The digital natives of Gen Z identify as readers, distrust algorithms, and increasingly turn to libraries.

The city of Huntington Beach, CA, has been ordered by an Orange County Superior Court judge to pay nearly $1 million in legal fees as the result of a lawsuit claiming that the Huntington Beach Public Library (HBPL) violated state policy. The city was sued in February 2025 by residents, including a former HBPL librarian, who alleged that the Huntington Beach City Council’s relocation of books deemed to have sexual content violated the 2024 California Freedom to Read Act.

Google.org last week announced a $3 million grant to Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), New York Public Library (NYPL), and Queens Public Library (QPL) to help the systems expand artificial intelligence (AI) literacy programming for staff and the public. All three systems offer extensive digital literacy programming to patrons, including thousands of classes and workshops at branches across the city. This initiative will build on that foundation, aiming to help library staff and patrons better understand the potential benefits and risks of AI as a quickly developing technology.

Libraries are meeting this year’s challenges with a wide range of action, all the more reason to shine a light on the ways—often simple (but not easy), often incremental, and nearly always rooted in great care and concern—that library workers are supporting their communities.

From the Indiana Capital Chronicle: Hoosiers suffering mental health crises are visiting public libraries for help — transforming the role of librarians who act simultaneously as researchers, archivists and quasi-social workers. Mental Health America of Indiana is stepping in to train librarians in how to respond to these crises and direct patrons to reliable information on […]

The post Report: “Indiana Librarians to Get Mental Health Training” appeared first on Library Journal infoDOCKET.

Here’s the Full Text of Today’s Publication Announcement: The Intellectual Freedom Committee today announced the release of “Content Controls and Access Guidelines for Vendors,” a new guiding document designed to help library staff make informed, principled decisions when selecting third‑party digital content providers. Adopted on May 5, 2026, the guidelines equip library workers with essential tools to safeguard […]

The post ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee Releases “New Guidelines to Support Library Staff in Evaluating Digital Content Vendors” appeared first on Library Journal infoDOCKET.

From OCLC: As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, OCLC today introduces America’s 250-Year Bookshelf, a collection of 250 nonfiction books about America—one for every year since 1776—identified through data from WorldCat, the world’s most comprehensive source of information about library collections. The list reveals which books, from among the vast number written about America over […]

The post OCLC Releases “America’s 250-Year Bookshelf” Shaped by What Libraries Collect appeared first on Library Journal infoDOCKET.

From The Royal Society: An archive of over 1,600 sets of meteorological, magnetic and tidal observations taken from 1706-1915 from across the globe has been digitised for the first time. The treasure trove of historic weather data and imagery is now available for scientists across the globe to study on the Royal Society’s Science in the […]

The post The Royal Society: Historic Weather Data Made Available to Scientists and Public, Spanning Antarctica to Greenland appeared first on Library Journal infoDOCKET.

Information schools are navigating serious structural challenges — including mergers into larger university units and the difficulty of preserving disciplinary identity within administratively complex institutions. The hosts propose that iSchools come together to collectively address the organizational challenge along with curriculum, leadership, and integration of AI issues.

Libraries aspire to be a place where everyone belongs — but what does that commitment look like today when it is being both tested and expanded? In this episode, we explore how libraries are redefining sanctuary: partnering with nonprofits and social service agencies, navigating uncertain immigration policy, and balancing the needs of the most vulnerable with maintaining a welcoming and safe space for families and the broader community.

We consider crime and crime stories through an information lens. From the Serial podcast to seventeen copies of James Patterson on our shelves, we all love a good mystery. But, lying beneath every cold case, wrongful conviction, and uninvestigated crime is an information failure. Buckle up, because we're about to ruin your next true crime binge.

In an era of disinformation and eroding trust, library workers must become skilled, ethical data storytellers.

A library doesn’t maintain the highest per capita circulation in the state for more than two decades without intention and focus behind its work. That’s the case at Carroll County Public Library (CCPL), MD, where the circulation strategy is rooted in the belief that reading is a social sport—and it’s why CCPL has been awarded a $5,000 prize for the inaugural Excellence in Reading Engagement and Circulation Award, sponsored by Amazon.

Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead tops holds lists. Also in demand are new titles by Elise Kova, Stacey McEwan, Ellie Palmer, Victoria Lavine, and Kelly Rimmer. Haruki Murakami will publish a memoir. Plus, interviews with Barry Walters, Roger Bennett, Harriet Clark, Shireen Rizvi, and Jenny Jackson.

Large language model generative AIs are deceptively easy to use. Enter a natural language prompt, get an answer. But librarians are all too familiar with the imperfections of GenAI. Answers may be incomplete or completely incorrect. Sources may be conflated or made up. EBSCO has been working to create an alternative with the development of EBSCOhost AI Exchange, a new AI tool designed to generate responses using vetted EBSCO content. Library Journal spoke with EBSCO Executive VP Sam Brooks about this new approach, and what AI might mean for the future of discovery services.