Sponsored by Flatiron Books, publisher of Anna K by Jenny Lee
Dazzlingly opulent and emotionally riveting, Anna K: A Love Story is a brilliant reimagining of Leo Tolstoy’s timeless love story, Anna Karenina―but above all, it is a novel about the dizzying, glorious, heart-stopping experience of first love and first heartbreak.
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).
Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
- Fine free updates!
- Richmond (VA) Public Library eliminates overdue fines.
- Sarasota (FL) County Libraries have seen a surge in visitors since doing away with late fees.
- The New York Times looks at the growing number of libraries that are eliminating late fees.
- Going fine free improves library access for patrons.
- The Brooklyn Public Library and the Brooklyn Historical Society are merging.
- OverDrive does away with automatic hold checkouts and allows readers to take advantage of hold redelivery. Learn more here.
- A funding error leads to expanded library services in Kalamazoo (MI) County’s Texas Township.
- Advocates say that the Windsor (Ontario) Public Library’s new rules are discriminatory against homeless patrons.
- The Library of Congress is looking for volunteers to help transcribe Walt Whitman’s poems and letters.
Cool Library Updates
- St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix opens a library inside the hospital so that NyICU parents can read to their babies.
- Check out this awesome reader’s advisory programming idea: books and libations!
- 10-year-old Bailey Black raised over $2000 to help build the first library in Birch Bay, Washington!
Worth Reading
- Unlike Leslie Knope, Amy Poehler loves libraries!
- 18 surprising things stolen from libraries.
- This beautiful modern library is for fans of shiny things. (I love this headline.)
Book Adaptations in the News
- Nicole Kidman’s production company acquires Samantha Downing’s bestselling psychological thriller, My Lovely Wife.
- Judy Blume’s novel Summer Sisters is being adapted into a Hulu limited series.
- NBC is adapting Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol.
- Rebecca Breeds will play Clarice Starling in the CBS series Clarice, which takes place a year after the events of Silence of the Lambs.
- Classic horror novel Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge is being turned into a film.
- Ava DuVernay and Victoria Mahoney are planning a TV series adaptation of Dawn by Octavia Butler.
- Amazon is adapting The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
- The Magicians will end after the current season.
- Trailer for Artemis Fowl.
Books & Authors in the News
- Mega best-selling author Clive Cussler dies at age 88.
- Former Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh is going to prison for a “years-long scheme in which she sold her self-published children’s books to nonprofits and foundations to promote her political career and fund her run for mayor.”
Numbers & Trends
- A look at Library Journal’s updated Materials Survey.
- The most popular self-help books by state.
Award News
- We’ve got the Audie Award and PEN Literary Award winners here!
- Edwidge Danticat is the first two-time winner of the $20,000 Story Prize.
On the Riot
- Longlists for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Booker International Prize.
Pop Cultured
- The Oprah Winfrey Show is getting replayed as a podcast.
- Scientists discovered a new genus of pterosaur and gave them a very Game of Thrones name: Targaryendraco wiedenrothi.
- Have you seen the trailer for Candyman yet??
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
- The best book club questions to spark discussion.
- How Ramona Quimby taught a generation of girls to embrace brashness.
- How to build a book arch.
On the Riot
- Tennessee becomes the next state seeking public library oversight & censorship.
- Guidelines for using the Libby app to optimal effect.
- 10 of the biggest book deals in history.
- The social and emotional benefits of reading.
- How to start a queer book club. Plus, an introvert’s guide to starting a book club.
Have a great weekend! Catch you all next week!
Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha.