Strong mutual support among community partners, and a conscious shift over the past decade to investigate what each of its neighborhoods needs most, and then step up to those needs, has earned St. Louis County Library the 2024–25 Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize.
The 2024–25 Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize has gone to Missouri’s St. Louis County Library for the variety of ways it prioritizes neighborhood needs. Out of many deserving entries, three others stood out as well for their imaginative and replicable focus on equity, local partnerships, and the health of their communities.
The Prison Library Support Network, established in 2015, works to meet the information needs of people who are incarcerated through a nationwide letter-writing project. Since the reference by mail program started in 2021, the New York City–based collective of librarians, graduate students, and activists has responded to nearly all of the 3,000 queries it has received from people in prisons across the United States, with the majority of letters coming from Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, and Florida.
“Don’t trust the sanitized versions of history…We’ve got to get to the roots,” writes rapper Chuck D in the foreword to The Transatlantic Slave Trade, a new title from SelectBooks highlighted in this feature. That viewpoint is the guiding compass behind new Black history books on publishers’ lists for spring 2025.
In contrast to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s characterization of fact-checking as unwanted censorship, most Americans actually agree that the U.S. government and technology companies should each take steps to restrict false information and extremely violent content online.
Nardia Cumberbatch, librarian at Florida’s Valencia College, was named a 2024 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her work in helping the college achieve the Sustainable Library Certification Program, the second academic library in the country and the first library in Florida to have done so. We recently spoke with Cumberbatch about what it took to earn that certification and its resulting impact.
Can’t-miss movies for your queue include Oscar contender Conclave, a twisty character study of a London theater critic, and a sanguine trio of stories situated in an NYC ballroom.
“We’re in a position to help the region talk about how we’re all moving forward, and the things that we’re doing to make our community amazing. The library is really in the center of that conversation.”
This month’s must-see documentaries include a consideration of affirmative action, architect and designer Eliot Noyes’s modernism, and Japanese composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto’s final concert film.
“Self-help had a bad rap in the past,” says Olivia Peitsch, marketing manager at Baker Publishing Group. “But a new generation is coming into the reading space, and self-help is becoming more widely accepted. It isn’t considered gimmicky anymore; it’s bravery.”
The National Book Foundation and the Sloan Foundation announce 2025 selections for the Science + Literature program: The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel, An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong, and Meltwater: Poems by Claire Wahmanholm. Chimwemwe Undi is selected as Canada’s parliamentary poet laureate. Wole Soyinka receives the Sharjah Lifetime Achievement in Literature Award. The future of libraries and arts agencies is unclear amid a federal funding freeze (that has been halted for now). NYPL releases a study on public libraries’ connection to their patrons’ well-being. Plus, new title bestsellers.
Deep End by Ali Hazelwood leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by J.D. Robb, Tessa Bailey, Jonathan Kellerman, Pam Jenoff, and Bill Gates. Jimmy Carter wins a posthumous Grammy for the audiobook Last Sundays in Plains. Finalists for the Gotham Book Prize are announced. Audiofile announces the February 2025 Earphones Award winners. This month’s Read with Jenna pick is Jessica Soffer’s This Is a Love Story. People’s book of the week is Too Soon by Betty Shamieh. Plus, February booklists arrive.
The longlist for Scotland’s Highland Book Prize and the shortlist for the Inside Literary Prize are announced. United States Artists announces its 2025 USA Writing Fellows. Rebecca Yarros’s Onyx Storm is the fastest-selling adult novel in 20 years, having sold 2.7 million copies in its first week. A new “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” book is on the way. Independent bookstores across six continents will participate in the first synchronized Global Bookstore Crawl on April 26. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Imani Perry, Bill Gates, and Neko Case.
The Oregon Book Award finalists are announced. The 2025 judges of the British Book Awards are announced, including Bonnie Garmus. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Freida McFadden’s The Crash. Mitch Albom announces a new novel publishing in October. Forthcoming memoirs by Bill Gates and Jeremy Renner gather buzz. Plus, adaptations of Elin Hilderbrand’s The Five Star Weekend and André Aciman’s Enigma Variations are in the works.
This Is Salvaged: Stories, by Vauhini Vara, is a starred selection of short stories. "A splendid and compelling collection that covers different aspects of the human condition with humor and nuance." Goddess Complex, by Sanjena Sathian, is a starred fiction title. "This well-crafted, mysterious novel with some dystopian twists is a worthwhile read. Fans of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale will devour it." Also in fiction, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is a starred selection as LJ continues to update our online reviews of classic titles. "Morrison’s unflinching depictions imbue her characters with a richness and complexity that directs readers to regard them as worthy of attention and love. Even in the most painful scenes, she compels readers not to look away. An important text for generating discussion on race, culture, and U.S. society, this is an essential work for public, high school, and academic libraries."
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