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The Seatle Times, "Bellevue to Open a New Community Court – in a Library" Solid Ground, "KCLS offers Community Resources" The Seattle Times, "Seattle Heat Wave: How to Stay Cool" KUOW/Newsbreak, "Cooling Shelters Open in King County" The Seattle Times, "Native Graphics Storytelling at KCLS" Explore staff picks and find out how to download e-books and other media.

Use free research tools and take online classes with your Library card. Discover our wide range of programs and services, including resources, classes, events and special exhibits. Get started with a Library card and learn how to manage your account. Read news about upcoming Library programs, new services and policy updates. News releases are organized by date of the news release, not the program date. Court permanently blocks Trump’s executive order to dismantle federal agency for America’s libraries

Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island struck down the Trump Administration’s attempts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). ALA Sounds Alarm as White House Undermines Programs Supporting School and Academic Libraries This week the White House announced new steps toward dismantling the U.S. Department of Education (ED). “Faith for Libraries” Campaign Will Combat Book Censorship and Defend Religious Freedom

In a summary judgment on November 21 in Rhode Island v. Trump, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. ruled that the Trump administration’s attempt to shut down the Institute of Museum and Library Services, along with other federal agencies, was illegal and unconstitutional. LJ’s 2025 Directors’ Summit looked at artificial—and very real—intelligence from multiple angles. NYT names the 10 best books of 2025.

Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know is Blackwell’s Book of the Year. Tom Paulin wins the PEN Heaney Prize for Namanlagh. FutureBook Awards winners are announced. Rosanna Pike won the Bollinger Everyman Prize for Comic Fiction, and Marina Lewycka wins the Vintage Bollinger Prize. Best-of-the-year lists arrive from The Guardian, LitHub, and King County Public Library. Poet Amanda Gorman is named UNICEF’s new ambassador.

Louise Penny will team up with Melissa Fung for the novel The Last Mandarin, due out in May 2026. The Artist and the Feast by Lucy Steeds is named Waterstones Book of the Year. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy is Foyles Book of the Year. NYT names 100 Notable Books of 2025 and NPR releases its 2025 list of Books We Love. Audiofile announces the the best audiobooks of 2025. Crowntide by Alex Aster leads holds lists this week.

People’s book of the week is Feast on Your Life: Kitchen Meditations for Every Day by Tamar Adler. January’s Indie Next list features #1 pick The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave. Read with Jenna picks Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice for its December book club, while GMA picks Marisa Kashino’s Best Offer Wins. NYT’s Book Review Book Club will read Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know. Gregory Maguire will release Galinda: A Charmed Childhood in September 2026. Remembrances arrive for playwright Tom Stoppard, novelist Daniel Woodrell, and poet Ellen Bryant Voigt.

Despite data that only about five percent of media consumers’ time is spent with books and audiobooks, publishing has the conditions to thrive. Articles & Research Databases | Research Guides | VIEW MORE > How do I know if my sources are credible/reliable? | Which citation style should I use? | MORE FAQs > Learn about using and returning physical and digital items

Schedule a help session with a librarian or expert Multimodal resources for UW Seattle instructors After Marvin Dunn sued, the trustees of Miami Dade College voted for a second time to hand over a prime property for President Trump’s future library. He says he’ll keep fighting. Los archivos de la autora, recién compartidos con el público, revelan la meticulosa planificación y la devoción por la cocina de sus grandes comidas festivas. The Grammy winner, now a scholar in residence at U.S.C., is expanding a one-of-a-kind library featuring rare books by writers of color.

(Just mind the due date.) The books come from its list of best titles of the year and will be available at three flagship library branches. A pair of organ works that scholars believe were written by a teenage Johann Sebastian Bach were premiered in Leipzig this week and added to the composer’s official catalog. In the face of federal funding cuts, libraries are making hard choices about whether or how they can continue a wide range of community services. Among programs on pause or in jeopardy, a popular role-playing game program at Upper Skagit Library teaches tweens leadership and mentoring as well as math, story-telling and other skills. (Courtesy Upper Skagit Library)

Local libraries seek solutions to keep vital, popular programs running An executive order from the Trump administration will have negative trickle-down impacts on libraries in Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties, say library employees. The order calls for cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, or IMLS, as part of the administration’s efforts to cut costs and reduce the federal workforce. IMLS is the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services. The cuts include the loss of $3.9 million for the Washington State Library, which supports a variety of programs, grants and resources for local libraries. OLYMPIA, Wash.

- After several federal grants were terminated by the Trump administration, the Washington Secretary of State is sounding the alarm about the long-term impacts it could cause for Washington libraries. A presidential executive order has canceled a $3.9 million grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), along with a leadership grant that funds a pilot to support libraries in state prisons. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs says these grant terminations put the Washington State Library at risk of losing personnel, statewide programs, resources for local libraries, and community opportunities. "Washington’s library system ensures people have unfettered access to information at hundreds of public, school, academic, and institutional libraries across the state," Hobbs said. "This commitment is rooted in the fundamental principle that an educated and informed citizenry is critical to a free society. That goal for libraries is not a partisan issue.

They represent a critical ‘third place’ in communities across the state – a social environment that is not home or work and is for everyone." Washington has joined 20 other states that filed suit against the Trump administration to stop the dismantling of IMLS, which has provided Washington with $3.9 million from their Grants to States program.

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