LHRT Reads

LHRT Reads May 16, 2024

Please join us online for the next LHRT Reads on Thursday, May 16, 2024. We will be discussing Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library By Amanda Oliver. Oliver has kindly agreed to join us at the end of our discussion for an author Q&A. Please bring your questions!

The event will begin at 6pm EST. In response to community requests, we’re trying out an earlier start time. Advance registration is required.

Amanda Oliver, courtesy of the author. Photo by Andria Lo.

If you would like to participate but cannot access the book from a local library or afford to allocate resources towards its purchase, please email the LHRT Reads co-organizers, Amanda Belantara and Michele Fenton.

LHRT Reads March 21, 2024

Please join us online for the next LHRT Reads on March 21, 2024. We will be discussing Public in Name Only: The 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In Demonstration by Brenda Mitchell-Powell. Dr. Mitchell-Powell will be joining us for an author Q&A.

The event will begin at 7pm EST. Advance registration is required.

If you would like to participate but cannot access the book from a local library or afford to allocate resources towards its purchase, please email the LHRT Reads co-organizers, Michele Fenton and Amanda Belantara.

LHRT Reads 2024 Selections

We are pleased to announce the selections for the upcoming year of LHRT Reads, the Library History Roundtable’s media discussion club. We chose the titles below based on your suggestions and are excited to read them along with you. We hope you’ll be able to join us. We will send registration details for the first event in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Mar 21, 2024
Public in Name Only: The 1939 Alexandria Library Sit-In Demonstration by Brenda Mitchell-Powell
May 16, 2024
Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library by Amanda Oliver
August 29, 2024
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann
October 17, 2024
Torn from their Bindings: A Story of Art, Science, and the Pillaging of American University Libraries
Dec. 12, 2024
The Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie

We would also like to share that LHRT has kindly allocated a small, limited fund to expand participation in LHRT Reads. If you would like to participate but cannot access the books from a local library or afford to allocate resources towards their purchase, please email the LHRT Reads co-organizers. Thanks to former LHRT Chair Bernadette Lear for spearheading this idea and the LHRT Executive Committee for its support of this initiative.

Hello LHRT!

We are pleased to announce the selections for the upcoming year of LHRT Reads. We chose these titles based on your suggestions and are excited to read these titles along with you. We hope you’ll be able to join us. We will send registration details for the first event in the coming weeks.

We would also like to share that LHRT has kindly allocated a limited fund to expand participation in LHRT Reads. If you would like to participate in LHRT Reads but cannot afford to allocate money towards the purchase of these books nor access them from a local library, please contact the LHRT Reads co-organizers by emailing lhrtnewsandnotes@gmail.com

Greetings LHRT!

Thank you for another wonderful year of LHRT Reads! We are in the process of identifying titles for next year’s LHRT Reads. We would love to hear from you! What library history titles would you like to discuss? Let us know by filling in this form. We will announce the selections in the new year. We look forward to hearing from you.

In previous years, we read and discussed the following:

2021

  • Library : An Unquiet History By Matthew Battles
  • E.J. Josey: Transformational Leader by Renate Chancellor 
  • Freedom Libraries by Mike Selby
  • The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer
  • Regina Anderson Andrews: Harlem Renaissance Librarian by Etheline Whitmire
  • Information Hunters: When Librarians, Soldiers, and Spies Banded Together in World War II Europe by Kathy Peiss

2022:

  • The Meaning of the Library, Edited by Alice Crawford
  • The Personal Librarian By Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
  • Syria’s Secret Library by Mike Thomson
  • The Library Book, Susan Orlean

2023

  • Toute la mémoire du monde by Alain Resnais – Feb 16, 2023
  • Apostles of Culture: The Public Librarian and American Society, 1876-1920 
  • by Dee Garrison – May 18, 2023
  • American Public School Librarianship: A History by Wayne A. Wiegand – Oct 26, 2023
  • Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan – December 14, 2023

LHRT Reads 2023

Is there a library history title you’d love to read?  If so, let us know which titles you’d like to see on the selection list for LHRT Reads 2023 by completing this survey. We can’t wait to hear from you!