Welcome to Check Your Shelf! This is your guide to help librarians like you up your game when it comes to doing your job (& rocking it).
“Check Your Shelf” is sponsored by Libro.fm.
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Before we jump in, make sure to check out Book Riot’s Amazon storefront – we’ve put together a selection of our favorite books and bookish things for the summer!
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
- Why are libraries still having to defend the presence of LGBTQ books in their displays? Also, a New Jersey library defends their Pride flag.
- University of Oklahoma is pilot testing an AI chatbot to assist with common student questions.
- Salt Lake County libraries participate in a gun lock giveaway in the hopes of curbing suicides and gun-related accidents.
- NYPL officially launches its bookmobile service.
Cool Library Updates
- Book clubs for adults with disabilities, and sensory programming for patrons with special needs.
- How the NYPL brought novels to Instagram.
- St. Louis and Boston Public Libraries used Twitter book stacks to face off during the Stanley Cup finals.
Worth Reading
- Ending library fines is a social justice issue.
- School librarians should be required, not fodder for short-term budget cuts.
- How to end a book ban.
- If kids can’t read what they want during the summer, when can they?
- Automated 24-hour access offers solutions for increasing library access. I’m still not a huge fan of this idea but we’ll see…
- When programming isn’t fun anymore.
Book Adaptations in the News
- A first look at Little Fires Everywhere.
- The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie is coming to TV.
- Netflix is developing a Chronicles of Narnia adaptation.
- The first trailer for Doctor Sleep.
- The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani is being adapted for film.
- The cast of The Handmaid’s Tale filmed a public service announcement with Harper’s Bazaar and Planned Parenthood, because The Handmaid’s Tale is becoming a lot less fictional.
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
- After speculation that there may be another bidder for Barnes & Noble, the deadline passed without any new bids.
- Hachette changes its eBook and audiobook lending model. ALA drafts a concerned response.
New & Upcoming Titles
- A Hunger Games prequel? Yes please!! And we only have to wait until May 2020!
- Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe is publishing This Ends Badly: How Donald Trump Conned America.
- Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a book coming out in September.
- Ibi Zoboi announces the first book in a two book deal.
- Amazon & Barnes & Noble pick the best books of 2019 so far.
- Summer reading lists from LitHub, The Millions, O Magazine, Chicago Tribune, plus a YA summer list from Entertainment Weekly.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
- Recursion – Blake Crouch (Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, NPR)
- The Porpoise – Mark Haddon (New Yorker, Time)
- How Not to Die Alone – Richard Roper (New York Times, USA Today)
RA/Genre Resources
- Weeding graphic novels.
- Books your patrons will love based on their taste in movies.
Books & Authors in the News
- If you thought Linda Fairstein was going to go quietly, well, think again.
- Rare Bird releases a statement about Natasha Tyne’s lawsuit.
- After more accuracy questions emerge, Naomi Wolf’s book Outrages: Sex, Censorship, and the Criminalization of Love has been delayed by the publisher.
- Nicholas Sparks’ status as an overall crappy person was confirmed by a lawsuit that claims he fostered a discriminatory environment at his private school, and allegedly banned students from forming an LGBT club. His response is not particularly impressive.
- Discovering an unfinished manuscript by Anthony Burgess.
Numbers & Trends
- Former Waterstones managing director Tim Coates commissioned a survey on how and where readers are getting their books.
- The Guardian shows that the top 100 illustrated children’s books from 2018 show a growing marginalization of female and minority ethnic characters.
- Barnes & Noble researched the summer reading plans for American readers.
Award News
- George R.R. Martin will receive the Carl Sandberg Award from the Chicago Public Library.
- Winner and honor books for the Children’s and Teen Choice Book Awards.
- A new literary award to honor YA books written in an Indigenous language.
- Elizabeth Acevedo wins the Carnegie Medal for The Poet X, the first author of color to ever win the prize.
- Winners of the International Dublin Award, Wolfson History Prize, and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.
- Longlists and finalists for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and the Polari Book Prize.
Pop Cultured
- Fashion icon and author Gloria Vanderbilt dies at 95.
- This is a great time to do tie-in displays with When They See Us and Chernobyl.
All Things Comics
- Marvel Land is coming to Disneyland in 2020 (holy crap!)
- Swamp Thing has been canceled after debuting on May 31st.
- LGBTQIA+ graphic novels for young readers.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book List
Children/Teens
- 19 pop-up books adults won’t want to share.
- 20 books with LGBTQ characters your kids will love.
- Middle grade LGBTQ books for Pride.
- Queer princess books for readers of all ages.
- YA horror anthologies & collections.
Adults
- 20 horror novels by authors of color.
- Edwardian true crime suggestions.
- 50 must-read books by YouTubers.
- 8 books after you finish Daisy Jones and the Six.
- 8 funny books featuring queer adult women.
- Good books about bad information.
- 7 horrible fictional sisters.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- New York City gave The Strand landmark status, but the owner isn’t happy about it.
- A Harry Potter-themed coffee shop called Steamy Hallows!!
- LeVar Burton gets a Sacramento park named after him.
- Is there a dearth of queer men in science fiction?
- 101 literary tattoos…better book your appointment now!
Level Up (Library Reads)
Do you take part in LibraryReads, 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 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.
Thanks for hanging, and I’ll see you next week!
–Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.