Katie's parents never told her "no" when she asked for a book, which was the start of most of her problems. She has an MLIS from the University of Illinois and works full time as a Circulation & Reference Manager in Illinois. She has a deep-rooted love of all things disturbing, twisted, and terrifying and takes enormous pleasure in creeping out her coworkers. When she's not at work, she's at home watching the Cubs with her cats and her cardigan collection. Other hobbies include scrapbooking, introducing more readers to the Church of Tana French, and convincing her husband that she can, in fact, fit more books onto her shelves.
Twitter: @kt_librarylady
It’s time for me to clean house a little and pull together some of the random library-related news updates that have been floating around in my Google Docs. Some highlights are dating apps getting into the publishing game, audiobook sales continuing to rise, new book announcements, and a road map for restoring school librarians. Come on in!
Publishing News
- AI is getting more powerful, but its hallucinations are getting worse. Tell me something we don’t already know.
- The Washington Post plans to open a new program for outside opinion writers, which could include assistance from an AI writing coach. Perhaps the Washington Post didn’t read the above article because this sounds like a bad idea.
- Dating app Hinge gets into the publishing game with a romance anthology meant to help Gen Z believe in love again. That’s quite a tall order, but I’m honestly a little surprised we haven’t seen this sooner.
- How social media is influencing how authors promote their books.
- How the far right seeks to spread its ideology through the publishing world.
Library Articles Worth Reading
- Talking about impostor syndrome as a new librarian.
- Bringing your collections out into the community.
- A road map for restoring school librarians.
- A New Zealand library is replacing Dewey with a classification system rooted in Māori tradition.
- Summer reading challenges aren’t just for kids.
Numbers and Trends
- Audiobook sales rose 13% in 2024.
- How World War II became the hottest book craze for kids.
- Anthony Horowitz says social media is rewiring young minds and shrinking attention spans, making it difficult for younger readers to tackle long books.
- Dark romance might be the latest genre trend hitting the US.
June Releases
- We’ve got all the big book releases this month from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBC, Ebony, Epic Reads, L.A. Times, and Reactor (SF, SFF crossover titles).
- But if that’s not enough, here are the best books of June selected by Book Riot, including picks for mysteries/thrillers, romance, SFF, horror, historical fiction, LGBTQ+ books, nonfiction, and children’s books.
More Book Announcements
- Anne Cleeves says that the next Vera Stanhope novel will be the last in the series.
- Claire Legrand’s Empirium trilogy is being revamped for an adult audience.
- Michelle Obama is “reclaiming” her style evolution with a new book.
- 13 new celebrity memoirs to add to your TBR.
- 4 new books about racism in US education.
- 7 new books about music for a new nostalgic generation.
- 20 new SFF books to read right now.
- 10 new celebrity memoirs to read this summer.
English (US) · 