Marlaina Cockcroft

Fines bar kids from library services, don’t bring in much revenue, and force staffers to spend time on bookkeeping. Several librarians say the pandemic was the catalyst for ditching them.

Though they are rarely recognized with merit awards,  licensed content books are hugely popular and often timely—addressing social-emotional issues and, lately, concerns related to the pandemic—and the comfort of familiar TV and movie characters has strong appeal for beginning readers.

COVID has changed the way publishers promote books—and how libraries buy them.

When everyone in a school or community is reading the same book, that shared experience brings people together, and, as school librarian Terri Gaussoin said, "We need that now more than ever."

Created out of necessity, virtual library programs for little ones and their families, who tune in from home, have many upsides.

A suggestion from a teen patron has turned into a popular program that allows teens to discuss social issues important to them at the Waltham (MA) Public Library.

A collection of personal essays by immigrants in high school empowers them and affects their peers.

Increasingly in recent years, members of library teen advisory boards have sought to work on community and social justice issues as they help staff with programming, events, and other tasks.

People with disabilities remain underrepresented, or misrepresented, in children’s literature.