Take action on Right to Read Day! Download the 2025 censorship data, take the advocacy quiz (uniteagainstbookbans.org/quiz) or join the Unite Against Book Bans campaign (uniteagainstbookbans.org/take-action/)!

The freedom to read is still being challenged: From January 2025 through March 2026, at least 40 bills would penalize libraries and library workers with lawsuits, fines, or even jail time for protecting people’s the right to read.

Find out more at uniteagainstbookbans.org/right-to-rea...

Celebration Days During National Library Week!
Monday, April 20: Right to Read Day
Tuesday, April 21: National Library Workers Day
Wednesday, April 22: National Library Outreach Day
Thursday, April 23: Take Action for Libraries Day, a day to rally advocates to support libraries.

As a ‘book scientist’ I work with microscopes, imaging technologies and AI to preserve ancient texts Book science helps decipher and preserve fragile manuscripts, at a moment when climate change and mass digitization are reshaping cultural heritage work.

From The Conversation: "As a ‘book scientist’ I work with microscopes, imaging technologies and AI to preserve ancient texts"

Read this interesting article at theconversation.com/as-a-book-sc...

Elizabeth Savage - American Printing History Association Dr. Savage is 2014 recipient of the Mark Samuels Lasner fellowship, 2020 winner of the Schulman and Bullard Article Prize from the Association of Print…

“Why Printing History Matters in 2026” [Dr. Elizabeth Savage, American Printing History Association]
lhrt.news/2026/03/04/w...
Transcript: printinghistory.org/awards/eliza...

ICYMI: Inside the abandoned city of ancient libraries [Video by Olga Khrustaleva, BBC]

lhrt.news/2026/03/04/i...

The Library History Round Table (LHRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) invites submissions for the Justin Winsor Library History Essay Award. This award is given annually and recognizes the best essay written in English on library history.
For more information: lhrt.news/2026/04/06/c...

Register Now: Beta Phi Mu Highlights & Virtual Archives Tour PO Box 292992, DavieFL 33329 United States

Tour the archives of the honor society of librarians at the University of Illinois Library! Free to everyone!

preview.mailerlite.com/o2u4g2m1h6/2...

#virtualarchives #virtuallibrary #librarytour #libraryhistory #libraryhistorians

Call For Papers: Humanities Methods in Librarianship
For more information: cuny.manifoldapp.org/read/call-fo...

Photo by Gül Işık on Pexels.com

#libraryhistory #humanities #humanitiesmethods #libraryhistorians

National Library Week is an annual celebration highlighting the valuable role libraries, librarians, and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening our communities.
National Library Week will be celebrated April 19-25 in 2026.

Read more at www.ala.org/conferencese...

Canadian Library History Blog [Lorne Bruce]

Enjoy the Canadian Library History Blog by Lorne Bruce, former head of the Archival and Special Collections at University of Guelph and author of several books on Canadian library history.

The Storied Past of American Libraries [Madeleine Schirber, U of Pennsylvania]

Schirber writes about the "Kenneth E. Carpenter collection of library related materials. Carpenter, a librarian originally from Pennsylvania and an alumnus of Philadelphia’s Girard College, spent nearly 40 years working…

A Blog on Public History…

Many of us as library enthusiasts may wish to check out the National Council on Public History site and blog: Lots of library-related conference news, CFPs, grant opportunities, and more!

These Are The 25 Oldest Libraries In The World [Agostina Di Vita, MSN] How many can you guess before reading the article? Photo by Tuğba Sarıtaş on Pexels.com

These Are The 25 Oldest Libraries In The World [Agostina Di Vita, MSN] lhrt.news/2026/04/02/t...

Today is (the very first) National Black Bookstore day! The National Association of Black Bookstores (NAB2), a group launched last Juneteenth by Kevin Johnson of Sacramento’s Underground Books, has announced a new holiday: National Black Bookstore…

Today is (the very first) National Black Bookstore day!

Celebrate with a treat from a Black-owned indie bookstore.

Brittany Allen

lithub.com/today-is-the...

#books #literature #blacklivesmatter #NationalBlackBookstoreDay

Yellow background with black text that reads "GNCRT Metadata & Cataloging Committee Local Cataloging Practices for Comics and Graphic Novels. Looking at how comics and graphic novels are cataloged in practice, it seems like every library does things differently. April 21, 2026 1:30 PM ET, 12:30 PM CT, 11:30 AM MT, 10:30 AM PT"

GNCRT Metadata & Cataloging Committee is pleased to host a virtual panel on April 21, 2026 at 12:30 PM CT focused on local cataloging practices for comics and graphic novels. To register, click on the link: ala-events.zoom.us/m...

I'm not sure why Bluesky and Wordpress don't play well together but it seems like any time I schedule posts for Bluesky, Wordpress gets mad and disconnects. Thank you for everyone staying up to date with us <3

Promotional graphic for upcoming Booklist webinar LIBRARY LOVE FOR LIBRARYREADS happening Thursday, April 23 at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT

Writing retreats ending in murder; waking up in another century; finding a dream job only to discover it could cost you your life--what books will appear on the fall @libraryreads.bsky.social lists? Find out during our 4/23 webinar! Register now: bit.ly/4e8sZhG

FYI!
We are pushing back our first session by a week!
Please share and encourage others to register today!
bit.ly/3PESsFr

Greetings LHRT! Please join us online for the next ALA Library History Roundtable’s (LHRT) discussion group, LHRT Reads on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026, at 7pm Eastern Time. Advanced registration is required at lhrt.news/lhrt-reads/

We look forward to seeing you there!

‘What makes it matter’: Oral history project captures heart and resilience of UC Berkeley’s libraries In her newly released oral history project, librarian Ann Glusker’s passion and curiosity take flight. For “Librarians Navigating Change,” she interviewed 15 retired and current UC Berkeley…

Read the Q&A here: www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/news/g...

“Librarians Navigating Change” oral history collection newly released I’m thrilled to announce the release of “Librarians Navigating Change”, an oral history project which has just gone live on the University of California’s eScholarship platform. The 15 oral&nb…

“Librarians Navigating Change” oral history collection newly released!
LHRT is thrilled to announce the release of “Librarians Navigating Change”, an oral history project which has just gone live on the University of California’s eScholarship platform. Read more below:
lhrt.news/2026/02/23/l...

MSN

ICYMI: The retired Indian factory worker who built a library of two million books [Imran Qureshi, BBC]
www.msn.com/en-us/news/w...

Book Alert–Bibliotactics: Libraries and the Colonial Public in Vietnam [Cindy Anh Nguyen, U of California Press] Publisher Description: “A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to lear…

Book Alert!
Bibliotactics: Libraries and the Colonial Public in Vietnam [Cindy Anh Nguyen, U of California Press]
Learn more: lhrt.news/2026/02/14/b...

Upcoming Webinar!
Papyromania: Women, Books, and Scraps in the Long Eighteenth Century [UConn Humanities Institute, Department of English, UConn Library]
Read the blog post and register: lhrt.news/2026/02/06/w...

Books 2025: Heirs to Alexandria — Unraveling the History of Books and Collective Memory  - Global Atlanta Managing Editor Trevor Williams reviews "Papyrus" by Irene Vallejo.

ICYMI:
www.globalatlanta.com/books-2025-h...

An Exciting Library History Book Project Looking for Readers… Hello Blog Readers, Here at the blog, we recently became aware of an exciting book project and asked the author for some comments to share with the library history community. Please see the followi…

ICYMI, An Exciting Library History Book Project Looking for Readers…
Hello Blog Readers,

Here at the blog, we recently became aware of an exciting book project and asked the author for some comments to share with the library history community. lhrt.news/2026/02/03/a...

ICYMI, The Seven Ages of Librarianship...
Fiat Lux, Fiat Latebra: A Celebration of Historical Library Functions (1999)
By D. W. Krummel

Read this classic essay of library history, which outlines The Seven Ages of Librarianship, at
www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/4041

Hello all; I have fixed the automatic posting from the LHRT blog, so everything should be shared directly again! I'll work on scheduling the stuff you missed over the rest of this month. Thanks for your patience!

Exhibit 5: Pomona College (Carnegie) Library, Cummins Perforating Machine Perforating machines, which punch holes in paper, make ownership marks on books, serve to cancel documents, create inserts for binder notebooks, or make interesting sign designs. Tiffney Sanford, A…

From the Gallery: the LHRT Virtual Librariana Museum
lhrt.news/pomona-colle...

Do you have any cool library stuff you want to share with LHRT? We'd love to see it! lhrtsocials@gmail.com