The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) is proud to announce that longtime member Gail Shirazi has been named the 2024 Fanny Goldstein Merit Award Winner. The award, named for the librarian, social activist, and founder of National Jewish Book Month, is bestowed in recognition of loyal and ongoing contributions to the Association of Jewish Libraries and to the profession of Judaic librarianship. Gail Shirazi began her career in 1976 as a secretary and bibliographic assistant in the Hebraic Section at the Library of Congress. Thanks to her knowledge of Hebrew, she was transferred to the ..read more

The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) encourages the publication of outstanding works of Judaica reference and bibliography through its annual awards. We are pleased to announce the 2024 awards (for works published in 2023): Reference: Jewish Documentary Sources in Lviv Archives: A Guide. Edited and compiled by Alexander Ivanov and David E. Fishman. Wrocław: Wrocław University Press; Kyiv: Dukh i Litera Publishing House, 2023. Bibliography: Fables in Jewish Culture: The Jon A. Lindseth Collection. Edited by Emile Schrijver and Lies Meiboom. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Library, 20 ..read more

Every year the Research, Archive, and Special libraries division of the Association of Jewish Libraries (otherwise known as RAS) gives awards for excellence in Reference and in Bibliography. Since these are obviously not fiction, they wouldn’t ordinarily be a candidate for this podcast. But I got an opportunity to share the interview with last year’s bibliography winner that I found too delicious to pass up. The bibliography award focuses on books written about other books. In the case, the winner Adras Koerner won for this work Early Jewish Cookbooks: Essay on Hungarian Jewish Gastronomic ..read more

The AJL Jewish Fiction Award Committee is seeking one new member. This is an exciting opportunity to immerse yourself in the vibrant field of contemporary Jewish fiction, to connect with and learn from a group of wise and committed colleagues, and to honor outstanding writers. Members serve two-year terms. We are looking for an avid reader who … enjoys reading literary fiction feels comfortable expressing an opinion about what they’ve read beyond “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” is willing to commit the time to read 20+ books in a 12-month peri ..read more

The Association of Jewish Libraries is pleased to announce that seven titles have been selected for its seasonal AJL Holiday Highlights list, celebrating Shabbat, Passover, and Shavuot. These titles are AJL’s picks for the best Jewish holiday children’s books of Spring 2024. Titles that are selected as Holiday Highlights exemplify the highest standards of authentic Jewish representation and holiday spirit in both writing and illustration. A committee of expert judges recommends these books for use by families, in schools, and in libraries. AJL hopes that the publishing world will look to the q ..read more

During the Holocaust, desperate Jewish parents placed their children with Christian families and in convents in the hope that the children would survive the war.  After the war, Jewish organizations went to reclaim these children to be raised in the Jewish community. But how did the children deal with yet another displacement.  Join me for a conversation with Jennifer Rosner. Follow along with the transcript. Find out more on the author’s website Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here. Thanks to: The Association of Jewish Librar ..read more

We start in a familiar place, in contemporary Chicago, where Jennifer, a museum curator, is asked to go to Belarus to create a living installation of Jewish life there before the Holocaust. She invites a distant cousin to participate, and she brings with her an old Yiddish literary magazine to use as a prop in the installment. In each chapter we move backward in time. As the settings become less familiar to us, we see the cousin relationships getting closer and see that there is a poem in the journal that is directed at three brothers in the family. The triplets had been separated at a you ..read more

Dear Friends and Colleagues, The Association of Jewish Libraries is partnering with the National Library of Israel (NLI) on its initiative Bearing Witness, to collect and preserve digital materials that tell the story of the aftermath of October 7—documenting the events of October 7, the ensuing war and international impact, including the rise in antisemitism, and Jewish action and response.  NLI intends to serve as the central aggregator and repository for all forms of documentation (texts, photos, audio, video, etc.) of these events. The goal of Bearing Witness is to crea ..read more

The Sydney Taylor Book Award will be showcasing its 2024 gold and silver medalists with a Blog Tour, February 5-9, 2024! Interviews with winning authors and illustrators will appear on a variety of Jewish and kidlit blogs. Interviews will appear on the dates below, and will remain available to read at your own convenience. Below is the schedule for the 2024 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour. Please follow the links to visit the hosting blogs on or after their tour dates, and be sure to leave them plenty of comments!  MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2024 Richard Ho and Lynn Scurfield, autho ..read more

Winners of the annual Sydney Taylor Book Award were announced by the Association of Jewish Libraries today in a virtual livecast at the Youth Media Awards announcement at the American Library Association. Named in memory of Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series, the award recognizes books for children and teens that exemplify high literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience. GOLD MEDALISTS Two New Years by Richard Ho, illustrated by Lynn Scurfield, published by Chronicle Books, is the winner in the Picture Book category. Follow a Chinese J ..read more