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 Dynamite Entertainment.
MARCH, 1941: Seventeen-year-old James Bond is a restless student in Scotland, an orphan, eager to strike out and make his mark on the world. But a visit by an old family friend coincides with THE CLYDEBANK BLITZ, the most devastating German attack on Scotland during the War. James will fight through hell to survive, coming out the other side determined to make a difference. He’ll find his calling in a new British government service, secret in nature.
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
- The Leander (TX) City Counsel will consider new meeting room policies after two library events were canceled due to ant-LGBTQ+ protests. The whole situation smells rotten to me, and apparently the ACLU agrees too.
- Spokane County Libraries wants voters to know that it didn’t host a recent controversial Drag Queen Story Hour as it tries to get approval on a new levy. This is just…ugh.
- A Boston Public Library employee was attacked by a patron one night while leaving the library and sprayed with mace. Reason #197434 why library safety needs to be taken seriously.
Cool Library Updates
- Afghan buses serve as mobile libraries.
- NPR looks at resident social workers in public libraries.
- BBC brings VR experiences to over 150 libraries in the UK.
Worth Reading
- Libraries must draw the line on eBooks.
- The difference between the political and the partisan in libraries, and why LGBTQ displays are NOT partisan.
- How to be a good library patron.
Book Adaptations in the News
- Mindhunter, Season 2 will premiere on Netflix on August 16th.
- Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi is getting a film adaptation, starring Lakeith Stanfield!
- The Heritage, which chronicles the history of black athletes and activism, is set to become a mini docuseries, with each episode directed by a different black filmmaker. This sounds really, really interesting.
- Naveen Andrews will star in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.
- A first look at the Netflix adaptation of Dracula.
- We’re getting adaptations for Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce and Us by David Nichols.
- Gossip Girl gets a reboot on HBOMax.
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
- Dean Koontz just signed a 5 book deal with Amazon.
- The publisher of We Need to Talk About Race by Ben Lindsay has been accused of plagiarizing the title and cover style of Reni Eddo-Lodge’s book Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race.
- #BookstoresAgainstBorders has raised over $100,000 for RAICES!
New & Upcoming Titles
- Donald Trump Jr.’s book comes out on November 5th. *sigh*
- 18 highly anticipated YA books for August.
- New SFF and true crime books for July.
- Elle picks the best books of 2019 so far, and Paste picks the best 2019 fiction and nonfiction.
What Your Patrons Are Hearing About
- The Gifted School – Bruce Holsinger (NPR, Washington Post)
- Raised in Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction – Chuck Klosterman (NPR, Washington Post)
- Lady in the Lake – Laura Lippman (New York Times, Time, Washington Post)
- Beijing Payback – Daniel Nieh (New York Times, NPR)
- Three Women – Lisa Taddeo (Entertainment Weekly, Time)
- They Called Us Enemy – George Takei (NPR, Washington Post)
- The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead (Barnes & Noble, NPR)
RA/Genre Resources
- 14 awesome RA resources.
- How to keep up with new releases, or for genre fans, how to keep up with new mysteries & thrillers (including the Read or Dead podcast, which I co-host with Rincey Abraham!)
Books & Authors in the News
- A Texas high school banned the comic anthology Love is Love due to “extreme homosexuality.”
- If you haven’t heard about the drama surrounding the New Hampshire poet laureate, the NH governor had a choice between an established literary writer, and a retired dentist who wrote poetry about sex with Condoleezza Rice. Guess who he picked?
Numbers & Trends
- Library Journal looks at the avid reading habits of millennials.
- How diverse are the characters in Canada’s top-selling picture books?
- The best books for summer 2019, according to data.
Award News
- Eisner Award winners were announced at SDCC this weekend! Check out the list here.
- Rosewater by Tade Thompson wins the Arthur C. Clarke Award.
- Shirley Jackson Award winners.
- The Not the Booker Prize enters its 11th year – you can nominate your favorite novel of the year now!
- Game of Thrones breaks Emmy nomination records. You can see the full list of nominees here.
Pop Cultured
- Tom Hanks is Mr. Rogers in the first official trailer for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
- Javier Bardem is in talks to play King Triton in the live Little Mermaid adaptation.
San Diego Comic Con
- A roundup & ranking of all the bonkers announcements that Marvel made at SDCC.
- A roundup of some of the trailers you may have missed at SDCC.
All Things Comics
- Alan Moore is retiring.
- Taika Waititi is officially directing Thor 4.
- IDW is adapting Sleeping Beauties by Stephen & Owen King into a 10-part comic series.
- Retro kid crew comics for fans of Stranger Things.
Audiophilia
- Audible announced a captions program to run text alongside its audiobooks, which publishers are extremely unhappy about.
- Family-friendly audiobooks.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
- 20 rhyming picture books if you’re sick of Dr. Seuss.
- 10 Stranger Things readalikes for all ages.
- YA books about OCD.
- A teen feminist reading list.
Adults
- 6 classic books if you love locked room mysteries.
- 50 must-read books about Greek mythology.
- Up-cycling books to chic your life.
- A full list of all of Bill Gates’s book recommendations since 2012.
- 8 thrillers featuring ambitious women.
- 16 must-read space books.
- Horror novels by Latinx authors.
Bookish Curiosities
- Literary references in Beatles songs.
- 21 bookstores & libraries in Asia every bibliophile needs to visit.
- The best Harry Potter merchandise you can buy at Target. Two of my greatest loves in one article…my wallet is crying already!
- 19 unique themed book club ideas.
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. Currently reading The Need by Helen Phillips.