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News and Updates

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U.S. Book Challenges Update: April 2026 Edition

April 27, 2026

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 update includes details about ALA’s tracking of book bans and challenges in 2025, as well as news from Iowa, North Carolina, and Washington.

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Ten Ways You Can Take Action for Libraries

April 23, 2026

It’s Take Action for Libraries Day, observed on the Thursday of National Library Week each year. To celebrate and advocate for libraries and library funding, we want every library lover to make their voices heard today. Here are 10 ways you can act fast.

Washington County Free Library

Have Books, Will Travel

April 22, 2026

Bookmobiles are a large component of library outreach—in fact, National Library Outreach Day was first called National Bookmobile Day. In honor of the bookmobile and its vital role in helping to get books and library materials to everyone, especially those unable to directly access their local library, we have a look at its history from the American Library Association Archives.

1st National Library Week poster

National Library Week: “For a Better-Read, Better-Informed America”

April 21, 2026

Sponsored by the National Book Committee, Inc., and in cooperation with the American Library Association, the first National Library Week was launched March 16–22, 1958. Citing a 1957 survey showing that only 17% of Americans polled were reading a book, the inaugural National Library Week slogan was “Wake Up and Read!”

Craft time at the Jarrell Community Library and Resource Center

A Look at ALA’s Historic Support for Small and Rural Libraries

April 21, 2026

In March 2022, the American Library Association (ALA) announced a new project in partnership with the Association for Rural & Small Libraries, under ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities initiative, to expand support for hundreds of small and rural libraries across the country.

Mychal Threets National Library Week 2026 Honorary Chair

ALA Kicks Off National Library Week

April 20, 2026

It’s National Library Week, the weeklong celebration of the important role libraries and library workers play in schools and communities across the United States. It also marks the release of ALA’s 2026 State of America’s Libraries Report and the highly anticipated Top 11 Most Challenged Books List.

Tony DeNardo’s PopUpShow at Belén Public Library, credit: Eric Williams Photography.

Safe Haven: New Mexico Library Transforms Community with Accessibility in Mind

April 15, 2026

Belén (N.M.) Public Library was awarded two rounds of grant funding via ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities initiative. Those dollars have helped the library reach its goal of becoming a safe place for everyone—including those with mobility disabilities, low vision or blindness, hearing loss, and those who are neurodivergent.

The Peoria State Hospitals' Bowen Building

Podcasting To Preserve: Stories from the Bowen Building

February 17, 2026

Funded by ALA’s American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries, Alpha Park Public Library’s “Stories from the Bowen Building” podcast series dives into the fascinating history of the Peoria (Ill.) State Hospital, which closed in 1973.

How I Library episode 30: Jon King of Gang of Four

‘How I Library’ Episode 30: Jon King

February 13, 2026

In episode 30 of the “How I Library” podcast, show host and I Love Libraries editor Phil Morehart speaks with musician and author Jon King from the legendary post-punk band Gang of Four about his new memoir, “To Hell with Poverty! A Class Act: Inside the Gang of Four.”

Bread of Angels book cover detail

Book Review of the Week: ‘Bread of Angels’

February 12, 2026

For this installment of our weekly book reviews from Booklist, the American Library Association’s nationally distributed book and media review publication, we have Donna Seaman’s review of “Bread of Angels” by Patti Smith, first published January 6, 2026, on Booklist Online.

A vintage postcard of Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library

Los Angeles Public Library Opens 100-Year-Old Time Capsule

February 11, 2026

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of its historic flagship Central Library, Los Angeles Public Library dug into its roots—literally—to uncover a time capsule that was placed in the library’s cornerstone during its original construction.

Mychal Threets

Mychal Threets Tastes the Rainbow on NPR

February 9, 2026

If you’re NPR fanatics like all of us here at I Love Libraries, you were most likely overjoyed to hear librarian, Reading Rainbow host, and honorary chair of this year’s National Library Week Mychal Threets on its quiz show, “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!,” this weekend.

IFSI Library's new children's fire literacy program will strengthen ties between Illinois firefighters and their communities.

A Library for Firefighters: Teaching Fire Literacy Through Reading and Discussion

February 4, 2026

The Illinois Fire Service Institute Library in Champaign, Illinois, provides fire and emergency library and information assistance to the Fire Institute’s instructional staff, students, and more than 1,000 Illinois fire departments and 42,000 Illinois firefighters. Through ALA’s American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries, the library is creating the Children Fire Safety Literacy Reading and Discussion Program, which uses history, biography, and fiction to teach children about fire safety.

Detail of the front cover of Plague House.

Book Review of the Week: ‘Plague House’

January 30, 2026

“A win for adult horror fans and a surprisingly unique take on the haunted house story.” For this installment of our weekly book reviews from Booklist, the American Library Association’s book and media review publication, we have Jack Phoenix’s review of the trade paperback edition of the comic book, “Plague House,” written by Michael W. Conrad and illustrated by Dave Chisholm.

2026 National Film Registry graphic

Library of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry

January 29, 2026

What do “The Karate Kid,” “Clueless,” “Before Sunrise,” and “The Big Chill” have in common (besides being great films that hold-up over multiple watches)? They’ve all been added to the National Film Registry for 2025 by the Library of Congress.

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Noah Wylie in The Pitt

Inside the Library at ‘The Pitt’

March 3, 2026

The acclaimed drama “The Pitt” brought home two awards this weekend at the Actor Awards— Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for star Noah Wyle—and we’d like to think the show’s on-set library played a role.

Detail from cover of A Suit or a Suitcase

Booklist Reader: Podcast Connection

March 2, 2026

Shake up your podcast feed with an audiobook recommended by our friends at Booklist, the American Library Association’s book review publication! Fiction, nonfiction, self-help, memoir, and more all make great listening for podcast fans.

Guillermo del Toro and curator Charles Cuykendall Carter discuss items in the Pforzheimer collection related to Frankenstein and Mary Shelley. Photo: NYPL/Jonathan Blanc

Guillermo del Toro Meets Frankenstein at The New York Public Library

February 27, 2026

The New York Public Library recently hosted filmmaker Guillermo del Toro for a tour the library’s Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle to explore and experience some of the historical materials in the collection related to Mary Shelley and “Frankenstein.”

banned books map for May 26, 2023

U.S. Book Challenges Update: February 2026 Edition

February 25, 2026

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 update includes news from New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Utah, as well as a look at an Ohio author who’s fighting back against book bans.

Donate to Support Libraries and Get a Free Audiobook graphic

Donate to Support Libraries and Get a Free Audiobook 

February 24, 2026

February is Library Lovers Month, and to celebrate, audiobook company Libro.fm is giving a free audiobook credit to anyone who donates $15 or more to the American Library Association (ALA) or their local public library or library Friends group now through February 28.

The Greenville Eight: The Sit-In That Integrated the Greenville (S.C.) Library

February 23, 2026

On the afternoon of July 16, 1960, eight African American students bravely filed into the whites-only Greenville County (S.C.) Public Library and sat down in the reading room to look at newspapers and books. One of those students was a young Jesse Jackson—later to become famous as a civil rights activist and minister—who was home in Greenville on summer break from the University of Illinois.

Paule Marshall: A Writer’s Life cover detail

Book Review of the Week: ‘Paule Marshall: A Writer’s Life’

February 20, 2026

For this installment of our weekly book reviews from Booklist, the American Library Association’s nationally distributed book and media review publication, we have Allison Escoto’s review of “Paule Marshall: A Writer’s Life” by Mary Helen Washington, first published February 1, 2026, in Booklist.

Original caption: "LOS ANGELES, October, 1949 – Elementary school pupils William Bias, Elizabeth Coggins and Jerry Sekido think it’s pretty interesting to watch Nellie Greene charge out their library books with the new Recordak charger on the Children’s Traveling Branch, operated by the Los Angeles Public Library.”

Action, Not Reaction: Integrating the Library Profession

February 19, 2026

In the midst of the Civil Rights era in America, librarians were battling for and against segregated libraries in the South, however they were also battling over integration within their own ranks. Integration of the library profession was a long process that started in the early 20th century.

The Peoria State Hospitals' Bowen Building

Podcasting To Preserve: Stories from the Bowen Building

February 17, 2026

Funded by ALA’s American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries, Alpha Park Public Library’s “Stories from the Bowen Building” podcast series dives into the fascinating history of the Peoria (Ill.) State Hospital, which closed in 1973.

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