March is Women’s History Month! Celebrate with five new titles by women authors Denise Kiernan, Joyce Carol Oates, Ruth Ozeki, Sheryl Sandberg, and Marisa Silver.
Conclave Reading | Wyatt’s World
By on March 6, 2013 Leave a Comment
This week’s Wyatt’s World taps into the history of the papacy and the Catholic Church, highlighting titles that connect power to politics to prayer with accounts of the real and narratives of the imagined.
Best Reference of 2012 (Including Best Free Reference)
By on February 28, 2013 1 Comment
There are dozens of the year’s best reference titles, but for sheer labors of love, winners this year are Louisiana Place Names, the entries of which were collected over a lifetime by Clare D’Artois Leeper, who died shortly before this was published by LSU Press, and Flies: The Natural History and Diversity of Diptera from University of Guelph entomologist Stephen A. Marshall, who displays the world’s fly families in 2,200 stunning color photographs from Firefly Books. Find those and many more, including Best Free Reference sources of 2012.
Editors’ Spring Picks: Titles That Have Gotten Us Talking
By on February 18, 2013 Leave a Comment
Here at LJ , we receive about a thousand galleys per week. You might imagine that with that volume, it’s all a blur, and sometimes it feels that way. Still there are books that stand out, whether they’re from a beloved author, they’ve had a lot of buzz, they’re in a genre we’re newly addicted to, or—yes, it happens—the cover reeled us in. Here, then, are some of the titles that have gotten us talking lately, with thoughts from us and comments from their authors. A fun part of this for us is exploring materials in an area that’s not “ours”—in my case, that means stepping outside of reference to reveal my devotion to mystery novels. Perhaps it’s time to try some genre-jumping of your own.
Collection Development 2020: What’s Your Vision?
By on February 11, 2013 Leave a Comment
“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 [...]
Erotica: Full-Frontal Shelving | Genre Spotlight
By on February 11, 2013 14 Comments
If your library doesn’t already collect erotic literature, where should you start? How do you mine your collection for titles you may already have? How do you help patrons navigate the world of erotic literature and assist them in finding something they want to read?
Register Soon for LJ Day of Dialog
By on February 7, 2013 Leave a Comment
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 [...]
Before Richard III: Author Interview with Dan Jones, The Plantagenets
By on February 7, 2013 8 Comments
If the recent identification of King Richard III, buried ignominiously in Leicester, awakens interest in the pre-Tudor British monarchy, and gives readers an appetite for understanding the armored world that led to the Wars of the Roses, culminating in Richard III’s 1485 death in battle, they must turn to Dan Jones and his rousing history, The [...]
Debut Authors Discuss Authenticity and Research at ALA Midwinter
By on February 5, 2013 Leave a Comment
The January 26 Association of American Publisher’s (AAP) Debut Author Panel, which featured novelists published by Riverhead, Atlantic Monthly, Norton, and William Morrow, gave four writers an opportunity to talk about how their first books began and how they got to market. Dina Nayeri, Margaret Wrinkle, Sean Pidgeon, and Tara Conklin spoke at length on [...]
Librarians & Authors Battle for Trivial Laurels
By on January 31, 2013 3 Comments
After sitting through many a Powerpoint slide show of upcoming titles, I was almost giddy (or was that the Seattle coffee?) to attend the Association of American Publishers’ (AAP) Library Family Feud program on Sunday afternoon. Hosted by the voluble (and veteran) quizmaster Chris Vaccari of Sterling Publishing—who hosts a Wednesday quiz night in Manhattan—the Feud pitted [...]
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