September marks Library Card Sign-Up Month, and this year’s festivities are set to a whole new beat with Laufey, a two-time Grammy winner and debut author of children’s book Mei Mei the Bunny (Penguin ...

Join library experts and hundreds of your colleagues for interactive discussions on pressing issues in modern librarianship. American Libraries Live webcasts cover the full spectrum of library topics ...

Bookmobiles have a proud history of service dating back to the late 1850s, when a horse-drawn collection of books began making the rounds in Cumbria, England. Here in the United States, the first ...

In 2005, an original section of the Patriot Act allowed the FBI to compel anyone they presented with a National Security Letter (NSL) to hand over detailed personal information, including library ...

Patron Rebecca Bloom repairs a rice cooker at Boulder (Colo.) Public Library's U-Fix-It Clinic. Photo: Janet Hollingsworth Wayne Seltzer remembers the day a middle-school student named Rebecca Bloom ...

Today’s hottest web and mobile technologies are offering libraries a new world of opportunities to engage patrons. Ultra-popular social media websites and apps combined with the availability of ...

On January 27, the American Library Association (ALA) announced the top books, digital media, video, and audiobooks for children and young adults—including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery, ...

Social workers who connect patrons to needed physical and emotional care. Quiet rooms for rest and relaxation. Robotic pets that purr away patrons’ anxieties. And grief groups to support patrons over ...

Libraries loaning “stuff” isn’t a new concept. Framed paintings were available for checkout at the Newark (N.J.) Public Library back in 1904. “Libraries were sharing before sharing was cool,” says ...

Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, many archivists and librarians wanted to help colleagues—particularly those working near Ground ...

As the American Library Association (ALA) celebrates 150 years, we’re drawing inspiration from key events since its 1876 founding: from the first conventions and library schools, through wartime and ...

Welcome to the 2025 Library Design Showcase, American Libraries’ annual celebration of new and renovated libraries throughout North America. Today’s libraries are places where people from diverse ...