Come for the Books, Stay for the Power Tools; The New York Times, June 27, 2026

Sarah Diamond

Illustrations by Gabrielle Lamontagne, 

 The New York Times; Come for the Books, Stay for the Power Tools

"As of 2024, there were more than 2,000 examples of places around the world where patrons have access to objects that might otherwise sit unused in a closet, garage or on a store shelf.

The idea has roots stretching back to World War II-era tool-lending libraries. But researchers say the movement gained momentum after the Great Recession in 2008, when many Americans began questioning whether they needed to own items they used only occasionally. “It’s a reclamation of the commons,” said Shannon Mattern, an author and former professor who studies libraries and public infrastructure."

Suspect in Library Killings Planned ‘Columbine-Type’ Attack, Police Say; The New York Times, June 22, 2026

Madaleine Rubin, The New York Times ; Suspect in Library Killings Planned ‘Columbine-Type’ Attack, Police Say

An 18-year-old has been charged with killing two people in the shooting on Monday in Chico, Calif., the authorities said.

"The Chico branch, which had been scheduled to close temporarily in August for renovations, was closed Tuesday and will reopen once all repairs are complete, Ms. Wright said.

“I believe that one day families will walk through these doors again,” she said on Tuesday.

“When that day comes, the library will once again be what it has always been at its heart: a place of learning, a place of connection and a place of hope.”

Rare Books on Sex Have Spiced Things Up at a Library Franklin Founded; The New York Times, June 23, 2026

Ralph Blumenthal

Photographs by Caroline Gutman,

The New York Times; Rare Books on Sex Have Spiced Things Up at a Library Franklin Founded

The Library Company of Philadelphia, created in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, has received a gift of 1,500 volumes about sexuality dating back to the 17th century.

"As it approaches its 300th birthday, the Library Company is marking its own milestone — a pending merger with Temple University to shore up its shaky finances and expand its academic and public footprint. The deal, approved by shareholders of both would-be partners last December, awaits approval by the Pennsylvania Attorney General and the state judicial unit that oversees charities, known as Orphans’ Court.

Like many nonprofits, the library, with an annual budget of roughly $3 million, has struggled financially in recent years and its staff, which numbered 28 two years ago, has shrunk to 16.

Joining forces would expand scholarly vistas for the university’s nearly 35,000 students and faculty while securing the library’s public future, John Fry, Temple’s president, said in an interview. “It’s the best shot for it to continue another 300 years.”"

Archiving with AI; Library Journal, June 8, 2026

Matt Enis, Library Journal; Archiving with AI

"AI companies are offering some libraries funding for digitization projects, but archives and special collections are working through how to manage projects responsibly

“Imagine a world where you know things but cannot say where you learned them,” begins “Memory Without Origin,” a paper published in April by University of Virginia (UVA) Dean of Libraries and University Librarian Leo S. Lo. This isn’t a hypothetical question, Lo notes, it’s a predictable consequence if libraries allow generative artificial intelligence (AI) to ingest archival materials as training data without requiring provenance conditions. And libraries, which could always use funding for projects involving digitization, special collections, and archives, are being approached by AI companies with deep pockets.

“They’ve been approaching a lot of larger research libraries, including Oxford and many more,” Lo tells LJ. (Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries began a digitization pilot project funded by ChatGPT maker OpenAI last year.) “Usually the offer is: they will pay you to digitize materials—which we want, because we want to make them more accessible—and in return, depending on the deal…they would like to have the data to train their AI models.”

These partnerships can benefit both parties, but for libraries, the consequences of getting these arrangements wrong “are more permanent than anything the profession has previously encountered,” Lo writes. “Once archival materials are absorbed into foundation model weights, no subsequent institutional action can remove them from the model.” If proper care isn’t taken, that information becomes unmoored from its former context within an archive."

Lost memoir of Hiroshima survivor found after decades in US archive; The Guardian, June 22, 2026

Dalya Alberge, The Guardian; Lost memoir of Hiroshima survivor found after decades in US archive

[Kip Currier: This is another testament to the vital roles and responsibilities of information professionals around the globe who preserve precious archival artifacts, like the late Kiyoshi Tanimoto's Hiroshima 8:15 memoir. The memoir was identified in Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Tanimoto's poignant work gives a first-hand account in the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. Penguin Random House will publish this "lost memoir" on August 4, 2026. 

Other recent archival finds include: 

• a draft of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech discovered in papers housed at the Virginia Theological Seminary's Bishop Payne Library, and

• a 44-page notebook in the National Library of France containing "seven previously unknown compositions" for flute and harp by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.]

"The memoir of a man who survived the horrors of Hiroshima is to be published for the first time this summer after its discovery in a US archive.

The 230-page memoir was written almost 80 years ago by Kiyoshi Tanimoto, who witnessed the city’s destruction after the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. He will now be portrayed in a feature film by Takehiro Hira, whose acclaimed roles include the detective in the Netflix Japanese-British drama Giri/Haji. Pre-production begins in November, ahead of the shoot in February 2027...

The memoir was found in the Beinecke rare book and manuscript library at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, among the papers of John Hersey, the American Pulitzer prize-winning reporter who died in 1993."

A bonanza for fans of the natural world: the digital library sharing 64m pages of scientific knowledge with everyone; The Guardian, June 18, 2026

 Donna Ferguson, The Guardian; A bonanza for fans of the natural world: the digital library sharing 64m pages of scientific knowledge with everyone

"Over the past 20 years, more than 64m pages have been made freely available through the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) – a digital treasure trove for fans of the natural world. More than 680 museums, universities, libraries and scientific institutions from China, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand to Europe, Africa, Mexico, Canada and the US, have contributed to the library.

This week, a report from Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew revealed the crucial role digitisation is playing in “transforming our ability to understand and respond to the climate and biodiversity crises”, but it was the creation of the BHL 20 years ago that first demonstrated how bringing centuries of scientific knowledge online can unlock transformative discoveries and insights about the natural world.

David Iggulden, who chairs the BHL executive committee alongside his job as head of data and digital, library and archives at RBG Kew, describes the library as an invaluable and “absolutely essential” resource for scientists in the field. But it is also used by scientific researchers, environmental historians, educators, art historians, artists, citizen scientists and members of the public who – like Iggulden – simply enjoy browsing its contents on a rainy weekend.

“I just get caught up in it sometimes, looking at the various collections,” he says. “I think it’s amazing that we can explore such a vast array of different collections from very different institutions.”

As well as published biodiversity literature and journals, there are letters, illustrations, climate records, field diaries, ecosystem profiles, distribution records and manuscripts containing the original collecting stories of a particular species or detailing voyages of discovery."

‘Straight out of Trumpland’: LGBTQ+ members fight for Pride after Essex library ban; The Guardian, June 14, 2026

Geneva Abdul and Aamna Mohdin, The Guardian ; ‘Straight out of Trumpland’: LGBTQ+ members fight for Pride after Essex library ban

"Before Reform gained control of Essex county council in the May elections, Chris Taylor and members of the Rochford LGBTQ+ community already felt they were witnessing a growing tide of political rhetoric around identity.

But they were still shocked when the county’s new leadership moved to ban Pride events in 74 libraries, scaling back events of “any particular groups or themes”, a decision they said was “straight out of Trumpland”.

“It communicates the fact that we’re not welcome,” said Taylor, who recently launched a petition against the “Orwellian” ban on pride events in Essex libraries.

Reform councils across England, from Essex and Durham to Leicestershire and Kent, have imposed bans on flying the pride flag and holding pride events in public spaces, as well as, in some cases, defunding pride events previously sponsored by local authorities.

Essex county council said libraries were “safe spaces for everybody” and LGBTQ+ books and displays would continue, but added the promotion of library events aimed at specific groups was under review.

Reform councils have stopped flying Pride flags outside civic centres and county halls and restricted council flagpoles exclusively to union, national, county or armed forces flags at council buildings under its control."

Federal court hears oral arguments in appeal of Arkansas’ library obscenity law; Arkansas Advocate, June 11, 2026

TESS VRBIN, Arkansas Advocate; Federal court hears oral arguments in appeal of Arkansas’ library obscenity law

"A federal appeals court heard arguments Thursday to uphold the injunction of a 2023 Arkansas law governing challenges to library content, while Arkansas’ solicitor general said the plaintiffs’ allegations were “too speculative.”

The three-judge panel from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis will rule on whether two sections of Act 372 of 2023 can go into effect. A district judge blocked the provisions in 2024, and the state appealed the ruling in 2025.

The two challenged sections would create criminal liability for librarians who distribute content that some consider “obscene” or “harmful to minors,” and give city and county governing bodies the final say over library content.

The 18 plaintiffs in the case include libraries, bookstores, advocacy groups and individual library patrons. The defendants are Arkansas’ 28 prosecuting attorneys, Crawford County and its county judge, Chris Keith.

Crawford County lost another federal lawsuit in 2024 after three parents claimed the county library violated the First Amendment by moving LGBTQ+ children’s books into separate “social sections” that only adults could access."

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a miracle on the prairie; Grand Forks Herald, June 8, 2026

Carrie McDermott , Grand Forks Herald; Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library is a miracle on the prairie

Conservation and sustainability are at the forefront of the innovative project’s design and construction

"North Dakota is said to have provided the “romance of his life,” and also where President Theodore Roosevelt’s concern about the depletion of the country’s resources took hold. It’s only fitting that it’s now home to a monumental project centered around conservation and sustainability — the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library (TRPL)...

Designed by Snøhetta, the library’s construction used locally sourced and renewable materials, including mass timber, and mitigates the impact of wind and other climatic features so that it’s accessible in all seasons. Construction began in 2023 and now three years later, a grand opening will be held on July 4 to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday."

American Library Association workers win their AFSCME union in overwhelming vote; AFSCME, June 1, 2026

 AFSCME Staff, AFSCME; American Library Association workers win their AFSCME union in overwhelming vote

"Employees of the American Library Association – seeking job security, stable benefits, better pay, more professional development, and a voice in the workplace – have voted to form their union with AFSCME.

The newly created American Library Association Workers United will be part of AFSCME Council 31 and represent more than 100 employees, mostly in Chicago.

“We’re happy to welcome employees of the American Library Association to our ever-growing union,” said Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch, who’s also an AFSCME vice president. “Together in our union they will have a strong voice to advocate for themselves and their families, for the libraries and library workers they serve nationwide, and for every American who counts on thriving public libraries as a bulwark of our democracy.”

The National Labor Relations Board administered the election, and more than 95% of the votes cast were in favor of the union. The results were announced on May 27.

As they prepare to negotiate their first contract, the employees are focused on protecting the staff’s work, their well-being and the organization’s future.

AFSCME and the American Library Association were recently both plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed to protect the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) from being dismantled by the Trump administration. After filing the lawsuit, AFSCME and ALA won a legal settlement that protected the IMLS and the grants it provides to libraries and museums across the country.

More than 50,000 workers at museums, libraries, zoos and other cultural institutions across the United States have gained a voice on the job through the AFSCME Cultural Workers United campaign — the largest of its kind in the nation. That includes a swath of Chicago-based institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Shedd Aquarium, the Chicago Public Library, and more."

Book Surfaces 120 Years After a San Francisco Library Lost Almost Everything; The New York Times, June 1, 2026

Adeel Hassan, The New York Times; Book Surfaces 120 Years After a San Francisco Library Lost Almost Everything;

"Randall Tarpey-Schwed, a book collector and library member, found the book on a website that deals in, among other things, rare books and collectibles. How it reached that previous owner is unknown.

Mr. Tarpey-Schwed said he was curious whether any books had survived the 1906 earthquake and fires, by virtue of having been checked out.

“There was no place to return the book, at least for a while, or to reapply Gertrude Stein’s famous quote, there was no ‘there there’ to return the book to,” he said.

“The book is not worth much monetarily,” Mr. Tarpey-Schwed said. “It is, after all, a soot-stained book with a lot of old library stamps. But as a survivor, it is priceless, and I knew immediately I wanted to return it to the library.”

The book’s author, Bret Harte, might have been a library member, Mr. Cooper said. Many writers and artists have been members, he said, but full membership records from before the earthquake are gone."

Americans Want to Read. Give Them Books.; The New York Times, May 31, 2026

 Brian Bannon, The New York Times; Americans Want to Read. Give Them Books.

"More New Yorkers are borrowing books from the New York Public Library today than 15 years ago; borrowing is up 27 percent since 2010. And yet America is facing a book-reading crisis...

Libraries themselves were throwing up barriers to reading...

The reading crisis is real. But we don’t need new inventions to build a reading city. Exempt books from sales taxes the way we exempt prescription medicine. Invest in library collections and reduce wait lists for books. Open nonprofit and hybrid bookstoreswhen the market alone cannot sustain them. Build on the models that already work: reading in laundromats, libraries in transit systems, books in barbershops, classrooms, homes and pediatric offices."