Library Journal is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice. It also reviews library-related materials and equipment. Each year since 2008, the Journal has assessed public libraries and awarded stars in their Star Libraries program. Its "Library Journal Book Review" does pre-publication reviews of several hundred popular and academic books each month. Library Journal has the highest circulation of any librarianship journal, according to Ulrich's—approximately 100,000. Library Journal's original publisher was Frederick Leypoldt, whose company became R. R. Bowker. Reed International purchased Bowker in 1985; they published Library Journal until 2010, when it was sold to Media Source Inc., owner of the Junior Library Guild and The Horn Book Magazine.
Early history
Founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey, Library Journal originally declared itself to be the "official organ of the library associations of America and of the United Kingdom." Indeed, the journal's original title was American Library Journal, though "American" was removed from the title after the first year. Its early issues focused on the growth and development of libraries, with feature articles by such prominent authors as R. R. Bowker, Charles Cutter, and Melvil Dewey, and focusing on cataloging, indexing, and lending schemes. In its early issues, Bowker discussed cataloging principles; Cutter, creator of the Cutter Expansive Classification system, developed his ideas; and managing editor Dewey made recommendations for early library circulation systems. Initially, Library Journal did not review books unless they related to librarians' professional interests, but then, like now, the journal ran articles on collection development and ads from publishers recommending their forthcoming books for libraries to purchase. Early issues of Library Journal were a forum for librarians throughout Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States to share news, discussions of their libraries' ideas and practices, and reports of professional activities such as meetings and conferences. In an 1878 prospectus, the journal stressed its importance by noting that small libraries, in particular, could gain the "costly experience and practical advice" of the largest libraries. Regular reading of Library Journal, the prospectus declared, would make "the librarian worth more to the library, and the library worth more to the people." In the Notes and Queries section, librarians shared reports of how their library managed common problems, and they maintained a constant exchange of questions and answers about authorship and reader's advisory. Two prominent sections, the Bibliography and Pseudonyms and Antonyms, served as reference resources for librarians. The latter contained an ongoing list of titles of untitled works and real names of authors who were anonymous or used pseudonyms, with an index compiling all of them in the December issue.
Current features
The print edition of Library Journal contains the following sections:
Annual awards
January
Librarian of the Year: 2011's Librarian of the Year was Seattle public librarianNancy Pearl, 2012's winner was Luis Herrera, 2013's winner was Jo Budler, and 2014's winner was Corinne Hill. The winner for 2015 was Siobhan A. Reardon. Lauren Comito and Christian Zabriskie of New York won the "Librarian of the Year 2020" award for their work organizing the Urban Libraries Unite organization.
Paraprofessional of the Year: 2010's Paraprofessional of the Year was Allison Sloan, Senior Library Associate at Reading Public Library in Reading, Massachusetts, 2011's winner was Gilda Ramos from Patchogue-Medford Library in New York, 2012's winner was Linda Dahlquist from Volusia County Public Library in Florida, 2013's winner was Laura Poe from Athens-Limestone Public Library in Athens, Alabama, and 2014's winner was Clancy Pool from St. John Branch of Washington State’s Whitman County Rural Library District. In 2015, Tamara Faulkner Kraus was named the Paralibrarian of the Year.
Movers & Shakers recognizes numerous influential and innovative North American library and information professionals.
LibraryJournal.com, the Library Journal website, provides both subscribers and non-subscribers full access to all print content as well as recent archives. Visitors can sign up for email newsletters such as "BookSmack", "Library Hotline", "LJ Academic Newswire", "LJ Review Alert", and "LJXpress". Web articles in the site's "Libraries & Librarians" category are listed by topic, with each topic assigned its own RSS feed so that users can receive articles relevant to their interests. Past and present reviews are archived and organized by type ; they are also available via RSS feeds. Another feature is "InfoDocket". Additionally, Library Journal maintains an up-to-date list of library jobs in the website's "JobZone" feature.
