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The Institute of Museum and Library Services’ empty booth at the 2025 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia. Terra Dankowski/American Libraries In the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency, libraries have been buffeted by a string of policies and executive orders. Some changes have been sweeping, while others were smaller in scope but […]

Freedom to read faces federal scrutiny Following the Trump administration’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), the US Naval Academy removed nearly 400 books deemed DEI-related from its Nimitz Library (later returning most of them to circulation). Meanwhile, in April, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case brought by […]

Illustration: Мария Пестова/Adobe Stock At a time when libraries are facing immense, unprecedented challenges—fiscal, logistical, institutional, existential—the role of library supporters has never been more critical. These types of challenges were top of mind at United for Libraries (UFL) Virtual 2025, held in late July. Every year, UFL brings together trustees, foundation and Friends members, […]

Illustration: Antonio Rodriguez/Adobe Stock The world of college admissions drastically shifted in 2023, when the Supreme Court’s landmark rulings in two cases—Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina—rejected race-conscious affirmative action policies. Just two years later, as some schools report declining enrollment of students of color, a flurry […]

The Monkeypuzzlers were one of 47 teams across 10 branches to compete in Mid-Columbia Libraries’ inaugural speed puzzling tournament in southeastern Washington last January. Photo: Madison Rosenbaum/Mid-Columbia Libraries Hands flew, timers ticked, and tensions ran high. But team Piece Out found success by sticking to a classic strategy: starting its 500-piece jigsaw puzzle with the […]

Brian Selznick Photo: Brittany Cruz-Fejeran Until recently, Caldecott Medal–winning author-illustrator Brian Selznick had never written for young adults, nor written a full-fledged love story. That changed with Run Away with Me (Scholastic, 2025), a YA novel about a transformative summer romance between two teenage boys in 1980s Rome that is interwoven with love stories spanning […]

Zora Neale Hurston. Photo: Library of Congress, Prints and Photography Division 10Number of Zora Neale Hurston plays—most of which were never published—held by the Library of Congress (LC) in Washington, D.C. The prolific 20th-century writer and anthropologist wrote the plays between 1925 and 1944, but they were not widely known until found in an LC […]

Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly made its way into library resources, services, and work. These four recent publications offer important criticisms, background information, and critical strategies for librarians to help distinguish between the hype and realities of this growing technology. New Horizons in Artificial Intelligence in LibrariesEdited by Edmund Balnaves, Leda Bultrini, Andrew Cox, and […]

Your story matters. Not just because you curate collections or answer reference questions, but because you build bridges between people and knowledge. You have witnessed quiet triumphs: a child learning to read, a student discovering their passion, a senior reconnecting with history. These moments are part of our ­collective story, and they deserve to be […]

Getting started with web accessibility improvements can feel over­whelming. The ultimate goal should be a website that maximizes accessibility and considers inclusive access in all decisions. But even incremental improvements have real benefits. A good approach is to look at the most high-impact changes you can make early in the process to improve accessi­bility for […]