In The News

The Queue: Library News for the Week Ending January 30, 2026

Among the week's headlines: New York's mayor helps 'Heated Rivalry' score with library users; Maine looks to bar ICE from public libraries; a Tennessee library is poised to remove nearly 3,000 books after a state-ordered review; and the ALA announces the winners of its annual literary awards.

'Heated Rivalry' Scores with New York Public Library Patrons

There's a lot to like about this story: on January 24, the New York Public Library announced that it was making Heated Rivalry and the other books in Rachel Reid's Game Changers series instantly available through Valentine's Day via OverDrive's Libby app, both in ebook and digital audio. That alone would have been good news: with the success of the Heated Rivalry streaming series, the books have been topping the bestseller lists and in high demand in libraries.

But with an assist from newly elected New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani and a massive snowstorm, things quickly leveled up. "The snow is coming down heavily across our city. And I can't think of a better excuse for New Yorkers to stay home, take a long nap, or take advantage of our public library’s offer of free access to Heated Rivalry on e-book or audiobook for anyone with a library card," Mamdani said at a press conference on Sunday, January 25, as city officials smiled behind him. Thousands of New Yorkers, it turns out, took the mayor up on his recommendation.

"The number of downloads of Heated Rivalry, the second book in the Game Changers series by Rachel Reid, surged by 529% after Mr. Mamdani’s news conference, according to Lizzie Tribone, a spokeswoman for the library," The New York Times reported. Overall, the six books in the series were downloaded more than 13,000 times by Monday, the report added, with Tribone saying the library expected the number of downloads to keep climbing.

And they have. In an update, local affiliate 4 NBC News reported that by Tuesday "there had been a 1,057% increase in e-book and audiobook downloads for Heated Rivalry and more than 17,000 downloads for all the books across the Game Changers series."

It's an incredible story, and there are a few details worth stressing. First, as NYPL director Brian Bannon told the Times, before the promotion to make Reid's books instantly available, there were more than 3,000 people on the digital wait list for "a limited number" of e-book copies for Heated Rivalry. Let that sink in.

And, speaking as a New Yorker, I want to stress how refreshing it is to have our mayor so publicly support our libraries, especially given the stance of the previous administration, which sought to deeply cut the library's budget.

Support for New York's public libraries was part of Zohran Mamdani's campaign for Mayor of New York.

In fact, Mamdani's support for New York's public libraries was part of his platform. And in his first month in office, he is not only pledging his support for the library in terms of its budget, he is using his position to promote the library's services (and queer romance books!) apparently to great effect.

In the coming weeks, there will be a lot to unpack from this promotion. But for now, amid all the tough news these days, it's uplifting to see the power of digital reading on display, and even more heartening to see the mayor of a major American city—my city—staunchly supporting public libraries. Let's hope that support remains strong in 2026. This week, the Mamdani held a press conference on another subject: the city's dire budget crisis.

How You Can Support Minneapolis

Over at Book Riot, Kelly Jensen kicks off her weekly censorship news column by sharing ways the literary community can support Minneapolis. "There are so many worthy causes and organizations helping to support both those with privilege and those who ICE is targeting," Jensen writes. "But in an effort to offer specific ideas and tie them to the bookish community, here are a few ways to support our Minneapolis neighbors through literary activism."

In Maine, Legislators Move to Keep ICE Out of Schools and Public Libraries

In a statement, Maine Governor Janet Mills this week submitted testimony in support of LD 2106, emergency legislation that would bar ICE agents from entering "private areas of schools, colleges, health care facilities, child care centers, and public libraries" without a judicial warrant. "The bottom line is this: while the Federal government ignores the Constitutional rights guaranteed to us all, Maine will defend them," Mills writes, "and this bill accomplishes that." The Governor's full written testimony is here.

Library Board Votes to Remove 'Equitable Access' From Its Strategic Plan

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that the board of the Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries in southwest Washington state voted this week to remove "references to equity from the district’s strategic plan at a contentious meeting Monday night," causing one board member to resign after the vote. According to the article, the changes include replacing “we champion equitable access” in the strategic plan's mission statement with “We open doors and provide access,” and updates the plan’s "values" section to say the library upholds intellectual freedom "in a manner that honors the primary role of parents and guardians.”

The move comes even though "nearly all public comments during Monday’s meeting were in support of keeping 'equitable access' and 'intellectual freedom' in the strategic plan," the article adds, and "a library staff report noted that over 80% of earlier public comments also supported retaining the equity language."

Alabama Senate Advances Bill Giving Politicians the Power to Fire Library Board Members

Via the Alabama Political Reporter, a state senate committee this week advanced SB26, a bill that would "allow city and county governments to oust library board members" without cause. "The bill originated as groups who took issues with the placement of certain books in Alabama libraries grew frustrated without the ability to force out library board members who refused to move or remove the books they challenged," the report notes. "Read Freely Alabama criticized the decision to move the bill forward, saying it would 'wrest decision-making authority from local library boards' and put it in the hands of politicians.” The full Senate will now consider the measure.

Florida Lawmakers Once Again Seek to Ban Allegedly 'Harmful' Books

Florida Politics reports that the Florida House Education and Employment Committee voted 16-5 to advance HB 1119, the state's latest attempt to ban allegedly inappropriate books from schools and libraries. "HB 1119 would prohibit the consideration of literary, artistic, political or scientific value if the material is deemed otherwise harmful for minors," the report states.

After State-Ordered Review, Tennessee Library Removes Nearly 3,000 Books

With a hat tip to Gary Price at Infodocket, The Tennessean reports that "books on slavery, racism and the Holocaust are among the nearly 3,000 pulled from public library shelves across Rutherford County following a letter from State Secretary Tre Hargett prompting a review of juvenile collections across nearly all state public libraries."

The removals come despite Hargett recently downplaying his November order that libraries review their collections for books that might run afoul of the state's new “age-appropriateness” law, and for compliance with a controversial Trump executive order on gender identity. "Records requests to the Rutherford County Library System revealed the library had to review 79,168 titles over the allotted 60-day period, with 2,712 books flagged and temporarily pulled from county shelves for various possible violations of Hargett’s directive."

Meanwhile, in a powerful op-ed for the Tennessean this week, Tatiana Silvas, communications director for the Rutherford County Library Alliance, detailed the years-long long bid by right wing activists to censor the library’s collections. “After years of fighting this battle in public meetings and behind the scenes, we've identified clear patterns in the systematic campaign against our libraries: escalating external pressure, erosion of professional standards, concentrated challenge activity and procedural manipulation,” Silvas writes. “The statistics are staggering. Just four patrons (0.001% of library users) initiated 55% of all material challenges in 2024. Just one person is responsible for 60% of all challenges from 2022 to the present day. How can we allow 0.001% of patrons to control library access for 99.999% of users? This represents a fundamental breakdown of democratic representation.”

Indiana Librarians Concerned As Bill Governing Library Budgets Passes in the Senate

Local affiliate WSBT reports that the Indiana Senate this week passed a bill that could have a major impact on public library budgets. “For generations, libraries have decided on their own budgets, but that could change because of Senate Bill 8. Libraries would have to have their budget reviewed and approved by a county council, city, or town if it significantly increases from the previous year,” the outlet reports. Stephanie Murphy, executive director of the St. Joseph County Public Library, told reporters she is "concerned about the potential risks if the bill passes."

Preservation Efforts Are Collateral Damage as News Publishers Resist AI Scraping

A fascinating report by Nieman Lab this week details how web archiving outfits like the Internet Archive and Common Crawl are being impacted by the voracious scraping activities of AI companies. "As news publishers try to safeguard their contents from AI companies, the Internet Archive is also getting caught in the crosshairs," the report states. "As we’ve previously reported, the Internet Archive has taken on the Herculean task of preserving the internet, and many news organizations aren’t equipped to save their own work...Archiving initiatives like this, while urgently needed, are few and far between."

Can Libraries Be the Key to Responsible AI Use?

The CBC this week has a good report this week on how librarians can make a difference in teaching responsible AI use. "School and higher-ed librarians already help students with research strategies and media literacy, copyright and new technologies," the report states. "This makes them perfect for teaching about the power and pitfalls of AI and how to ethically use it to boost rather than compromise learning." Meanwhile, librarian Kevin King has penned an essay for us here at Words & Money that arrives at the same conclusion, talking with author and AI developer Nadim Sadek.

ALA Announces Literary Award Winners

Via American Libraries, the American Library Association this week announced the winners of its annual book awards, including the Caldecott and Newbery medals for children’s and YA books, widely considered to be the most prestigious awards for young people’s literature in the U.S.

At a January 26 ceremony in the ALA’s hometown of Chicago, Renée Watson was announced as the winner of 2026 John Newbery Medal, given for “outstanding contribution to children’s literature,” for her novel All the Blues in the Sky (Bloomsbury); Cátia Chien was announced as the winner of 2026 Randolph Caldecott Medal, which recognizes “the most distinguished picture book for children,” for Fireworks (Clarion), written by Matthew Burgess. And Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Heartdrum), was honored with the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults.

A list of all the 2026 ALA Youth Media Award winners is here.

In addition, on January 27, the ALA also announced the winners of its adult book awards, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence, which honors the top fiction and nonfiction titles published in the previous calendar year. The Carnegie Medal winners will be honored during a celebratory event at the American Writers Museum during ALA’s 2026 Annual Conference in Chicago in June.

The 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction went to A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar (Knopf), and the nonfiction medal was awarded to Things in Nature Merely Grow, by Yiyun Li (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). The Carnegie Medals, established in 2012, have become one of the most coveted awards in the U.S., the only book award in the U.S. chosen by a committee of library professionals and booksellers who work closely with adult readers.

And,also worth pointing out, the ALA's Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table announced the inaugural winners of its Outstanding Comics Award, given to exceptional graphic novels that appeal to adults, teens, and children in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, and series.

And Finally This Week...

Don't forget to register for the American Library Association's upcoming online event Recharging in Challenging Times: An ALA Virtual Event, billed as "your opportunity to pause, connect, and find renewed energy for the work ahead." Recently added to the program, a closing keynote with Acting Librarian of Congress Robert Newlen in conversation with ALA president Sam Helmick.