the start of year six of relentless book bans.
The Five Year Report aims to not only explore the trends and themes of book censorship in the 2020s; it also puts the voices of those on the ground at the forefront.
The Five Year Report is a collaborative project from ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, Book Riot, and the Florida Freedom to Read Project.
The insights here underscore the vital need for those who champion the right to read to show up in their own communities.”...
Book Riot, Sept. 18
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Anna North writes: “Jimmy Glover decided to run for Sarasota’s school board this year.
He is part of a larger movement of students, parents, teachers, and concerned community members pushing back against the influence of groups like Moms for Liberty in Florida public education.
They wanted schools that were safe and welcoming for all students, and that focused on learning rather than scoring points on the national political scene.
And last month, they won.
Organizers say the victories hold lessons for progressives campaigning on the national stage in the midterms and beyond.”...
The Guardian, Sept. 18
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Kaetrena Davis Kendrick writes: “Studies on library worker burnout have experienced a resurgence, and with good reason.
During these challenges, I’ve been identifying and applying tools and pathways that help library workers recognize, reconcile, and recover from the historic and more recent wounds they have suffered.
I’ve also been offering spaces and engagement opportunities—which I call Communities of Resonance and Experience—to help them remember that collective care and community support can be built and accessed by them, rather than being only offered to library users.”...
Information Matters, Sept.
16
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Muhammad Sarwar writes: “There is a risk in allowing our response to publishing failures to become increasingly centered on what can be detected, screened, investigated, or automated.
Every additional layer of oversight depends, ultimately, on people with the expertise and time to interpret problems, exercise judgement, and make responsible decisions.
We continue to invest significant intellectual and financial resources in detecting when publishing fails, yet comparatively little attention is given to strengthening the institutions and communities that help prevent those failures from emerging in the first place.”...
Katina, Sept. 16
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Rachel Bachman writes: “We talk about craft. So why do discussions of didacticism in children’s literature sometimes seem to suggest that the problem begins with the author’s desire to communicate something meaningful? Somewhere along the way, I think we may have confused two pieces of advice that sound remarkably similar but are not quite the same thing.
On one hand, we have ‘don’t preach to children.’ And on the other, ‘don’t write children’s books with a message.’ The first is excellent advice.
The second is a little strange.”...
Excuse My Whimsey, Sept.
20
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Tony Phillips writes: “For a single unit conversion, Google wins on convenience. But if I have a bunch of measurements to convert, I don't want a scrap of paper covered in random numbers, or to keep copying values out of a spreadsheet and back again. Excel's CONVERT function lets me keep the measurements, units, and results together, while reusing the same formula for as many conversions as I need.”...
How-To Geek, Sept. 21
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