Library News, Reviews, and Views
Barbara Hoffert (bhoffert@mediasourceinc.com, @BarbaraHoffert on Twitter) is Editor, LJ Book Review; past chair of the Materials Selection Committee of the RUSA (Reference and User Services Assn.) division of the American Library Association; and past president of the National Book Critics Circle, to which she has just been reelected.
Despite the anxiety, was there really any doubt that the Pulitzer Prize board would pick a fiction winner this year? Not after the hugely negative response to last year’s decision to forgoan award, which had people challenging the Pulitzer process itself. What really rankled was the idea that somehow contemporary fiction did not measure up. Now here comes [...]
Fifteen years ago, Library Journal launched its first annual book-buying survey of public libraries nationwide. Although materials budgets were referenced, the report focused almost exclusively on book budgets and book circulation.
This year, in long-overdue recognition of what today’s collections really look like—and what the reports have been covering for years—the entire effort has been rebranded the materials survey. Further distancing itself from its roots, the new survey will leave comparison of operating costs to LJ’s annual budget survey and concentrate exclusively on budget and circulation trends for the wide array of materials in public libraries today.
“The discovery and browsability of ebooks is abysmal,” says Jackie Davis, Anderson Public Library, IN, in “Materials Mix,” Library Journal‘s long-overdue relaunch of the annual book-buying survey of public libraries as a materials survey. (The survey is out momentarily in the February 15 issue.) So what’s a librarian to do when it comes to helping [...]
Registration is opening soon for the 2013 LJ Day of Dialog, and you’ll definitely want an alert! This year’s event, which brings together librarians, publishers, vendors, and authors for discussion of issues affecting the book and library world today, takes place on Wednesday, May 29, at the McGraw-Hill Auditorium—the day before the BookExpo America exhibits [...]
Don’t kid yourself; the life of an editor is not all glamor. Sunday evening, I had to leave a HarperCollins dinner early with my dinner in a bag, abandoning an interesting table conversation about the realignment of Barnes & Nobles with the independents, the difficulty of planning book talks at libraries in the brave new [...]
With the success of Library Journal’s BookExpo America and American Library Association galley guides, could a galley guide for ALA Midwinter be far behind? Obviously not, and it will be available any minute and it’s now ready to download! Featuring more than 250 titles and facilitated by sponsorship from Random House, for which LJ is grateful, [...]
Missing renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon? Wishing you had something really juicy to recommend to diehard Da Vinci Code fans? You’re in luck. Dan Brown—whose The Da Vinci Code is in fact the best-selling adult hardcover of all time, with 81 million copies in print worldwide, and whose subsequent The Lost Symbol sold 30 million copies—has a new book [...]
Rachel Kushner’s Flamethrowers. Kent Wascom’s Blood of Heaven. Teddy Wayne’s The Love Song of Jonny Valentine. Rose Tremain’s Merivel. Nicci French’s Tuesday’s Gone. Cara Black’s Murder Below Montparnasse. These are just some of the terrific galleys you will find while prowling the aisles at ALA Midwinter in Seattle, January 25–29. This year, you won’t have [...]
The National Book Critics Circle Awards, the only awards given by working critics and book review editors, are coming your way on February 28, 2013. Finalists have just been announced. As always, this year’s finalists range from immediately recognizable titles like Robert A. Caro’s The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (Alfred A. [...]
“The only thing I have ever wanted to do in my life is have a good time writing stories. This award says I am still at it.” That’s how Elmore Leonard gracefully summed up his acceptance of the 2012 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (otherwise called the lifetime achievement award), presented by the [...]
INFOdocket by Gary Price
