Welcome to Check Your Shelf! This is your guide to all things book talk worth knowing to help librarians like you up your game when it comes to doing your job (& rocking it).
“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by The Last Hours by Minette Walter.
When the Black Death enters England in 1348, no one knows what manner of sickness it is. Fear grips the people as they come to believe that the plague is a punishment for wickedness.
But Lady Anne of Develish has her own ideas. With her brutal husband absent from the manor when news of this pestilence reaches her, she looks for more sensible ways to protect her people than daily confessions of sin. She decides to bring her serfs inside the safety of the moat that surrounds her manor house, then refuses entry to anyone else, even her husband.
The people of Develish are alive. But for how long?
Libraries & Librarians
- Employees at a Utah library were asked to take down Pride Month-themed displays and staff buttons due to patron complaints, but several librarians are speaking out against the decision.
- New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture purchases missing Malcolm X writings at auction.
- In archiving and information preservation news, US historians are fighting to prevent ICE from destroying records pertaining to the agency’s treatment of immigrants.
- Here’s a really interesting piece on “imperialist charity” and how the library and publishing communities in powerful countries have donated Eurocentric books to rebuild hurricane-damaged children’s libraries in the Carribean.
- Following the controversy surrounding ALA’s revised Meeting Room Policy, the Intellectual Freedom Committee created a Google Form for library community members (including non-ALA members) to suggest language & resources for the policy. The form is open until August 24th.
- Sonali Dev gives the keynote speech at Librarian’s Day at RWA, and in the last 5 minutes, asks librarians to think about how their library’s collections contribute to ongoing issues of racism and discrimination. It’s a message every library employee needs to hear.
- Archaeologists unearth the foundations of Germany’s oldest library.
- Two Kenyan women are working to restore three Nairobi libraries.
- Librarian Thomas Guignard showcases his Creative Commons photography collection of the most beautiful libraries he’s visited.
- Amanda Smithfield, a Nashville school librarian, is teaching incoming freshmen how to engage in constructive discourse about difficult subjects.
- Two library employees are recognized at a Denton (TX) City Council for saving an unconscious man’s life.
- “I don’t remember the title, but the cover was blue”: The New York Public Library has assembled a team of librarian sleuths to track down half-forgotten books.
Libraries & the 3D Printed Gun Controversy
As more libraries adopt 3D printer technology for their communities, we’re seeing more ethical and safety-related questions about what patrons can and can’t print using library technology. Right now, the focus is on 3D printed guns.
- ALA’s Best Practices for 3D printing in libraries.
- A judge blocks an attempt to post blueprints for 3D guns online.
- Although there are ethical questions surrounding access to information and library technology, many libraries already have rules in place that prevent people from using the printers to create weapons.
- From the Hartford Courant: Can you print a gun at your library? Not likely.
Book Adaptations
- Leads have been cast for Megan Abbott’s psychological thriller, Dare Me.
- The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Book Riot’s very own Karina Yan Glaser has been optioned by Amy Poehler’s production company! All the muppet arms!
- Sophie Kinsella’s Can You Keep a Secret? is being adapted for film.
- Updated casting news for All the Bright Places.
- Here’s the full trailer for To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
- From a Buick 8 is the latest Stephen King title to be adapted for film, which I’m super excited about! In my Constant Reader’s opinion, this is one of his most underappreciated works.
- Okay, scratch that, there’s been an even newer Stephen King adaptation announced: In the Tall Grass, which was co-written with his son Joe Hill, has been optioned by Netflix.
- Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is slated for its first film adaptation, which makes me ask, “How the heck has this never been made into a movie before?”
- Apple has secured the rights to develop Min Jin Lee’s novel Pachinko into a new series.
- Slaughterhouse Five is also being turned into a series.
Books in the News
- Bob Woodward announces a new book: Fear: Trump in the White House. If your patrons were eager for Fire and Fury, they’ll probably be placing holds on this book too.
- Tiffany Jackson is writing a new book that she describes as “Notorious meets Weekend at Bernie’s,” which is the best description of anything ever.
- Veronica Roth is writing her first non-YA book.
- Parkland activists are publishing a book in October about preventing gun violence.
- Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstack, hosts of the mega-popular podcast “My Favorite Murder,” are publishing a book for May 2019! The book will apparently focus on the lives and experiences of the authors, which is a big part of what’s made their podcast so popular.
By the Numbers
- More than a billion people visited public libraries in 2015. Take that, Forbes.
- Barnes & Noble reports a sales increase in books pertaining to anxiety, self-help, and overall happiness. If your library is anything like mine, you have probably also noticed a similar increase in checkouts and patron requests.
Award News
- Nicki Salcedo wrote one of the most poignant responses to Suzanne Brockmann’s speech at the RITAs. Her essay is well worth a read.
- Finalists have been announced for the World Fantasy Awards.
Pop Cultured
- There’s been a lot of recent controversy surrounding WorldCon and the Hugo Awards, and how marginalized science fiction authors have been treated. Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far.
- Buffy’s getting a reboot with a black lead actress and a black female showrunner, but responses have been mixed. Here’s an interesting take.
- 52 great true crime podcasts.
- Get your wands and your time turners ready: All eight Harry Potter films are coming back to the big screen in honor of Harry Potter’s 20th anniversary in the US from August 31st to September 6! (Flashback to me sobbing with my friends in the theaters at the end of the 8th movie, knowing that my initial Harry Potter journey had come to an end. I may or may not have the same reaction 7 years later.)
All Things Comics
- Season 1 of BBC Sherlock gets a manga adaptation.
- Here’s a list of upcoming YA graphic novels through the end of the year – have you ordered these yet for your library?
- Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower is getting its own graphic novel adaptation.
- I hope no one needs to be reminded that comic books count as “real” reading, right?
Audiophilia
- Audiobooks. Count. As. Real. Reading. Too.
- Michael Lewis has signed a multi-year contract with Audible to write & produce 4 audio-first pieces.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
- Publishers Weekly’s Most Anticipated Books for Fall 2018.
- International Sherlock Holmes adaptations.
- Here’s a fun romance subgenre: bodyguard romances!
- Black & indigenous writers you should be reading.
- Fiction and nonfiction about space exploration.
- A reading list for midterm elections.
- If you’re not a fan of history, may I suggest this list of microhistories?
- 50 LGBTQ fantasy novels.
- Board books with a plot.
- Alternate universe Filipino romance novels, for your patrons who really want something new!
- 2018 summer reads by women in translation.
- Scary books for kids & teens.
- Underhyped upcoming SFF titles, which means it’s time for librarians to start their book talking engines!
- Best brainy books of the decade.
- “All the world’s a stage”: 50 books about actors & actresses.
- Books about tough topics for kids.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- It’s never too late to become a reader.
- The massive community of Booktubers gets a profile in the New York Times!
- Goodreads’ blog posts a conversation between Laura Lippman and Alice Bolin (author of Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession) about the “dead girl” trope in crime fiction. Definitely worth a read, especially if you’re looking ahead at possible trends in mystery fiction.
- Vulture has a series of articles and lists about our culture’s fascination with true crime.
- Rick Riordan doesn’t have time for anti-transgender Internet trolls.
- PBS put together this delightful introduction video to the romance genre.
- The rise of fantasy fiction from East Asian authors.
- Is Instagram changing how you (or your patrons) read?
- Harry Potter’s most irresponsible professors.
- I know every book has its reader and we should never judge anyone’s reading tastes. That being said, I really hope Bigfoot erotica does not become the latest book trend.
- Are all those Goodreads update emails helpful or harmful when it comes to your reading life?
- The ins and outs of Kindle Unlimited.
Level Up (Library Reads)
Do you take part in LibraryReads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? Whether or not you read and nominate titles, we’ll end every newsletter with a few upcoming titles worth reading and sharing (and nominating for LibraryReads, if you so choose!).
We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.
And to make it even easier, I’ve picked a few specific titles that are being released in November 2018. Links direct you to Edelweiss, where you can request a digital advance copy, and nominations are due by September 20th.
- My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. (November 20, 2018) “A short, darkly funny, hand grenade of a novel about a Nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends.”
- Newcomer by Keigo Higashino. (November 20, 2018) “A new case from internationally bestselling Keigo Higashino —newly transferred Tokyo Police Detective Kyochiro Kaga is assigned to a baffling murder, where nearly all the people living and working in the district have a motive.”
- How Long ’til Black Future Month?: Stories by N.K. Jemisin (November 27, 2018) “Hugo award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N. K. Jemisin sharply examines modern society in her first short story collection.”
Thanks for hanging out and we’ll see you again in two weeks!
–Katie McLain, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole.