Thank You, Dr. Hayden!

Dr. Carla Hayden spoke on Friday at the American Library Association’s 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia, and librarians, library workers, and book lovers in attendance greeted the former Librarian of Congress with a wave of love, respect, and applause when she took the stage. It was a unforgettable, moving tribute to Dr. Hayden, who was unceremoniously fired from her position leading the Library of Congress by President Trump in May.

U.S. Book Challenges Update: June 2025 Edition

Libraries and schools across the country are experiencing unprecedented levels of attempts to ban or remove books from their shelves. I Love Libraries will continue to raise awareness by highlighting attempts to censor library materials, as well as efforts by librarians, parents, students, and concerned citizens to push back against them. This report includes news from Florida, Tennessee, and Texas.

Nature’s Best Hope

Encouraging an appreciation for our natural surroundings is always in season, and it’s no secret that libraries often provide garden areas, flower beds, and other outdoor areas for patron and community enjoyment and use. Wright Memorial Public Library in Oakwood, Ohio, took that a step further—and was rewarded a grant from ALA as a result.

‘How I Library’ Episode 19: Nick Brooks

In episode 19 of the “How I Library” podcast, show host and I Love Libraries editor Phil Morehart speaks with Nick Brooks. Brooks is the critically acclaimed author of the award-winning young adult (Y.A.) thriller, “Promise Boys,” a filmmaker, and a musician from Washington, D.C. His new book, “Up In Smoke,” is another page-turning Y.A. thriller that follows the events that spiral after a murder is committed during a Black Lives Matter protest. It’s part murder mystery, part call to revolution.

Seeing Beyond the Spectrum

Alexis Chanthachack, assistant director of Beals Memorial Library in Winchendon, Massachusetts, knows how difficult it can be to find activities and events—especially in rural areas—that are welcoming to autistic youth. That immediacy led the mother of two sons diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder to become the driving force behind the library’s accessibility work—work that led the library to receive a Libraries Transforming Communities Accessible Small and Rural Communities grant from the American Library Association to enhance accessibility for patrons on the autism spectrum.

U.S. Book Challenges Update: May 2025 Edition

Our latest report on book bans happening across the the U.S. and efforts to fight them includes news from Tennessee and Texas, as well as a look at the banning of a picture book by the beloved author of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”