AI Librarians, Kirkus Prize Winners, and More Library News
October was a busy month! Here’s a mega roundup of all the library and collection development links you may have missed over the last few weeks.
Libraries & Librarians
Cool Library Updates
How a public library in Ohio’s Rust Belt is spurring economic growth with its small business and nonprofit workspace.
The AI frenzy has created demand for a new job title: AI librarian.
Worth Reading
The state of US academic libraries from ALA.
How to make your library an even stronger place for civic engagement.
How public libraries are becoming community hubs in the midst of disasters.
New & Upcoming Titles
BookTok is going wild over Elsie Silver’s new romance novel, Wild Eyes.
The Millions has released their Great Fall 2024 preview.
RA/Genre Resources
Tips, tricks, and tools for upping your readers’ advisory skills.
All Things Comics
5 “classic” comics you can skip (and what to read instead).
You cried your way through Heartstopper Season 3. Now what?
Comic adaptations: your favorite pieces of media reimagined.
Audiophilia
Sandra Oh will narrate a new audio version of Pachinko.
Maya Hawke will narrate a new audio version of Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
Audiobooks to better help you understand the election.
Numbers & Trends
The most popular books on Goodreads from the last 5 years.
How BookTok is shaping a new generation of readers and literature.
Kids aren’t reading books anymore, and the effects of this are being seen on university campuses.
Where did this stat about only having 20,000 readers of literary fiction in the US come from?
Censorship News
Books don’t just appear on library shelves.
How weeding has been politicized to quietly remove books that people disagree with.
Who uses libraries? Even in the stacks there’s a political divide.
Canadian conservative politicians are borrowing from the US book-banning playbook.
Slate interviews Rosalie Stewart, the new senior public policy manager at Penguin Random House, about her plans to fight book bans with legislation.
The state of comics and censorship during Banned Books Week.
The state of book banning in the UK.
A new report from PEN America unveils alarming new tactics in the censorship of higher education.
Banning books isn’t just morally wrong. It’s also unhealthy.
Book challenges are financial strains on libraries — and that’s the point.
Book Adaptations in the News
Amazon Prime is expanding the Jack Reacher universe with a new spinoff series.
Aperture Entertainment has optioned the rights to the horror novel, William by Mason Coile (aka Andrew Pyper).
Paramount is reimagining the Stephen King story, The Running Man and A24 is turning King’s recent novel, Fairy Tale, into a 10-episode series.
Harlequin has announced they will be releasing 28 (!) book-to-film adaptations over the next three years.
M.K. Oliver’s debut novel, A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage, isn’t being released until 2026, but Hulu has already put a series adaptation into development.
The Japanese crime novel The Aosawa Murders has been picked up for a limited series.
Elle Kennedy’s Off Campus series is being adapted for TV.
Books & Authors in the News
Oprah has named Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, as her next book club pick.
Award News
The 2024 Kirkus Prize winners have been announced.
The 2024 National Book Awards shortlist has been announced, and Kate McKinnon will be hosting the awards ceremony this year!
The shortlist for the First Novel Prize has been announced.
Pop Cultured
The Menéndez brothers’ case was horrific. Ryan Murphy’s version might be even worse.
Level Up (Library Reads)
Do you take part in Library Reads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen has a guide to discovering upcoming diverse books, and Edelweiss has a new catalog dedicated to diverse titles, which is managed by Early Word Galley Chatter Vicki Nesting. Check it out!
