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Library and Archives Canada has entered a hush-hush deal with a private high-tech consortium that would hand over exclusive rights to publicly owned books and artifacts for 10 years.

-Chris Cobb

With bookstores in Japan overflowing with manga, novels and non-fiction, it takes a lot to stand out and get noticed.

Libraire jeunesse depuis maintenant quelques années, je me permets de vous soumettre ma maigre expérience quant à une pratique courante et un poil agaçante : celle de l’édition genrée.

La bibliothèque de l'université de Princeton aux États-Unis vient de mettre en ligne une version numérisée du texte original du célèbre roman de Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

Are LGBT families are requesting storytimes representative of their families?

I recently conducted a survey of public libraries in communities with large populations of same-sex families with children to determine how they were serving LGBTQ families. The responses I received from the librarians were candid and quite illuminating. For the most part, the librarians did not want to plan exclusive LGBTQ-themed storytimes but chose to plan programs inclusive of multiple family types. Librarians did note that when they planned inclusive programs they might have a LGBTQ caregiver come up after the program to thank them. It does seem that more and more librarians are becoming aware of serving LGBT families but the families are not necessarily demanding to be included. Rather, it is a nice surprise if they see representations of their families in the storytime.

Les éditions Au Diable Vauvert innovent. Elles adaptent le concept de la saga de l’été au livre numérique. Du 24 juin au 13 septembre, l’éditeur va publier sous forme de feuilleton numérique le prochain livre de Pierre Bordage.

C’est un véritable événement et un acte audacieux « Chroniques des Ombres » sortira en numérique avant la parution du livre papier, prévue pour le 19 septembre. Ce livre post-apocalyptique sera découpé en 36 épisodes. Durant tout l’été, trois feuilletons seront publiés chaque semaine.

For even the most seasoned of book nerds, a trip to the beach can raise some difficult questions. After all, you don’t want to waste your precious vacation minutes reading something you’ll forget by the time your suntan fades, but a beach towel is also (probably) not the ideal location to tackleUlysses. With this weekend marking the unofficial start of summer, Flavorwire has you covered with a list of twenty decidedly highbrow but still totally beach-appropriate books, all of which have come out in the months since last summer (or are about to hit shelves). Check out the list after the jump, and add your own favorite highbrow beach-reads in the comments.

-Emily Temple

Pierce County Library System officials are saying "brown is the new green" as they plan to not water the lawn at 12 of its locations this summer. Of the 19 library properties (18 libraries and the main processing and administrative center), the library will not water the lawn this summer at 12 locations that have grass.

-Akiko Oda

Jeffrey Schnapp is on a mission to save our libraries. In a rapidly digitizing world, he is asking what will become of physical libraries — and their material soul, books. To answer the looming questions, Schnapp started an experiment called the Library Test Kitchen. It’s a laboratory class in Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and this fall will mark its third year in operation. Dedicated to rescuing physical, book-dense libraries from obsolescence, the team of students and instructors dream up designs that, as Schnapp says, “create a hybrid space where analog and digital coexist.”

-Anne Gray Fischer

I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that you have local talent that would put original, interesting, local images on your walls that would get kids excited about reading and respect copyright laws.

-Doug Johnson

Architect Lyn Rice says the design challenged library norms in some important ways. "There's a calm that descends on most reading rooms," he says. "The expectation is that people will physically behave." The teen floor turns that expectation on its head. Instead of siphoning teens off into different rooms (and locking away noisy activities), the space is airy and completely open. The openness means, among other things, that it only takes one or two librarians to monitor the entire space.

-Amanda Erickson

Children's librarian Mara Alpert recommends 10 titles that will send youngsters off on brand-new adventures. (audio)

A classic fairy tale of receives an invigorating update in Nosy Crow’s splendid Little Red Riding Hood. ($5.99; PreS-Gr 4). While the narrative remains the same—a little girl must avoid falling into the clutches of the Big Bad Wolf and save her grandparent—the reading experience is amplified by seamless interactivity and nonlinear storytelling.

-Daryl Grabarek