Public Libraries

From censorship news and picks in Spanish-language middle grade/YA to straight talk on book banning, our most viewed stories of the week.

The nine picture books cited in Mahmoud v. Taylor are not pornography. Nor are they obscene. What is obscene is a Supreme Court decision that denies the basic humanity and equality of LGBTQIA+ people.

 AI-generated booklists are possible—and even published. So what is the value of human curation?

What titles stand out as the greatest in literature for children and young adults? That’s the question School Library Journal has posed to readers.

In June, ALA Council will decide the fate of YALSA, voting on the recommendation that the teen division be eliminated and its work be moved under the umbrella of ALSC.

Award-winning author illustrators Julie Flett and Sophie Blackall sat down for a chat on the occasion of Children’s Book Week 2025. Flett created this year’s poster on the theme: “An Ocean of Stories,” and Blackall did the honors in 2024, illustrating “No Rules. Just Read.”

The U.S. Department of Education expressed its love of librarians. It was not well received. 

Book access and other restrictions on libraries and library values remain top of mind for readers. So too, practical posts toward serving library patrons, with creative ideas for staging a crime investigation to teach research skills and preserving family recipes getting the most views on SLJ.com.

Kiese Laymon, award-winning author and MacArthur Fellow, is out with a new picture book. City Summer, Country Summer celebrates the deep bonds of friendship forged among three Black boys on a summer journey to visit their grandmothers in Mississippi.