First things first. I mentioned this in a recent youth services roundup, but it bears repeating here: There’s been a lot in the news lately about efforts to remove books from school libraries, so this is a good time to highlight one of librarianship’s core values: Intellectual Freedom. In a nutshell (and quoting directly from the ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Manual, Ninth Edition, please enjoy), intellectual freedom is “the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction.” It’s why we protect patron privacy and build diverse collections. It’s why we craft collection development policies that incorporate the ALA’s Freedom to Read statement.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Voting for the Goodreads Choice Awards has opened! The first round started Tuesday and will close November 28. Even if you aren’t on Goodreads yourself (although if you are, come find me!), this is a great tool for reader feedback.
The best of 2021 lists are rolling in quite freely now; today we’ve got picks from Amazon, BookPage, Esquire, Kirkus (fiction), and Oprah.
The December LibraryReads and Indie Next lists are out, and the National Book Awards have been announced!
For my podcast crew, here’s a new one for your radar: Adaptation Nation. Their tagline pretty much sums it up (as the best taglines do): “We read it. We watch it. We talk about it.”
No RA Friday would be complete without wise words from Becky Spratford, so I’d like to share this reminder from a recent post on the RA for All blog:
“We want to be the conduit for conversations around leisure reading in our communities. The number of books we actually match with readers is NOT important. Rather, what is most important is cultivating relationships around books and reading at the library.”
I’ve said it before and I will say if forever – in many of our communities, the library is the only game in town for readers. Let’s cultivate those relationships!
Finally, #FridayReads: This weekend I am going all in on Elly Griffiths, with The Stone Circle as my current read and The Zig Zag Girl on deck. (Thanks to Elaine MAS for the suggestion!) In my earbuds is Nick Offerman’s latest and I am prepped and primed for the Bakeoff semi-final. Happy reading/listening/viewing!
