ALA 2026: Wrap Up Post 1 of 2 (updated 7/1 with Read N Rave Titles)

I usually post in the morning but I needed a moment after being at ALA Annual since Friday and having worked 8 days (and counting without a break)

Today, I am going to focus on the things I did where I can share things you can use. Tomorrow I will write about the Opening and closing sessions and link to a few reports from other outlets.

But I do want to let you know, there are a few resources that will be ready in a week or so and I did have some meetings that will lead to more posts and information coming over the next few weeks.

Let me start on Friday at the Library Insights Preconference. The things said on my panel are all things you have heard before here on RA for All. But I do want to talk about this panel and provide the info from what I am calling the most useful handout of the conference-- Tell me What to Publish: What Librarians Wish Publishers Knew:

What are readers asking for—and what aren’t they finding? In our closing conversation, librarians from across the country share insights from their circulation data, collection development priorities, and daily patron requests. We’ll look at what the metadata is revealing about genre trends and where publishers may be missing opportunities. From urban systems to rural branches, these experts will identify gaps in the marketplace, shifts in reading habits, and emerging categories ready for attention. Designed for publishers seeking actionable direction, this session delivers a rare, unfiltered look at what librarians truly wish you’d publish next.

Ann Lehue, Director, Collection and Metadata Development, Ingram

Christina Chatel, School Library Media Specialist, Boulan Park and Smith Middle Schools

Dr. Corinthia Price, President, International Association of School Librarianship

Stephen Sposato, Collection Development Manager, Chicago Public Library 

Click here for more info on the panelists.  

Ann from Ingram Content Group's Library Services made a two sided handout. One side was a great resource for the publishers. It's on how to  maximize sales to libraries and gives them lots of advice on what we like to see and the resources we use. On the bottom, says, "Libraries rely heavily on reviews for their push casing decisions." After that heading it has the link to all of the journals with their age conus and the link to where they submit for review.

The other side is a document entitled, "Publishing Trends and Gaps" and this is what the panel focused on. I have recreated that bulleted list here for all to see for free, with attribution to Ingram.

THIS HANDOUT IS RA AND COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT GOLD!!!!!

Please click through. These are the areas that are in demand at libraries for all ages. Please look through this list and use it to make displays and pass on to your children department and the people who order books. I am also hanging on to this for my end of the year reports. 

I want to link the info on the handout with a few other things I saw at the conference. Publishers (especially Harper Collins) were making sure to mention all of the titles they were now including in Large Print. There are a lot more than previous years. Also, speaking of HarperCollins, they had an entire section at their booth with the covers of audio ARCs available through Net Galley and QR codes to go directly to them. Here is that page. Multiple formats with ease were everywhere at the conference and I know all of that is great for us.

The woman who was one of the co-founders of the Young Teen Lit movement (also in the handout) was on the panel and talked at length about the issue shared their website: https://youngteenlit.com/. Go there to follow them and the authors and books they recommend. After seeing this panel Friday and was primed to notice the books that are being marketed to fill this gap while I was on the show floor. 

You can also read another report from the day here.

Now on to other things.

I want to thank everyone who came to my signing at the S&S Booth. Many of you said you saw it here on the blog. We had 80 books and I had 1 hour to sign them. I never imaged I would have 80 people come, let alone have one of those EPIC ALA links that has to be split by the booth, but I did. I met so many of you and signed those books in 70 minutes. Thank you all. Here are some photos of the line and me signing that Lila Denning took. And thank you to Melissa Croce and her assistant El. who ran the appearance.  They worked hard all conference. I know this because I went back to offer to help them with other things. 

On Sunday, Lila and I had a huddle (mentioned in this post with links to Lila's quick slide show of 5 Tips for Book Displays). Readers of this blog know what I talked about. We had 20+ people show up for a space ment for 6-8, including someone from a display shelving company. The biggest comments were that it should have been a panel. I agree. Maybe next year we will do that. 

Also welcome to my new readers from that event.

I also attended the Booklist/LibraryReads Read N Rave on Sunday. Booklist now has the blog post up with all of the titles here. Please consider voting for them for LibraryReads.

Finally, I got to see Tananarive Due on her LibraryReads panel, Monday. We were able to hug and celebrate our Stoker Award wins and take a selfie for our wonderful editor Joe Monti. I was so proud to see the room so excited for Due's new book--Mazywood. I have turned in my Booklist review and spoiler alert-- it is great and you can read my pre-review thoughts here. But when she spoke about it specifically, she talked about moving from the pain and trauma of writing The Reformatory and how Mazywood leads with joy. It really does, but I will say, joy for Horror people, maybe not everyone's idea of joy, because it both a novel of early Hollywood and the Black experience in it AND a good old-fashioned 1980s survival monster horror story. 

Here are photos from the panel and of me and Due celebrating our joy! Oh and a bonus pic of me and Lila in the audience (early Monday morning.)

That's enough for today. As I mentioned above, I have somethings to say about the Opening and closing ceremony and my overall experience. I will also link to reports from others.

It's StokerCon Time and I Have Librarians' Day Resources and Links to Watch the Bram Stoker Awards

 

By the time this posts, I will have been in Pittsburgh for two days for Stoker Con, but today is Librarians' Day which I coordinate with my HWA Libraries Co-Chair, Konrad Stump. Click here for the full schedule. We have a lot of great panels. 

This is a live in-person event on Friday June 5, 2026 from 8am-4 pm within the full StokerCon. Anyone with a StokerCon ticket is welcome to come and enjoy our programming but Library Workers are invited to come to just the LD programming and check out our Dealer's Room, the Mass Author Signing, and the Final Frame Film Competition for only $70. 

Konrad and I have made a conscious effort to make this day useful to ALL attendees of StokerCon, but we also use it as a way to introduce library workers to what we offer. Many of our Librarians' Day only attendees have come to enjoy it so much that they attend the full conference each year. 

We expect over 125-50 people in the room at its highest point -- during the popular Buzzing panel which concludes with an ARC giveaway. Konrad has secured over 1,300 ARCs for this. Thank you to all the publishers.

Again, please click through to see the full list of panels, because even if you are an author, we have some of the best panels of the day. 

This year I also have a link to the folder with all of our slides and resources. And, the QR code will be on every slide throughout the day as well. There is a lot of great information here, even for those of you who are NOT joining us. 

Click here to access that folder. Also, save the link because there is a folder there where we will be uploading photos as well.

I do want to draw the attention to everyone reading this to our Get Involved with HWA Libraries Google Form. We are gathering names and emails because this fall we will be starting an official newsletter. We also are reworking the entire HWA website and the Library Committee portion of that will be part of that as well. 

After I collapse tonight night (after the Final Frame Film Competition), I have a couple of panels on Saturday, and then the next time people evil see me in person and on the YouTube Live stream is at the Bram Stoker Awards Ceremony. 

This is free for anyone, anywhere to watch. Not only is WHY I LOVE HORROR a nominee for Long Nonfiction, three of the essays from the book-- by Cynthia Pelayo, Tananarive Due, and Stephen Graham Jones-- are up for Short Nonfiction. If Tananarive or SGJ win, I will be accepting for them. And, many of the authors in my book are nominated across the ballot, some alongside each other int he same categories. 

I am also honored and excited to give the speech introducing our Karen Lansdale Silver Hammer Volunteer of the Year, author and librarian, Sarah Read. 

As directed by the BSA awards show manager (Brian Matthews), I also have an acceptance speech ready if I win, but honestly, to be nominated by my fellow writers is truly a huge honor, something I could not have imagined. It will be a great time. And I bought a new dress!

The entire event is worth watching. It is Horror prom. It is a feel good event celebrating the entire genre. And, at the end of the ceremony, we will be announcing some of the 2027 Guests of Honor. And the names are GOOD! The live stream link is available now for you to set a reminder. Hope some of you see me there.

Join Me and Others at the Library Insights Panel in Chicago on June 26th

For the second year in a row I am pleased to be a part of the Library Insight Summit. From their About page:

Library Insights Summit 2026 - Connecting Publishers & Librarians

Register Today!

LIS is the only conference designed to bring established publishers, author-publishers, and librarians together for a full day of smart, actionable, and future-focused programming.

Spend your morning in targeted breakout sessions for your community—then come together in the afternoon for conversations that matter to everyone working along the path from book creation to reader access.

Scheduled for the day before ALA Annual in Chicago, at McCormick Place, LIS will feature morning breakout sessions for three communities: established trade publishers, author publishers, and librarians. In the afternoon, we’ll bring everyone together for programming relevant to all sectors.

If you work anywhere along the path between book creation and reader access, you belong at LIS! 

Also here is info I received form a marketing email:

At a time when so much of our work happens digitally, there is still enormous value in gathering together in person.

Ideas sharpen.
Relationships deepen.
Perspectives widen.
Inspiration ignites.

The Library Insights Summit was created to foster exactly those moments. It brings publishers and librarians into the same room for practical conversations, collaborative thinking, and the kind of networking that strengthens business relationships and enriches the literary community.

We hope you’ll join us in Chicago on June 26.

Register today at https://libraryinsightssummit2026.sched.com/

This event is only $199 and you get breakfast and lunch. It is the day leading up to the late afternoon opening session of ALA. This means you can join us if you are going to ALA but also, even if you are not.

I will be there all day as an attendee and a presenter. Here are the detail on my panel:

Smarter Marketing for Maximum Library Impact:

As library supply chains and discovery systems evolve, publishers are facing new challenges in getting their titles seen and ordered. At the same time, librarians are navigating a fragmented marketplace to find trustworthy, complete information on forthcoming books. This session brings together marketing and distribution experts to show how publishers can sharpen their strategies, stretch their budgets, and strengthen relationships with this vital audience. Learn how to optimize metadata for library visibility, coordinate publicity with wholesale and discovery platforms, and build long-term awareness among collection development professionals.

I am the moderator and my panelists are:

• Lila Denning: Acquisitions Coordinator, St Petersburg Library System 
• Kaycie Hoffman Blaylock: Library & Resource Coordinator, Alexandria City Public Schools
• Rebecca Vnuk: Executive Director, LibraryReads

I can't wait to share our marketing tips with such an accomplished group of library workers from school to public settings. We are at 10:30, but I urge you to see the entire list of programs available here. As an attendee last year, I can tell you with confidence, that this event is worth your time. The amount of learning, idea sharing, and networking I got in that single day last year rivaled what I got from the entire conference to follow. I think the quote in the image above sums it up perfectly:

"Creates a much needed quiet space to dive deep and focus in the connection of publishers and librarians before the loud and invigorating energy of everything that the ALA Conference is!" 

Please consider joining us, especially if you are a library worker in the Chicago area who doesn't plan to attend the entire conference. I know not everyone can be there every day, but this is a nice option before it all begins.

(Also RAILS libraries, head over to their site to grab your $40 Exhibit Passes and use them on your day off to wander the Exhibit Hall. Also hot tip for all-- I will be at the S&S Booth on Saturday signing copies of WHY I LOVE HORROR. More details soon.)

 As I said, I will be there the entire time, not just for my panel. Maybe I will see you there.

Click here to register now.

Becky's Genre Program Just Got Its 2026 Makeover

Once a year, always in late March or early April, I give my Demystifying Genre presentation a huge overhaul. It is very time consuming but necessary. The results can be seen at this link.

Exactly what do I do?

I use all of the resources, articles, and stats from the 12 months before to assess each genre (for adults and teens), look at the trends, assess what books were the most popular (not are right now, but those that have staying power) and update my slides.

Year to year, there are smaller changes, but I have been doing this actively since the Fall of 2004 when I started teaching the RA class at the graduate school. I am always surprised by what I have seen over that 22 year time span.

Entire genres have changed (psychological suspense), some have gone out of fashion and come back to popularity (westerns and gentle reads), and some have stuck around, barely, and now are in the spotlight (horror). Subgenres and trends come and go. I have watched Romance covers not share anything about the heat level inside, then be great at projecting that, and now back to telling us nothing at all. 

As you can probably tell, this is not an easy process but I love it. 

I am committed to this program helping every single one of you. The slides are their own resource. I list the genre characteristics and current trends. I also have book covers for titles to get you started-- with a full text list of said titles in the notes for each slide. This list is NOT comprehensive, rather it is representative. It includes titles from NoveList's curated lists, genre awards, the RUSA CODES Reading List, and genre overviews from Booklist and LJ, among other things.

While I give this program live, I ask the attendees to add to that starter list for each genre as I talk about it. 

But even if you don't have the live version of this program, I craft the slides so that each can be pulled up and used by you as you help readers. You can use what I write about the genre characteristics and current trends to help you have a conversation with a fan of that genre. You can also use the example titles to get a  sense of books and authors they already enjoy. The slides are your conversation starter for helping a reader who enjoys that genre. Then use what you have learned to make the resources (full list of which are linked in the program) work for you.

Please note, this program is the genre as it stands TODAY. There are NO dead authors. There is no mention of the history of the genre. That matters, of course, but that is not what this program is. Demystifying Genre is about getting library workers up to speed on how to help readers right now. I send you to other resources where you can find those classic options.

This year, I have also increased the Nonfiction overlaps and given you specific guidance on how to help those readers. 

This update will debut for the first time on April 13th for the State of Connecticut, but I will be giving it many more times this year still to come.

Please bookmark this link and use it to help your patrons for the next 12 months. Just remember, this is a starting point. I absolutely cannot include everything about every genre, nor can I include every title. This program is a tool for you to store in your toolbox of resources. 

ARRT RA UNconference: Play With R.A. on April 23rd in Wheaton, IL Plus Resources for ALL

Click the image to register

I am starting the week off with an announcement for people who live within deriving distance of the Chicagoland area. But don't worry, then I will get to resources for everyone.

The Adult Reading Round Table (ARRT) is having an in person, interactive UNconference centered around games. Not gamifying RA but games. Attendees will be playing games that will help them be better at connecting books with readers.

I love this idea and have spoken with on of the organizers. It is going to be a great time. I will be there. If you cab, I suggest you join us.

Click on this link or on the image above to register.

But as promised, I have something for the vast majority of you who cannot make it to Wheaton, IL. Please don't sleep on ARRT's free resources for any and all library workers. Click on this link to explore their website, but specifically, please checkout the following backlist bonanza of resources available all with a few clicks:

• Book Club Study Archive: Featuring notes on book discussions held since 2015. Click on the title to  reveal not only;y notes on the discussion, but also on the leadership discussion topic for that meeting. I am extremely proud of revamping the ARRT Book Discussion program before I left the Steering Committee to make this more like their famous genre studies. The fact that it is still going strong fills me with joy. This is THE place to go to see an example of how a discussion of a particular book went AND to find help for all of the common book club leadership issues and concerns which we all face, often alone.
• Genre Study Archive: The ARRT Genre Study program has been going on for decades but you can access notes going back to 2011. Noe genres change over time and what was "studied" in 2011-12 for Historical Fiction is NOT the same as how that genre functions with today's readers, but it is a great way to see how readers' tastes and preferences have changed over the years and you can find a few backlist gem suggestions.

Poke around on the website for more but these two landing pages are worth spending some of your time on as March comes to a close. 

And if you can make it to Wheaton, IL on Thursday, April 23rd, sign up to come play with RA. They already have my $20. I can't wait. 

A Stacked Issue of Booklist's Corner Shelf is Ready to Help You Help Readers RIGHT NOW!

The just released issue of Corner Shelf newsletter from Booklist is one you 100% cannot miss. It is filled with lists, articles, a FREE three part, virtual event and more.

This newsletter is always helpful and focused on things you can use in your day to day work with readers, but I have not seen one this chock full of so many things you can use RIGHT now, well ever.

From Susan Maguire's letter from the editor to open the newsletter.

Hello Shelfers,

Corner Shelf sits on the corner of readers’ advisory and collection development, but this newsletter is sitting on the RA side of the street. (Of course, the two are inextricably linked, so there’s plenty for CD folks to enjoy as well . . .). We’re talking about a useful Booklist trick, the appeal of audio, and how we produce a Top 10 list. There are also four Heated Rivalry references, because of course there are. Can you find them all?

We’ve also got some stuff going on outside of Corner Shelf:

A lot of us have a go-to tool for readers’ advisoring, but what makes it useful? That’s the question we’re trying to get to the bottom of with our Readers’ Advisory Tools Survey. If you’ve got a few minutes, won’t you consider taking it? We’ll talk about the results at ALA’s Annual Conference in June. Exciting!

Speaking of RA, our *free* annual workshop series, Readers’ Advisory: Ideas and Practice, is back! On Wednesday, March 18, luminaries from library land will explore the appeal of nonfiction, specifically history and memoir; what the deal is with romantasy; and the four cornerstones of reader interest. Did I mention it’s free? Well, it is. Free. If you can’t make it, or you can’t stay for the whole three hours, it will be recorded, so those who register will have access later.

Happy reading!

—Susan Maguire
Senior Editor, Collection Development and Library Outreach, Booklist
smaguire@ala.org
@booklistsusan.bsky.social

Now I have posted about the Survey and Readers' Advisory: Ideas and Practice before, but this is your reminder to do the survey AND sign up for this valuable, FREE half day event (you can do it all live, some live and some with the recording and even all of it recorded, just get signed ups you are notified).

• Click here to lend your thoughts to the survey
• Click here to register for Readers' Advisory: Ideas and Practice

Yes, those are the headlines here, but please click through to see the entire newsletter because there is more.

In particular, I want to draw your attention to this article by Booklist's Audio Editor, Heather Booth entitled, Trade Secrets: Why Audio?. From Booth's introduction:

Successful reader’s advisory for audio can look a lot different from RA for print. The format comes with its own tech requirements, another entire layer of appeal via the narration, and, often, a very different way of interacting with the book from what one might assume with print. Throughout this year of RA explorations, we’ll look at the motivations listeners have behind choosing audio and the particulars of that choice so that we can better understand patrons who listen and better respond to their reading needs. Avid audiobook listeners share some of their motivations for choosing audio below.

And that is just one of the things from the stacked table of contents. Click through or use the free links below to access it all.

• Booklist Better: Save and Share a Search
• Trade Secrets: Why Audio?
• Reference Roundup: Winter 2025–26
• Top 10: Book-Group Books 2026 (plus Anatomy of a Top 10 List)
• Excerpts from the Experts: Challenges to Materials and Programming
• Essentials: The American Revolutionary Era in Fiction, at Home and Abroad
• From Booklist Reader: Black Writers Tell Their Stories
• Shelf Care: Three Conversations about Reading
• From the Backlist: Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be, by Nichole Perkins

Becky's Annual Year in Review Program is Today and Here Are the Slides/Resources for All

I have mentioned it a few times, especially toward the end of 2025, but each year I create a brand new program to debut in February where I compile all of the year end data, sift through it, and present it in a 60 minute program where I make some large pronouncements about the year we just lived through and help us move into the next year with educated guess predictions.

This program takes months to compile. Grabbing all of the year end reports is the easy part. It is figuring out how to narrow down the glut of information that comes at us at the end of the year to find the pieces that are most pertinent to all of us and then assess what they are saying when taken all together, that is where the work is. 

I have done this for over 10 years now, on different platforms. This year it is through PCI. Many library systems and state libraries offer access to their programs live and archived. It will have a very wide reach and for that I am happy.

This is also a program that I allow those I present for to keep up indefinitely. (Normally I require my presentations be taken down a year after the live event.)

Why?

Because it is when you can view a few years of these programs in a row that you can watch trends emerge and see how the situation we find ourselves in at the present came to be. Nothing looks like it "came out of nowhere" when you take the time to look back each year.

I love taking a moment with all of you, a few weeks into a new year, to look back together,

While I am paid to give this program every year, I would do this work for myself-- and all of you-- even without a presentation event. And that is also why I make sure that the slides are very text and link heavy-- so that the information for all of you is here and free. It is all too important to not get out to as many people as possible.

If you are attending the program, please note, I had to send in the PDF of the slides 2 weeks ago, but if you use this link to the live slides, you will get the fully updated version.

Click the image to access the slides

Latest Episode of Booklist's Shelf Care The Podcast with a FREE Training Opportunity and a Survey!

I always listen to Booklist's Self Care The Podcast and I love how the entire backlist of every conversation is available with a single click, but today I want to draw all of your attention to the current episode.

To start the year, Susan Maguire not only had three conversations about reading but also, she has a brief survey for all of you to take. 

From the start page of the survey: 

Readers’ Advisory Tools Survey

The goal of this survey is to identify which tools are most useful during real-time readers’ advisory (RA) interactions with adult patrons. We’re not focusing on tools for displays, book lists, or form-based RA. Instead, we want to know what you use when a patron:

• approaches you at the desk or in the stacks
• calls the library or sends a chat request

In short, we’re interested in the tools that help you when time is of the essence—and why they’re useful to you.

Before you go any further with this post, please take a moment to take the survey. Your input will go a long way toward helping all of us help more readers. 

Susan also announced this year's FREE Readers’ Advisory: Ideas & Practice. From the registration page:

Booklist's Readers’ Advisory: Ideas & Practice series continues to mine the depths of RA, helping the library worker improve their practice and better assist patrons with their leisure reading needs. This year, Booklist is offering three stellar one-hour presentations from a few leading librarians, covering readers’ advisory for history, a deep dive into romantasy, and an exploration of the four cornerstones of reader interest. Join us on Wednesday, March 18th, beginning at 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT. Registration is free!

You should sign up NOW. You can watch it all, in parts, or via a recording which will be sent yo you automatically if you register. All of it is worth your time. Click here to register.

And now, last but not least, the details of this episode of Shelf Care the Podcast.

On this episode of Shelf Care: The Podcast, host Susan Maguire speaks to Seattle Public Library Reader Services Librarian Misha Stone about nerding out about reading, reading more (or at least reading more intentionally), and the thrill of the backlist (along with Heated Rivalry, of course). Then, Booklist’s Audio Editor Heather Booth drops some brief but powerful insight into what makes an audiobook reader, and what makes them valid readers (because, yes, audiobooks count as reading), and what you can look forward to in Booklist. Finally, Booklist’s Editor-in-Chief and Adult Books Editor Donna Seaman chats with Susan about some forthcoming books all kinds of readers can look forward to.

Here's what we talked about:

To register for Readers’ Advisory: Ideas and Practice, visit booklistonline.com/webinars 

Take our brief Readers’ Advisory survey (please and thank you!)

How to Read More in 2025 – Shelf Talk (from Seattle Public Library)

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.”
― Christopher Morley

Heated Rivalry, by Rachel Reid

Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee

Cat Sebastian

Pagebound

GoodReads

The Storygraph

SPL’s Your Next Five Books

Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher

The Mountains We Call Home, by Kim Michele Richardson

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson

 “Reading Is a Vice,” by Adam Kirsch, published in The Atlantic on Jan. 2, 2026

Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary, by Terry Tempest Williams

The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change, Rebecca Solnit

Men Explain Things to Me, by Rebecca Solnit

Figuring, by Maria Popova

Traversal, by Maria Popova

Isola, by Allegra Goodman

This Is Not about Us, by Allegra Goodman

The Red Convertible: Selected and New Stories, 1978 – 2008, by Louise Erdrich

Python’s Kiss, by Louise Erdrich

Discipline, by Larissa Pham

Pop Song: Adventures in Art and Intimacy, by Larissa Pham

No Way Home, by T. C. Boyle

Five Weeks in the Country, by Francine Prose

Click here to access the podcast's landing page where you can access the current episode and ALL backlist episodes with one click.