For his work bringing partners from across the county to drive innovation and change lives, Las Vegas–Clark County Library District Executive Director Kelvin Watson is LJ’s 2026 Librarian of the Year. 

As ICE raids continue in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN (MSP), the school day is anything but normal. Parents are standing guard and acting as escorts for immigrants and all nonwhite students at drop-off and pickup, recess has often been moved inside while ICE agents stand just outside campuses, schools are facilitating online learning to accommodate children whose families are too scared to let them leave the house, and students are staging walkouts in protest.

A three-year research project, funded through a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, has been making progress on examining how libraries can help their communities better understand artificial intelligence. Led by a partnership between the Urban Libraries Council and the State University of New York at Albany’s Center for Technology in Government, four public libraries—Frisco Public Library, TX, Palo Alto City Library, CA, Queens Public Library, NY, and Schaumburg Township District Library, IL, are involved.

Looking for heated rivalries, racing hearts, and love on the line? Check out these sports romances.

From the ESAC Blog: The OA2020 and ESAC communities mark a new phase in the evolution of the ESAC Registry—a shared, library-driven infrastructure documenting open access publishing agreements between libraries, consortia, and publishers. Built by practitioners to strengthen transparency and shared insight across a rapidly evolving publishing landscape, the Registry documents how libraries worldwide have translated […]

The post An “Enhanced” Version of the ESAC Registry Now Online: “A Community-Driven Step Forward For Transparency In Open Access Publishing Agreements” appeared first on Library Journal infoDOCKET.

The journal article linked below was published today by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Title Academic Journals’ AI Policies Fail to Curb the Surge in AI-Assisted Academic Writing Authors Yongyuan He Peking University Yi Bu Peking University Source Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) […]

The post Journal Article: “Academic Journals’ AI Policies Fail to Curb the Surge in AI-Assisted Academic Writing” appeared first on Library Journal infoDOCKET.

The research paper (preprint) linked below was recently shared on arXiv. Title Everyone’s Using It, But No One is Allowed to Talk About It: College Students’ Experiences Navigating the Higher Education Environment in a Generative AI World Authors Yue Fu Information School, University of Washington Yifan Lin Information School, University of Washington Jessica Wang Information […]

The post Research Paper (preprint): Everyone’s Using It, But No One is Allowed to Talk About It: College Students’ Experiences Navigating the Higher Education Environment in a Generative AI World appeared first on Library Journal infoDOCKET.

The article linked below was recently published by LIBER Quarterly. Title Data as a New Research Publication Type: What Could Be The Role Of Research Libraries as Service Providers? Authors Mari Elisa Kuusniemi University of Helsinki Susanna Nykyri Tampere University Source LIBER  Quarterly Vol. 36 No. 1 (2026) DOI: 10.53377/lq.19415 Abstract This article examines the […]

The post Journal Article: Data as a New Research Publication Type: What Could Be The Role Of Research Libraries as Service Providers? appeared first on Library Journal infoDOCKET.

Art by AI? In this episode we look at AI filling our playlists, our literary magazines, and gulp, even our library shelves. Does an embrace of AI alienate institutions like libraries from their communities, or is it an embrace of a new creative medium? How do you draw the line between AI slop and AI assist?

Art by AI? In this episode we look at AI filling our playlists, our literary magazines, and gulp, even our library shelves. Does an embrace of AI alienate institutions like libraries from their communities, or is it an embrace of a new creative medium? How do you draw the line between AI slop and AI assist?

In this episode, we consider the nature, joy and despair and the challenges and opportunities that we deal with every day in the digital age. Are we in control? Are we merely pawns in their game?

Michelle Obama’s The Look and Will Packer’s Who Better Than You?: The Art of Healthy Arrogance & Dreaming Big win NAACP Image Awards. The Aurealis Awards winners are revealed. The Horror Writers Association announces the final ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards. ABA’s Winter Institute 2026 is underway in Pittsburgh. Tyrant Books will relaunch following a period of inactivity after founder Giancarlo DiTrapano’s death in 2021. Ingram is launching Covered, a new catalog and galley-discovery service for publishers, booksellers, and librarians. Plus, V. Castro’s The Haunting of Alejandra will be adapted as a series at Hulu.

After I’ve finished a book, I’ll often check the reviews to see how my opinion lines up with what others have to say. Sometimes I’m surprised at points I’ve missed and amazed at what others have found (factual flubs, influences, allusions). 

And Now, Back to You by B. K. Borison leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by C. J. Box, Tayari Jones, Anna Quindlen, and Michael Pollan. Six LibraryReads and seven Indie Next picks publish this week, including a book of stories by Lauren Groff. People’s book of the week is Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky. Shortlists for the Lukas Prizes are revealed. One Battle After Another, inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, wins several BAFTAs, including best adapted screenplay. A biography of legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu will publish September 15. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author Susan Sheehan has died at the age of 88.

In October 2025, a representative of the State Department informed 501(c)(3) nonprofit U.S. public libraries by email that they must stop offering passport application services as of February 13. Public libraries that are departments of local municipal governments were not included in the determination. The American Library Association (ALA) estimates some 1,400 libraries—15 percent of the nation’s total—could be affected.