AI Meets Bibliometrics: Advancing Metrics for a Complex Research World
When: Thursday 24 September 2026 Where: Lancaster University, UK
The LIS Bibliometrics Conference 2026 invites researchers, practitioners, librarians, information professionals, and policymakers to explore the evolving intersections between AI, bibliometrics, scholarly communication, and research evaluation.
As AI technologies increasingly influence scholarly communication, research assessment, and knowledge production, the conference aims to critically examine both the opportunities and challenges AI presents for bibliometric research and practice.
We are pleased to announce the following keynote speakers:
Professor Mike Thelwall: University of Sheffield, UK Scientometrics & Altmetrics
Professor Cinzia Daraio: Sapienza University of Rome, Italy Research Evaluation & Efficiency
The conference welcomes submissions related to, but not limited to, the following themes:
North grew up in the sky. Raised to be a monarch, the young prince is more interested in the science that keeps Alciel in the sky than in ruling the floating islands. Unfortunately, no one understands the complex engines that keep the islands in the sky–a knowledge gap that will have disastrous consequences as the engines threaten to fail.
Nimh’s people look to the sky for the gods who left them centuries ago. As the current holy vessel Nimh will one day become the living god to her people–surface born but able to commune with the other gods in the heavens. Except her magic is slow to materialize and Nimh knows many question her suitability for this divine role.
When North crashes to earth he’s shocked to find a whole other society instead of the deserted wasteland his teachers warned about. Desperate to return to Alciel, North searches through documents for a way to restore his glider while he tries to make sense of the discovery of a whole new world beneath Alciel’s islands. Nimh knows that North’s arrival is part of a prophecy and key to saving her people. She just doesn’t know how to convince him of that fact when he claims everything she believes to be magic is lost scientific technology.
When it becomes clear both civilizations are under threat, the two teens reluctantly agree to work together. But the more they learn about their peoples’ shared past–and each other–the less clear it is how North and Nimh will be able to save goodbye to each other in The Other Side of the Sky (2020) by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner.
Kaufman and Spooner team up again, this time for a fantasy/sci-fi mashup. Chapters in this duology starter alternate between North and Nimh’s point of view. Most characters are described as having tan or brown skin with many falling across the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
The dual perspectives work well to flesh out the world building of both Alciel and the surface as Nimh and North navigate what drove their two societies apart centuries ago. The authors navigate the sometimes uncomfortable intersection between science and magic well with practical North and divinely chosen Nimh both trying to make sense of deep paradigm shifts in everything they think to be true. The contrasts also underscore the romantic tension between the two protagonists as they grow closer.
The Other Side of the Sky introduces a unique premise where nothing is as it seems with two distinct characters working to save not just one world but two.
Possible Pairings: Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown, The Nightblood Prince by Molly X. Chang, Sky’s End by Marc J. Gregson, Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson, Furyborn by Claire Legrand, This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi, Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray, The Floating World by Axie Oh, The These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan, Daughter of the Bone Forest by Jasmine Skye
A century ago, an astronomer discovered a planet orbiting a star. Decades before anyone had the technology to confirm it, she predicted that the planet was Earth-like and habitable; that humanity would one day colonize it. She dreamed of the animals and plant life astronauts would find there.
Now, six teenagers are about to embark on the twenty-three year trip that will bring them to Terra-Two. They, along with four veteran astronauts commanding the crew, are Earth’s best hope for a second chance.
After years of training, the crew will travel for twenty-three years to get to Terra-Two. Along the way some of them will dream of their new home, some of them will fear it and the gaping unknown of their journey. They will mourn what they have left behind and what they might never see if their missions fails in Do You Dream of Terra-Two? (2019) by Temi Oh.
There’s no gentle way to say this: Do You Dream of Terra-Two? is a downer. Readers well-versed in stories of space travel know, as well as these characters do, that something always goes wrong. In this book many things go wrong leaving every characters scrambling to salvage a mission that may or may not be sheer folly.
Oh packs a lot of interesting things into this story with alternating third person point of view between the young astronauts. Unfortunately these voices often become indistinguishable as the characters contend with similar moments of existential dread and imposter syndrome alongside any of their individual issues.
The world building in Do You Dream of Terra-Two?, particularly the shady practices of the school that has trained the young astronauts, is fascinating but fails to gel thanks to an ending that leaves most questions unanswered. Will the mission succeed? Will it be worth the sacrifice? Neither the characters nor readers may be entirely sure by the end of this character driven story.
Possible Pairings: To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers, Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson, Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski, The Final Six by Alexandra Monir, Strange Exit by Parker Peevyhouse
Unlike her ambitious mother, Anaïs has no expectations of making a good match during her season among Ivarean high society. Expectations that will be proven disastrously correct at the final ball of the season where Anaïs continues to fail to make a glowing impression and Ivareans fail to see beyond her provincial status as a Proensan. But at least this ball will end and then the entire horrendous season will be over.
Except the ball doesn’t end. Not the way everyone expects. Instead of quietly dispersing, the party ends in bloodshed when bombs beging to go off at the stroke of midnight. Anaïs is injured and, in the moments after the bombs, she watches the royal family being targeted with the infamous Prince Leo dying in front of her.
It’s been years since anyone in her family has been able to access the blood magic that is their birthright. Still Anaïs throws out one last wish. “Keep me from harm. Don’t let me die here.”
A wish that is answered in the most unlikely way when Anaïs wakes up the next day only to find she is reliving the day of the ball. Only for it to go just as badly.
Only for her to wake up again, still living the same day.
Trapped in a loop, Anaïs relives the day of the ball again and again as she tries to survive. But every night midnight comes and so does her own death.
With no one to turn to, Anaïs has to investigate the attack herself–one slow day at a time–if she wants to make it past midnight and, hopefully, see a truly new day in Midnight Strikes (2023) by Zeba Shahnaz.
Midnight Strikes is Shahnaz’s debut novel. The standalone fantasy capitalizes on the classic time loop structure with repeating chapter headings and multiple opportunities to tease out interactions from different angles. What results is a singular blend of fantasy and political intrigue with Anaïs struggling to unravel her own time loop while also stopping a rebellion in its tracks.
Anaïs’s unlikely ally, Leo reveals hidden depths as Anaïs meets his different iterations throughout the time loop with increasing chemistry between the two. The high concept story of time travel is set against world building grounded in the damaging effects of colonialism with Anaïs and other Proensan’s still struggling to cling to their culture and heritage in the wake of the Ivarean invasion.
Midnight Strikes is a sophisticated fantasy adventure. Come for the slow burn romance and action, stay for the antiracist sensibilities.
Possible Pairings: Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron, A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli, The Encanto’s Daughter by Melissa De la Cruz, Red As Royal Blood by Elizabeth Hart, Behind Five Willows by June Hur, Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim, A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin, Nameless Queen by Rebecca McLaughlin, These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan, Travelers Along the Way by Amina Mae Safi, A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft, Squire by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh, Thief Liar Lady by DL Soria, Long May She Reign by Rhiannon Thomas
Niamh Ó Conchobhair’s life revolves around securing her family’s legacy. As the last of the Ó Conchobhair’s, Niamh sees it as her job to make sure her mother and grandmother are taken care of as conditions continue to worsen in Machland. The country is still haunted by their hard-won war for independence and the Blight that devastated the land–a horrifying act of magic by the previous king of the colonizing Avaland.
Niamh also wants to preserve her family’s memory as some of the best tailors in Machland and beyond–using their divine magic to sew memories and emotions into everything they create. The problem is that every bit of magical craft also saps just a bit more of Niamh’s strength and vitality. She’s managed to ignore the signs so far but even she can’t pretend away the growing streak of white in her hair.
Being commissioned to design the wedding garments for Christopher Carmine, the younger prince of Avaland, and his Castilian bride the Infanta Rosa is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Niamh will be able to demonstrate her skill on an international stage while also earning enough to settle her family in a new home far from Machland’s privation. Niamh has always known she isn’t destined for a fairytale story but she hopes this gamble will be worth it, bringing stability and maybe even a chance for rest.
Niamh is unprepared for the disarray she finds upon arriving in Avaland. Protests are rampant as Machlish workers quit en masse to demand fair wages and better conditions. The Prince Regent is distracted, more concerned with planning his brother’s wedding than acknowledging the unrest outside his doors or the pointed gossip columnist determined to keep the monarchy accountable.
Then there’s the betrothed couple. Rosa is grimly determined to follow through with the wedding for political means and strategies even if it will be a loveless union. Kit refuses to acknowledge the rapidly approaching wedding at all or to cooperate in any part of the planning. All of which leaves Niamh scrambling to assemble her intricate designs for a season’s worth of occasions leading up to the ceremony.
With rumors swirling in the society pages and secrets lurking in every corner of the palace, Niamh becomes dangerously entangled in the lives of these eccentric royals–especially Kit who proves to be as shockingly abrasive as he is secretly kind. A lowly Machlish tailor developing feelings for an Avlish prince would be a disaster. The prince returning those feelings could become an international incident in A Fragile Enchantment (2024) by Allison Saft.
A Fragile Enchantment is a standalone fantasy romance. The story is narrated by Niamh and fileld with lavish descriptions that make use of her tailor’s eye while taking in the fashions and decor thorughout Avaland. Neve and Kit are white. The Infanta Rosa and other characters from Castilia are cued as Hispanic or Latinx adjacent with a variety of skintones mentioned among tertiary characters. Many characters, including Niamh and Kit fall across the LGBTQ+ spectrum as well. Check out the audiobook narrated by Fran Burgoyne to catch all the Machlish pronunciation.
Saft pulls from history for her world building which situates the story as a Victorian romance (think full skirted gowns and the Industrial Revolution) rather than the more familiar Regency period famously shown in the likes of Bridgerton and the works of Jane Austen. Avaland and Machland serve as obvious standins for England and Ireland respectively with Machland’s Blight referencing Ireland’s Great Famine. The world is further differentiated with an infusion of magic including elaborate control over plants for the so-called divine blooded Avlish royal family and subtler arts like Niamh’s ability to sew feelings into her handwork.
Although the timeline for Niamh’s labor on the wedding attire versus the scope of work is not always realistic, readers will still feel the protagonist’s and the author’s appreciation for craft with every deliberate description. In addition to the urgency of the pending nuptials, Niamh has to manage her fatigue and stave off symptoms of her chronic illness–things she handles with tenacity amidst the whirlwind of wedding preparations. Kit’s own struggles with addiction are also depicted thoughtfully.
A Fragile Enchantment blends frothy parties and salacious gossip with weightier matters including labor relations and the lasting damage of colonization to create a multifaceted story where love changes everything.
Possible Pairings: The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett, The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Anna Bright, A Thousand Heartbeats by Kiera Cass, House of Marionne by J. Elle, Behind Five Willows by June Hur, This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi, The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz, The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson, An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson, Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski, Midnight Strikes by Zeba Shahnaz, All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater
Everyone in 1910 Chicago knows the Davenports. The family always turns heads as one of the most prestigious–and wealthiest–Black families in the country. Formerly enslaved William founded the Davenport Carriage Company as a young man and with it secured both his fortune and his place in Chicago society.
But Carriages are slowly being replaced by automobiles leaving the status of the Davenport Carriage Company uncertain in this changing landscape.
Youngest daughter Helen would love nothing more than to bring the family business into this new decade. But it doesn’t matter how skillfully she can fix an engine if her father and her older brother John won’t let her near a garage. A light flirtation could be a good distraction–if it were with anyone but her sister’s suitor.
Elder daughter Olivia cares for little beyond securing her future through an advantageous marriage until she meets Washington DeWight–a lawyer fighting for civil rights–who opens her eyes to the harsh injustices Black people are still facing throughout the United States when they lack Davenport money to shield them.
Amy-Rose is practically family to the Davenport sisters. Except, of course, that she is a maid and knows she’ll have to work harder to achieve her own dream of opening a salon. She knows pining after John could threaten that fragile hope. Even as she wishes it weren’t so.
Ruby, Olivia’s best friend, also wants John Davenport. Even if he barely pays attention to her anymore. But as she is pushed farther and farther by pressure from her parent’s, Ruby isn’t sure that she’s willing to sacrifice her own happines to secure her family’s financial stability. Especially when she’s finally found someone who actually sees her.
Olivia, Helen, Amy-Rose, and Ruby all grew up surrounded by lavish wealth and opportunity. Now, as they each prepare to enter society on their own terms, these young women will have to decide if they can reconcile their greatest hopes with heady promise of first love in The Davenports (2023) by Krystal Marquis.
The Davenports is Marquis’ debut novel and the start of a series. The book is inspired by the story of C. R. Patterson and his family–you can read more about Patterson and his legacy at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture website. All of the main characters are Black with varying levels of privilege afforded to them by their respective wealth and status in society. The story alternates close third person perspective between Olivia, Helen, and Amy-Rose although the audiobook is narrated in its entirety by Joniece Abbott-Pratt.
Because of the racism they face in post-Reconstruction Chicago, all of the characters are keenly aware of the privilege wealth afford the Davenports to move through the world with relative ease and safety. At the same time, much of this novel focuses on Olivia’s social awakening as she begins to understand exactly how wide a gulf that privilege has put between her and most average Black citizens in the city. Unfortunately, this awareness rarely leads to introspection as all of the characters (notably excepting Amy-Rose) constantly make use of unequal power dynamics to assert their authority over characters with less social capital to get their own way. We see this repeatedly with instances including Olivia forcing one of the household servants to take her to an activist meeting and Ruby stringing along her earnest suitor Harrison Barton in the hopes of making John jealous.
Marquis blends historical detail with frothy romance as all three heroines are thrown into the intense highs and lows of finding love. Descriptions are both vibrant and thorough as Marquis expertly draws readers into the world of the Davenports and expands this story beyond romantic entanglements as our three heroines try to decide how to navigate the world on their own terms.
Potent romance and reckless choices propel The Davenports to a dramatic conclusion that will leave fans eager for the next installment.
Possible Pairings: Crossing Ebenezer Creek by Tonya Bolden, The Blackwoods by Brandy Colbert, The Luxe by Anna Godbersen, Behind Five Willows by June Hur, Hotlanta by Denene Millner, Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez, Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington, A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia, Pride by Ibi Zoboi
Seventeen-year-old Kiki Siregar has always been confident, even describing herself as “loud and unapologetically obnoxious.”
The only place Kiki’s had to be cautious with sharing her whole self is when she’s online. Gaming is easier as a guy (Dudebro10 specfically). She isn’t harassed and threatened by other players. She isn’t punished by the game’s algorithmic ranking system for reporting said harassment. While pretending to be a guy, Kiki also makes a very real friend in another player named Sourdawg. She never expected a real friendship to be an issue in Warfront Heroes, but now that she and Sourdawg have been playing and talking together for a year, Kiki hates lying to him. It feels slimy but also like the only option since she’s not like to ever meet him IRL.
At least not until Kiki’s parents transfer her to Jakarta’s top Chinese School. Xingfa School is known for its discipline. It is also, it turns out, Sourdawg’s school.
Adjusting to the conservative atmosphere at Xingfa School is harder than Kiki expects as she faces bullying, strict teachers, and students who’d rather keep their heads down than try to change the toxic environment. Kiki thinks she knows what to expect when she’s roped into a matchmaking scheme which Kiki hopes will help her find Sourdawg. But Kiki soon realizes that with her confidence in tatters, she has to figure out how to find her old self-assurance before she can think of telling Sourdawg who she is in Didn’t See That Coming (2023) by Jesse Q. Sutanto.
Kiki and most characters are Chinese-Indonesian. Readers of Sutanto’s previous YA novel Well, That Was Unexpected (read my review) will recognize Kiki as Sharlot’s cousin and will appreciate appearances from familiar characters, most notably Eleanor Roosevelt.
Kiki is a cackle-inducing narrator with plenty of acerbic observations and snappy asides. Strong friendships and new connections at school with other female students familiar with Xingfa’s sexist culture help ground Kiki and give her the support she needs to speak out. The heaviness of Kiki’s isolation and bullying are countered with the mystery of Sourdawg and tentative flirting with deskmate Liam Ng who may or may not be Sourdawg.
Didn’t See That Coming is an empowering trifecta of humor, romance, and feminism grounded in positive change; a gamer-focused nod to the classic two person love triangle trope most commonly associated with the film You’ve Got Mail.
Possible Pairings: Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett, Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum, Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth, Behind Five Willows by June Hur, What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter, Tweet Cute by Emma Lord, When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon, Analee in Real Life by Janelle Milanes, ASAP by Axie Oh
*A more condensed version of this review appeared in an issue of School Library Journal as a starred review.*
After being transported into her favorite book series, Rae thought it would be easy to complete one task and reclaim her life in the real world before the cancer that’s been ravaging her body for years finally kills her. Instead, Rae was alarmed to find that the characters she knew as fictional were painfully real people.
Now Rae has to deal with the catastrophic consequences of her own actions.
Rae’s favorite character the Once and Future Emperor is here. But he’s come into his power too early and he is far too angry–especially at Rae. As she keeps trying to fix him and get him the happy ending he deserves, Rae is forced to admit that she made him worse. Which makes things worse for everyone else in the kingdom.
Rae’s friend The Golden Cobra is in hiding with Marius Valerius, the Last Hope. The Cobra hopes to change things for the tragic Valerius line. But all Marius wants is for someone else to take charge instead of forcing him to acknowledge uncomfortable feelings he can’t even name. Emer and Lia hide in the poorest parts of the city but although they are together they have very different goals with Emer struggling to help their friends while Lia grasps at the power that keeps eluding her.
In a world where the dead walk and lies travel through the court faster than beasts can take to the skies, the truth is a very dangerous thing. Especially when telling the truth means revealing your heart in All Hail Chaos (2026) by Sarah Rees Brennan.
All Hail Chaos is the second book in Rees Brennan’s Time of Iron trilogy, picking up moments after the dramatic conclusion of book one, Long Live Evil (read my review). The story shifts perspectives between the main players as they are scattered throughout the kingdom dealing with the aftermath of the emperor’s return. Epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter once again highlight the differences between the narrative before Rae’s arrival began to shape the story into something new.
Dismayed to find herself still within the pages of her favorite book, Rae observes “Great sequels took risks and got complicated. Great sequels did everything great first books did, backwards and in high heels. Great sequels upped the stakes, the tension and especially the body count.” Which All Hail Chaos does admirably with a repeat of the Queen’s Trials from book one but this time in a bloodier form all while the Emperor runs riot through a court that knows they need his power as much as they despise his presence.
With a cast bumbling through their interpersonal relationships with mixed results, All Hail Chaos continues to explore themes of agency and feminism within a fantasy framework. The story also asks, repeatedly, what it means when a reader is changed by a story and, given the magic system at play, what it means when those same readers try to change the story in turn. With sky high stakes and danger at every turn, Rae has her worked cut out for her as she tries to save her favorite character and herself. Rae continues to lean into her villainess persona even as she works heroically to get the narrative back on track reminding readers that even the blackest hearts can sometimes change with the right plot devices at play.
All Hail Chaos is everything a reader could want in a sequel. Come for the beloved characters, stay to see everything blow up in their faces and anxiously wait for the sequel. Highly recommended.
Possible Pairings: The Witch Who Trades With Death by CM Alongi, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews, The Empress by Kristin Cast, Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson, Mistress of Lies by KM Enright, The Deathless One by Emma Hamm, Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz, The Half King by Melissa Landers, The Scarlet Throne by Amy Leow, Assitant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam, The Awakening by Caroline Peckham, Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis, Starter Villain by John Scalzi, Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration*
Today’s main topic begins with the story of a publisher who got cold-called by a business library. As you know, that usually happens the other way around. That publisher is now learning about the library market and asking smart questions, providing me an opportunity to reflect on library/vendor relations and what effective engagement — besides sales calls — can look like. Skip down to “Today’s Topic” if you are in a hurry. Otherwise…
Catching up:
I’m looking forward to attending SOUCABL next week. Founder Trip Wyckoff reports that registration is full. This will be the first time we meet in Nashville, thanks to the Vanderbilt business library hosting us — thank you, Vanderbilt friends. Also the first time SOUCABL happens in May, not March. This will be an end of semester event, and I’m really looking forward to the change of pace.
Last week I attended the UNCG Graduate Faculty meeting. The main discussion topic was of course…how PhD students are using AI. The graduate studies policy committee is going to add an AI declaration taxonomy statement to the dissertation agreement form. The grad faculty also talked about required training on AI when the students begin their classes or research. In response, a day later, and with assistance from our Sage engagement representative Alexandra Shay, I emailed the grad school dean some suggested content from Sage Campus and Research Methods. He said he would share the suggestions with the wider group. I’ll need to check in on that before the fall semester begins.
Two weeks ago, Morgan Robinson and I worked with Pete Dunning of Scite to plan a one-hour workshop for our business school faculty and PhD students on “Getting under the hood with Scite and academic semantic search.” Instead of a normal training session, the goal was to talk more broadly about how AI-augmented academic search works. The workshop description: “This workshop goes beyond “how to use Scite” to examine how AI‑augmented tools actually work, including semantic searching and context-based ranking. A Scite engineer will also talk about the new, massive academic databases that provide the corpus for most of these AI-augmented tools. We will close with a live example of using Claude or ChatGPT to interact directly with Scite through its new MCP server, illustrating what agentic AI could mean for the future of academic research workflows.” We had good turnout for near the end of semester, and Morgan shared the recording with the faculty.
Thank you to Jackie Eagleson and Karly Feinberg for leading an excellent ELC/Entrelib workshop on “Where does AI fit? Optimizing business development with AI” two weeks ago. The video recording, some slides, and the links shared in Zoom chat are now available there. The event was a successful experiment in efficiently creating a short ELC workshop, compared to the time and big workload for the international conference in November. The fall ELC workshop will focus on wellness. Details TBA.
Yesterday, BLINC had its spring workshop here in the UNCG library, despite its under-renovation status. (There’s a hybrid-workshop-enabled conference room in the open half of the building.) The training focused on SEC filings and library databases with AI-augmented functions. As usual for BLINC, we enjoyed the lively mix of public, academic and special librarians plus the amazing Carlo Diy, the NC LEAF program manager from NC IDEA. There will be an NC LEAF panel at ALA in Chicago this summer, and some of the LEAF fellows will begin working on an article about this program soon. It’s an important story.
Finally, our library renovation continues. These big holes in the west and east walls of the library tower are new. (There’s one more picture at the end of this post.) The tower reopens around spring break next year, when the older part of the library (where my office is) will close for its complete, 18-month renovation.
Older part of the library, still open. My office window is out of view, four windows to the left of the entrance. Those workers up there on the ninth floor of the tower have a great view of downtown Greensboro from that new opening in the east wall.
Today’s topic
This story is shared with permission.
Last week I got a cold email from Timothy Motte. He wrote that he was the founder of The Realistic Optimist, which publishes “exclusive, in-depth, written interviews with startup founders & VCs from around the world, focusing especially on emerging markets (Africa, MENA, Asia, LATAM).” Recently the Baker Library at Harvard reached out to Tim asking about a subscription for their users. A nice surprise. He was able to work out a deal with them.
Tim hadn’t thought about libraries as a market before. To effectively serve that market, he wrote, “I need to understand how business librarians think, how best to approach them, what they’re looking for in a vendor…” He emailed a few of us. His message was clearly not spam (he mentioned my role with Entrelib) and I was intrigued by his questions, so I replied. We ended up with a Zoom chat and some follow-up emails to discuss his thoughtful questions.
Based on Tim’s questions, here are some thoughts on how vendors and publishers can develop relationships with libraries and library subject liaisons beyond the traditional sales call.
Are conferences still vital options for meeting librarians face to face?
Yes, they are. But some provide better opportunities for interaction than others.
At the lower end of value are the conferences with an exhibit hall that runs every day of the event. Vendor booths do have value for building relationships. However, the physical barriers of much booth furniture, the noise and crowds, and the frequent random interruptions by librarians merely interested in the swag and chocolate (hey, that’s me too sometimes!) can be limiting factors.
Often the vibe is that the exhibit hall is the vendor space, while the rest of the convention center is the librarian space – an us versus them distinction that doesn’t encourage relationship building. Maybe at these traditional conferences, the vendor can at least fund a dinner, IF the vendor has a budget for that after the high expense of travelling to the conference and renting exhibit space. (Librarians, remember that vendor exhibit halls exist in part to subsidize the expenses of the conference including the very expensive convention center rental, or even better, the vendor hall might return a profit to the library organization. These aspects are true for state library conferences as well as national ones.)
At the higher end of value are newer, more creative conferences that encourage and enable vendor/librarian interaction outside the traditional exhibit hall. The Charleston Conference is the best-known example – there is just one, dedicated “vendor showcase” day, and then three days of librarians, vendors, publishers, and NGO leaders presenting together and interacting all over. True, some vendors come to Charleston only long enough for the showcase. If money is tight, it makes total sense to be a “one and done” vendor. But the payoff for relationship building is much higher for those vendor representatives who are able to stick around at least a second day. (Some reps don’t pay to attend the conference but interact with librarians at socials instead.)
SOUCABL is a specialized, regional, 2-day conference in this high-end category too. For the price (I think) of covering the cost of morning snacks and lunch, the vendor friends attend the conference with the business librarians and also enjoy one dedicated “vendor time” hour.
Tim and I also talked about virtual conference opportunities, such as Entrelib . Entrelib hasn’t tried to do much yet with vendors as content partners, except for working with the great Duncan Smith (recently retired) of EBSCO to create pitch competitions for libraries; however, we continue to appreciate our funding partners, most recently PrivCo and SimplyAnalytics. Tim now also knows about BRASS’ Publishers’ Forum.
Between or besides conferences, how can vendors interact with librarians and their organizations to foster connections and trust that someday might contribute to a sale?
Interesting question. Most of the vendors and publishers I talk to regularly already sell us subscriptions. Product updates, training, and help with promoting usage are the common topics in our conversations.
In contrast, Dewey Data is an interesting example for UNCG. We don’t subscribe, but Evan Berry (founder and CEO) and I have been staying in touch. By my choice, I’m on his mailing list for product news — maybe someday we could subscribe, or take advantage of an alternative, cheaper access model Dewey Data is working on. (Evan wrote a blog post here two years ago on a related topic.) More generally, I appreciate learning more about data, datasets, and dataset licensing – areas I always need to learn more about – through Dewey Data’s LinkedIn posts and their occasional free webinar. And Evan lets me know when he will be attending SOUCABL or the Charleston Conference. (I invited him to join a proposed 2026 Charleston panel on a topic of mutual interest; we are working on that with two other librarians.) Sometimes Dewey Data invites librarians (even non-subscribers) out to dinner.
PolicyMap is also great at providing blog posts and free webinars about GIS, new datasets, and developments in the American Community Survey, all available to non-subscribers.
I suggested to Tim that maybe someday Entrelib could collaborate with him on a workshop with an international focus: perhaps trends or developments in global venture capital, or the needs of entrepreneurs in developing economies. He was interested in the idea.
So, in summary, here are two suggestions in response to the above question:
Provide training and other learning opportunities of value to non-subscribers.
Provide opportunities for librarians to network and build community.
We will love you for doing either of those things.
Epilogue
This week I got a cold email from a vendor that rhymes with “wait and see”. I hadn’t talked to or seen a rep from that vendor in many years (getting annual invoices from their accounting department for one of their WRDS datasets doesn’t count) and there was nothing in the message reflecting any research about me, my library, or my business school. You can guess what email folder I moved that message to.
West side of the tower. The ground floor cut-out will be a new entrance plus windows. The second floor will have a new “study perch” extended over the entrance. Those beams were new this day, actually a couple of months ago, as you might guess from the bare trees.
Suzanne Park’s latest novel is a romp through the high highs and low lows of Sara’s efforts to start her own app. All while navigating the fallout when the emails her app is supposed to send out upon her death end up getting sent early. Suzanne is always a delight and I’m thrilled to have her here to talk a bit more about One Last Word.
Miss Print: What was the inspiration for One Last Word?
Suzanne Park: When I pitched this book I didn’t have that clean elevator pitch everyone aspires to have. My editor said, “Oh, you mean it’s like TO ALL THE BOYS but with a tech spin for the adult market,” and that pretty much sums it up! During the pandemic I watched a lot of Jenny Han’s on-screen adaptations, and after finishing the series I thought to myself, “This would SO HORRIBLE if this happened to a grown-up.” Around the same time, I had been researching the challenges of women in tech and venture capital, plus watching a lot of SHARK TANK, too. When the idea came to me for ONE LAST WORD, I couldn’t let it go.
Miss Print: Let’s talk about the opening scene. Sara is trying to give updates on her app to her employers who are decidedly uninterested. The scene ends with Sara resigning with a scrawled message on a white board before walking out. Where did this idea come from? Was it inspired by any real events? Did you always know this would be the opening for the book?
Suzanne Park: When I worked in tech I was always amazed by all the secret/proprietary information that was left on whiteboards in conference rooms. I’ve also been in meetings where the executives around the table clearly had other priorities and ignored what was going on and would chime in with random comments to make it look like they were listening. I didn’t know what the opening for the book would be like when I started writing it, but it flowed out easily, thanks to my past corporate meeting trauma haha.
Miss Print: Readers might not know that you have a background in stand-up comedy (including winning some comedy competitions) and have an MBA from UCLA. Can you talk about how your own experiences might have played into plotting Sara’s journey in this book?
Suzanne Park: Most of my adult storylines come from past work experiences in tech, or from my business school friends who work in male-dominated fields. Sara needed to be a strong heroine who was relatable but also flawed. Tough enough to navigate the male-dominated tech and venture capital world, but also vulnerable by avoiding conflict her whole life to allow for personal growth. As an author who writes stories about Korean Americans, it feels like there’s an added challenge to make sure characters in the Asian diaspora are three-dimensional— showing breadth and depth and avoiding cookie-cutter depictions and stereotypes. For each book, I try to show a range in personalities, experiences and backgrounds for all my main characters and not repeat personas and workplace situations from book to book.
Miss Print: Although Sara spends a lot of time in front of her computer working on her app, she also visits some key locations throughout the book while living in her sister’s (very large) closet. Did any real life locations inspire the places Sara visits in the book?
Suzanne Park: I live near a vibrant area in Southern California that I don’t see featured often in books: Silicon Beach. Snapchat, Google, and a lot of tech startups are based here, and I wanted to set ONE LAST WORD in this tech mecca. It wasn’t until my seventh book that I wrote about LA, which is where I live now.
Miss Print: One of my favorite things about your books is that there are always such well-developed secondary characters whether it’s the protagonist’s family, love interest, or coworkers. Did you have a favorite character to write in One Last Word? Was any character harder to write than others?
Suzanne Park: I can’t choose my favorite character, I love them all (even the villains)! Hands down, the hardest character to write was her former best friend. Sometimes as adults, relationships shift and bonds break, and there are times when people lose touch intentionally. I chose to depict both sides of their story, and it was harder than I thought to convey this friendship breaking and mending on the page.
Miss Print: Can you share anything about new projects in the works?
Suzanne Park: I took a writing hiatus to prioritize my well-being, and I’m happy to share that I’m drafting again. I have a few ideas rolling around in my head, but we’ll see what my agent thinks when I share them.
The problem with dying is that Rae’s friends have moved on and even her family is slowly making peace with it. But Rae is still here waiting for the cancer to finish its cruel work. Rae missed out on all the typical high school experiences except for being dumped by her first boyfriend (he and Rae’s best friend really bonded over Rae’s illness). Now, at twenty, she’s realizing she won’t get a lot of the typical adult ones either.
Until a stranger walks into her hospital room with an impossible offer: Rae has a chance to step into her favorite book series in the body of the character most suited to her. She can leave behind the pain, the illness, and the death. All she has to do is find a magical flower in the book before time runs out.
Rae has discussed every detail of the Time of Iron books with her sister. She can recite the arc of her favorite character–the Once and Forever Emperor–by heart. Inserting herself into the series and bending it to her will should be easy.
The only problem is that Rae has been keeping a secret: She has never read the entire series. It’s not her fault that chemo made it hard to focus on the first book. And who would blame her for thinking the romantic subplots are much less exciting than the gory battles and bloody deaths?
Except as the characters in the book turn out to have their own desires and personalities, Rae realizes she might need more than a sketchy timeline of the series if she wants to make it through alive. Especially when she sees that she’s entered the story as one of its most notorious (and shortest lived) villainesses.
So be it. Villains always dress better and give better speeches anyway. But as she assembles the story’s villains to rally them to her cause and get her own way, Rae has the disturbing suspicion that her life isn’t the only thing at stake with each change of the plot. Rae is ready to embrace her villain era provided she can survive long enough in Long Live Evil (2024) by Sarah Rees Brennan.
Long Live Evil is the first book in the Time of Iron series and the author’s adult fantasy debut. Shifting perspectives give readers a wide view of the story although most of the narration focuses on Rae’s point of view. Epigraphs at the start of each chapter present excerpts from the original Time of Iron series before Rae’s arrival begins to wreak havoc on multiple aspects of the plot.
This ambitious series starter operates on multiple levels with Rae manipulating and subverting fantasy tropes (“Boom. Holy prophecy.” anyone?) in her favor while also moving through still others in her own character arc. Entering the story as a villainess Rae is all too eager to lean into the opportunity to use her abundant feminine wiles. At the same time Rae also offers astute commentary questioning if a character who has been sexualized since she was fifteen–even in an epic high fantasy –ever truly has enough agency to make those kinds of decisions for herself.
What starts as jokingly urging the series’ villains to unionize under Rae’s banner (the better for Rae to get what she needs to escape the story) soon turns to seeds of actual revolution as all of the characters begin to chafe under the pressures of their prescribed roles. The nature of fandom adds a further element to the story as Rae’s own vague familiarity of the series brings lasting–and very dangerous–consequences to her own future and the rest of the world she’s entered.
High action and syncopated banter showcase Rees Brennan’s dynamic writing. These moments of levity contrast sharply with Rae’s intimate meditations on her illness and rapidly declining health as she is forced to decide repeatedly how far she’ll go in this fantasy world for a chance to live longer in her real one. To talk more about the characters Rae meets in Time of Iron is to risk spoilers but suffice to say readers will understand Rae’s obsession with the Emperor and the hype around the series by the end.
Long Live Evil is a deliciously fun fantasy and a stunning work of meta fiction. Come for the high level fantasy world building and characterization, stay for the feminist themes and humor that imbue both. Highly recommended.
Possible Pairings: The Witch Who Trades With Death by CM Alongi, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews, The Empress by Kristin Cast, Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson, Mistress of Lies by KM Enright, The Deathless One by Emma Hamm, Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz, The Half King by Melissa Landers, The Scarlet Throne by Amy Leow, Assitant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam, The Awakening by Caroline Peckham, Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis, Starter Villain by John Scalzi, Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
Sara Chae knows she has a winning idea with her new app: One Last Word. When it becomes clear her bosses disagree, Sara writes her resignation on the office whiteboard and strikes out on her own.
One Last Word is designed to send messages to loved ones after you pass. The branding needs work and Sara desperately needs some backing. But the app itself is working well in beta testing.
That is until another Sara Chae dies and her obituary triggers the app to send a series of messages Sara wrote after a night out drinking with encouragement from her younger sister Jia.
The message to her parents included a lot of things that Sara probably should have said to them a while ago and while they aren’t speaking to her, maybe that will help with establishing the boundaries that she wrote they had been sorely lacking. Sara is less circumspect about the message that went out to her former best friend who ghosted her. Especially when that message also goes unanswered and unacknowledged. Then there’s the message to Sara’s high school crush Harry Shim. Not only does Harry reply, it turns out he is still as funny and good looking as Sara remembers. Not to mention now being a superstar in the venture capitalist world.
Entering a venture capital mentorship program gets a lot more complicated when Sara finds out that Harry works closely with her mentor. Overwhelmed by nostalgia for her past crush and the heady promise that they might have even stronger chemistry now, Sara isn’t sure how to keep her mind on her app or the million things she needs to do to get it to launch.
Sara’s app was supposed to give people the chance to have the last word but as Sara navigates her overbearing parents, Jia’s well-meaning meddling, a friend breakup that might not be as broken as Sara thought, plus her intense feelings for Harry, Sara soon realizes that a lot of the people in her life still have a lot to say in One Last Word (2024) by Suzanne Park.
One Last Word is a standalone novel set in Silicon Beach, California. Sara’s first person narration is filled with snappy humor as she navigates both sexist and racist remarks in the tech and venture capital worlds with aplomb (and only one message written in sharpie on a white board). Sara’s interpersonal struggles will be immediately relatable to readers as she works on establishing boundaries with her parents and taking ownership of the role she played in her painful friend breakup.
Set over the course of the fast-paced competition, Sara is supported throughout by well-developed secondary characters notably including her best friend and app developer, Casey. With rom-com moments aplenty, One Last Word is a breezy romance that proves actions speak louder than words. Recommended.
Possible Pairings: Rachel Weiss’s Group Chat by Lauren Appelbaum, Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur, Unromance by Erin Connor, And Then There Was You by Sophie Cousins, Perfect Fit by Clare Gilmore, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han, Funny Story by Emily Henry, Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis, Miss Matched by Wendy Million, It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan, Accidentally Amy by Lynn Painter, Text Appeal by Amber Roberts, The Launch Date by Annabelle Slator, Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead, Annie Knows Everything by Rachel Wood,
Ieva Litvinavičienė is a Data Analyst at Vilnius University Library. In this post, she summarises her experience at the LIS-Bibliometrics 2025 conference, held on the 26th of November 2025. The event brought together a vibrant community of bibliometrics researchers and practitioners for a day of insightful discussions and knowledge sharing. Thanks to the Travel Scholarship 2025, Ieva was able to attend in person and now reflects on the moments and learnings from the conference.
If you missed your chance to join LIS-Bibliometrics 2025, the annual conference for library and information professionals, researchers, and practitioners working with bibliometrics and research evaluation, I have something to share with you. If you have participated in the conference (in person or virtually) I also have something to share with you. And, yes, these are my personal handpicked moments from the event.
Decisions matter, and the reasoning behind them even more. Much like Alice in Wonderland, who once asked, “Where does this path lead?” and was reminded, “That depends on where you want to go,” our choices follow the same principle: only by knowing our destination can we choose the right path. What do I mean by this? The theme of the conference was Bibliometrics in Action. All three keynote speakers offered focused and thoughtful perspectives on how we can pursue our goals in different ways while staying purposeful and aligned with real needs. In many ways, action was the lighthouse guiding the entire programme.
Photo taken during the LIS-Bibliometrics Conference at St. Martin’s by Merinne Whitton
The first keynote speaker, Dr Leslie D McIntosh, began her talk by introducing herself and immediately posed the question: “Why should you care, and why should you believe who I am?” This was the first call for action, a reminder to reflect on the often-unquestioned reasons behind trust. In the context of open science, it is crucial to consider who holds the authority to speak and be trusted. Questioning and critical thinking are essential and should never be overlooked. Throughout her presentation, Dr McIntosh used a vivid water metaphor: open science is like water. It is not always meant for drinking, sometimes it is meant for swimming. When a participant asked at which stage of the publication life cycle scientometrics should be applied, she replied that it should be present at every stage, again turning to the water analogy: if you have a pond, birds gather, and the water becomes dirty; it requires constant care.
Amelie Church from Sorbonne University shared the institution’s major decisions, the reasons behind them, and the direction they are taking. Sorbonne University unsubscribed from Web of Science and withdrew from the Times Higher Education rankings, noting that such rankings do not provide a clear or meaningful picture of a university. This prompted an important question: what criteria should we truly want to be evaluated on? Their focus shifted toward a strong open science policy, encouraged by national government initiatives. Although the transition required significant preparation and effort, it was a change the university genuinely sought. This perspective offered a compelling example of how institutions can redefine their direction and this is an inspiring illustration of Bibliometrics in Action. This highlights how strategic choices can reshape not only evaluation practices but also the values that guide academic communities.
In the third keynote session, Dr Juan Gorraiz from the University of Vienna explored numerous current issues in bibliometrics. What stood out to me most was his reminder, of course, based on practical experience about what truly matters when conducting bibliometric analyses. He emphasized the importance of using diverse sources to gain broader context, combining traditional databases with information from open access data sources, and tailoring each analysis to specific objectives and audiences. Although bibliometric analyses may look similar, a one‑size‑fits‑all template is not an option. Each analysis is unique and requires thoughtful adaptation, adjustment, and refinement. Another key takeaway was that bibliometrics offers a valuable opportunity to strengthen academic libraries by enabling them to deliver innovative, high‑value, and customized services.
During the conference, there was an opportunity to listen to other interesting presentations about topics relevant to bibliometrics and practical examples. Onsite participants also took part in a workshop led by Barbara S. Lancho Barrantes (University of Brighton), where we discussed how to strengthen research integrity through bibliometric skills. One example that struck me most showed how a single character can change everything: http ≠ https. The journal Jökull had a predatory duplicate version, and the only difference between the legitimate and hijacked websites was the missing s in “https”. The predatory version even appeared first in Google search results. This case demonstrated why attention to detail, regular fact‑checking, and strong bibliometric skills are essential for avoiding misleading or harmful situations. It also reminded us that such skills must be continuously updated, and our vigilance strengthened through shared knowledge and community practice. Ultimately, this experience highlighted why thoughtful, hands-on bibliometric work is crucial for building a trustworthy research environment, just as the ongoing exchange of insights within the bibliometrics community plays a vital role.
I will not end with conclusions here. I invite you to take action. If you are unsure where to begin, start by forming your own impression of the conference. Revisit the materials, identify the insights that feel most useful for your work, and let one of them shape your next step.
Ieva Litvinavičienė is a Data Analyst at Vilnius University Library, working in the Scientific Information and Data Division. Her responsibilities are directly related to analytics in the bibliometric area: she conducts analysis and reports at the university level, specific units, or for other ad-hoc needs. She began her career in this field 2 years ago, but data analysis and visualization were relevant also to her previous positions. Ieva’s recent professional growth has been shaped by participation in training, webinars, summer school, conferences, and other community events. Having acquired the core competencies needed for bibliometric work, she is now focused on further deepening her knowledge, expanding connections within the bibliometrics community, and contributing to the exchange of insights and best practices.
The Trouble with Leo by Matthew Fairbairn and Michelle Assassarakorn
The Library of Amorlin by Kalynn Josephson (audio)
Mothers and Other Strangers by Corey Ann Haydu (owned)
Project Zero TBR:
TBR at the start of the month: 139
TBR at the end of the month: 138
Owned books at the start of the month: 412
Owned books at the end of month: 414
TBR at the start of 2026: 147
Owned books at the start of 2026: 406
(Find more details on @princesschapters‘ Instagram.)
I’ll be marking owned books above to keep myself honest although I won’t be tracking books I give away. I’ll also be posting a monthly to read stack over on Instagram.
It’s been a long month, guys. Although my mom’s infusion was moved up a week, the recovery still squarely fell into April and also needed a lot of follow up appointments which wears us both out. She needed an additional course of prednisone to get her skin back under control but it’s finally healing properly. The DVT blood clot she developed last year is also gone so she no longer needs blood thinners which is great news.
I have been trying to do more fun things so I ended March seeing Corey Ann Haydu launch her adult debut with my friend Estelle. This month I got to attend an author panel with my absolute favorite Sarah Beth Durst (as well as Rebecca Thorne, Naima Simone, and Maddie Martinez who were all delightful) and I visited a new-to-me stationery store (Greenwich Letterpress–super cute!). I also am wrapping up a two month, three retailer saga to get new glasses and contact lenses which is ending with me buying the exact same glasses I had but with a new prescription. I also got to meet a friend IRL after working together on a virtual committee and celebrate one of my oldest friend’s promotion/engagement/new apartment (they had a big year!) which were good reminders that this is the whole point.
Work had a literal garbage fire outside of my office which left the space uninhabitable for a week. I absolutely ordered a dumpster fire figurine to mark the occasion because of course I did. Wanting to stay out of the fumes in the office also reminded me to take more walks with friends at work and to take advantage of being so close to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden which has been absolutely stunning this month.
Unfortunately in the midst of all that, I also had a mono flareup and needed my own course of prednisone. I’m finally feeling more myself and am trying to internalize that I am going to be dealing with chronic fatigue and mono symptoms for the rest of my life since the virus never leaves your body and since I definitely have a strong reaction to it. Even knowing that sometimes it’s hard to remember that there is a reason I’m feeling so rundown and so not myself.
My reading was very up and down as a result. I stopped updating my goodreads (where I track books to read, books I’ve read, and books I own) at some point last year. Maybe when my mom was in the hospital, it’s not really clear. But I keep finding books I own that I never added and books I absolutely always planned to read that I never marked as such. Oh well.
This was a losing money month. It happens. I had to take a lot of unpaid time off work. I had a lot of expenses from March. Things will even out but it’s frustrating. I’m trying to give myself grace and draw a line under it. A new month is a new start.
After completing the Immortality Trials to heal her mother’s soul, Àn’yīng is now at the center of the war the demonic Kingdom of Night wages against the immortal Kingdom of Sky and the mortal Kingdom of Rivers. To turn the tides of war, Àn’yīng must claim her inheritance to rally an immortal army and turn the tides of the war before it’s too late–even as she struggles to understand her newly discovered magical powers.
At the same time she has to confront her complicated feelings for Hào’yáng–her “boy in the jade” who has watched over her since they were children communicating across realms through their shared magical amulet–and Yù’chén–the boy who protected her during the trials and stole her heart before the truth of his identity changed everything. With the fate of all three realms hanging in the balance Àn’yīng will have to decide once and for all how much she is willing to sacrifice in the name of duty in The Dragon and the Sun Lotus (2026) by Amélie Wen Zhao.
This duology conclusion picks up shortly after the events of book one building particularly on the romantic tension set up in The Scorpion and the Night Blossom (read my review). Primarily narrated by Àn’yīng, the story moves from one dramatic moment to the next as the decade-long war nears its final battle and Àn’yīng navigates her equally treacherous feelings for the two love interests Hào’yáng and Yù’chén. Hurt by Yù’chén’s betrayal and unsure if Hào’yáng’s overtures come from true romantic feelings or a sense of obligation, Àn’yīng struggles to decipher her own heart. Her dreams of a time of peace between the realms where halflings like half-mortal, half-demon Yù’chén can live freely drive Àn’yīng forward in the face of multiple obstacles and doubts.
Chapters narrated by Yù’chén add nuance to his character arc in the Kingdom of Night and makes Àn’yīng’s choice between the two love interests even more torturous (for herself and for readers!).
Zhao expertly navigates both the love triangle and the action-heavy plot as Àn’yīng embraces her destiny to help end the war. The Dragon and the Sun Lotus is an excellent, if sometimes bittersweet, conclusion to a sweeping story filled with romance, drama, and adventure.
Possible Pairings: The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco, Daughter of the Underworld by Katharine Corr and Elizabeth Corr, Song of the Six Realms by Judy I. Lin, Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalo, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh, A Touch of Blood by Sajni Patel, Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson, Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar
*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration*
Symposium on colonial photographic archives at Erasmus University Rotterdam, 27 May 2026
How do family photographs carry the weight of colonial history and how can they help us reimagine it? This hybrid symposium brings together researchers, artists, and storytellers to explore colonial visual legacies, this time within the context of family. Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication invites you to visit “Visual Legacies – Family and Photographic Archives” on Wednesday 27 May, 15:00–17:00, at Erasmus Education Lab or join online.
Building on earlier sessions of Visual Legacies that centre colonial photographic archives and their contemporary afterlives, this event examines the family as a site through which colonial visual legacies can be revisited and reworked. Focussing on scholarly research and artistic practices, we explore how family narratives, personal archives, and intimate details are mobilised to engage with broader postcolonial and diasporic histories. We ask how researchers and artists engage with their familial photographic archives, and how these private images are transformed when they become part of institutional or scholarly frameworks. What are the ethical, affective, and political questions that may arise? How do practices of writing, collecting, archiving, or exhibiting reframe intimacy, care, ownership and responsibility? By foregrounding visual practices that intersect private and public memories, the event explores how working with and through one’s family attends to inheritance, loss, and nostalgia, as well as creates space for re-imagining the hegemonic patterns of colonial photography.
The symposium will feature an introduction by Charlotte Bruns (Erasmus University Rotterdam), followed by talks by Kamila Krakowska Rodrigues (Leiden University) who will introduce the archival project, “Keeping/Discarding”, which uses digital storytelling and visualisation to rethink some of the premises of archives. Two speakers from this project will reflect on their interventions in relation to the theme of ‘Visual Legacies – Family and photographic archives’. Jonathan Tjien Fooh (VU Amsterdam) and Sandra Khor Manickam (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Leiden University) will consider their use of photography in reshaping family histories and the questions such interventions raise. Lastly, the symposium will welcome Tenee Attoh, photographer and founder of Mixedracefaces to present a selection of photographs and stories from the visual storytelling platform and cultural organization focusing on themes such as identity, belonging, and labels. After the presentations, we invite the audience to participate in the Q&A and podium discussion, led by Lise Zurné.
For more information and registration for the symposium, please visit the event website of Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Calisto has grown up outside of time. All time travelers know about the town of Pocket–the perfect place to recharge, resupply, and plan a new route to or from their hometime. A meeting ground for travelers from everywhere, Pocket is also home to their grandmother’s shop Costumes for Time Travelers. Using her significant gifts as a tailor, Calisto’s grandmother has spent years building up the shop as the only destination in pocket for travelers seeking to outfit themselves appropriately for a different time. Apprenticing in the shop, Calisto dreams of one day taking over and continuing their grandmother’s legacy. Many of Calisto’s siblings think it’s a small life and even sometimes her mothers and father, but it’s the only life Calisto has ever wanted.
Until Calisto’s grandmother disappears leaving only the instruction to leave the shop closed for the first time in its existence.
Fawkes has grown up all over time. Gifted with the rare–and incredibly dangerous–ability to travel between time without help of predetermined paths or special time boots, Fawkes has been bouncing between times for longer than he can remember. Constantly untethered, never certain of where he will land next, Fawkes’ one constant has been rare glimpses of Calisto. Fawkes is always running. Usually away from people who want to use him. But also, it seems to him, to Calisto.
When they meet for the first time Fawkes already knows Calisto will be important to him. And Calisto knows meeting Fawkes is going to change everything in their quiet life.
Searching for answers together will bring Fawkes and Calisto from the relative safety of Pocket to Shakespeare’s London, ancient Crete, and even the distant future in Costumes for Time Travelers (2025) by A. R. Capetta.
Costumes for Time Travelers is a standalone cozy fantasy that shifts between nonbinary Calisto and trans Fawkes’ perspectives as the two teens unravel their complex relationship while also working to save Pocket and its neighboring time travel roads.
Capetta ably builds the romantic tension between Calisto and Fawkes from immediate attraction and fascination into a deeper relationship while navigating the fact that Fawkes has known Calisto for years while Calisto is meeting him for the first time. Fawkes’ untethered upbringing contrasts sharply with the supportive, queer, and polyamorous family in which Calisto grew up. These differences also underscore the inherently kind atmosphere in Pocket–something also imbued into the close third person narrative voice.
Costumes for Time Travelers is a gentle high concept fantasy centering queer characters and found family; perfect for readers seeking a cozy adventure.
Possible Pairings: Where Shadows Bloom by Catherine Bakewell, Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches by Kayla Cottingham, The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst, Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield, Moth Dark by Kika Hatzopoulou, Deadly Ever After by Brittany Johnson, Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by CB Lee, Dream By the Shadows by Logan Karlie, A Cruel Thirst by Angela Montoya, Everything She Does is Magic by Bridget Morrissey, Stealing Infinity by Alyson Noel, Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue, Where Futures End by Parker Peevyhouse, Right Where We Belong by Farah Penn, The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick, Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven, Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Lillie Vale
*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration*
One year from now in “When We Asked the Impossible” Dylan is desperate to believe that there is more out there and that he can be more himself if only he can get back to the tantalizing world that haunts his childhood memories.
Ten years from now in “When We Were TV” Brixney is positive she can get her brother, and by extension herself, out of a debtor’s colony. All she needs is more views on her social media feed. An unexpected visitor to Flavor Foam could be exactly what she needs.
Thirty years from now in “When We Went High-Concept” Epony is running out of ways to save her family when their town is flooded. Soon she’s forced into an impossible position, her entire online presence erased and her life inextricably altered in a bid to go high-concept.
Sixty years from now in “When We Could Hardly Contain Ourselves” Reef struggles to survive while finding distraction if not comfort in the virtual game playing out across the city’s streets. Until it all goes wrong.
One hundred years from now in “When We Ended it All” Quinn embarks on her coming-of-age quest to find a token to bring back for a husband she isn’t sure she wants. During her travels she meets a stranger. On the first day Quinn will tell her story. On the second day he will tell his story and things will begin to come together. On the third day, one of them will die. Quinn will choose who.
Five people. Five stories. Two worlds. One moment they have all been moving toward in Where Futures End (2016) by Parker Peevyhouse.
This ambitious novel is broken into five interconnected sections that work on their own as short stories and seamlessly come together to create a larger narrative of a world and its mutable future.
Where Futures End strikes a fine balance between science fiction and fantasy as readers and characters try to reconcile a changing world with basis in scientific fact with the wondrous consequences of those changes.
This eerily prescient book is filled with distinct and haunting characters as well as rich and intricate world building. Where Futures End is a smart and thoughtful book that is perfect for readers looking to completely immerse themselves in a story. Ideal for readers who enjoy tales of portal fantasies, parallel worlds or alternate universes, and short science fiction. Highly recommended.
Possible Pairings: All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson, Costumes for Time Travelers by A.R. Capetta, Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore, The Magicians by Lev Grossman; All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis; This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone; The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories by Maggie Stiefvater, Brenna Yovanoff, Tessa Gratton; The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick
“This is the first thing Eric Seven notices about Blessed Island. There will be many other strange things that he will notice, before the forgetting takes hold of him, but that will come later.”
In June 2073, Eric Seven arrives at Blessed Island chasing a story. It isn’t the first time his work as a journalist has brought him to the far reaches of society. Nor is it the first time he has encountered strange locals.
But as Eric investigates the mysterious island and a rare flower rumored to be found there, Eric also begins to feel an unexpected familiarity toward the island–especially toward a local woman named Merle.
As Eric and Merle come closer to the truth it becomes apparent that their journey, if it is a journey, is only just beginning. Or perhaps just nearing its conclusion in Midwinterblood (2011) by Marcus Sedgwick.
Midwinterblood was the winner of the Printz Award in 2014.
Midwinterblood presents seven intersecting stories of love, loss and rebirth in this deceptively slim volume. Although the stories vary in scope, all are grounded firmly in the landscape of Blessed Island where the more things change, the more some constants remain the same.
These stories span time and theme ranging from the unique problems faced by an archaeologist hoping to unearth a find to make a career to a story of two children in a viking colony plagued by an impossible monster. The loves presented here come in all forms with varying results for those involved.
Sedgwick presents a carefully plotted and delicate story over the course of this novel. It is very rare for a book to work as well when read forwards as it does read backwards, but Midwinterblood does just that. With plot points that transcend individual stories this is a rich, meditative story that begs to be read and read again.
Possible Pairings: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, Costumes for Time Travelers by A.R. Capetta, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, The Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher, Eventide by Sarah Goodman, The Lost Sun by Tessa Gratton, The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He, Mortal Fire by Elizabeth Knox, The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan, Sabriel by Garth Nix, Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
“It was all the same thing; the same sign, and now she knew what it meant.”
In a time before modern history, a girl tries to use a charred stick and ochre to make magic with disastrous results. Staring at the spiral shapes found everywhere in nature, she begins to grasp the enormity–the power–that can be found in written marks.
Centuries later, Anna hopes to care for her brother after her mother’s death only to have the entire town turn against her. As she fights rumors and increasingly vocal accusations that she is a witch, Anna too begins to see hidden meaning in the spiral found in their traditional spiral dance that begins to appear everywhere.
In the twentieth century an American poet watches the ocean from within the walls of an inhospitable asylum. He can see the shapes there too. Spirals. Helixes. Shapes that have become emblematic of the horrors he can scarcely fathom.
Keir Bowman knows, in the distant future, that he will become an astronaut on a desperate mission to colonize a new planet. He knows he will keep looking forward. What Bowman can’t guess is that in hurtling himself through space, he will also move toward his destiny and an understanding of these spirals that march through history in The Ghosts of Heaven (2015) by Marcus Sedgwick.
The Ghosts of Heaven is a standalone novel in the same style as Sedgwick’s Printz Award winnerMidwinterblood.
After an introduction from the author, The Ghosts of Heaven includes four short stories titled “Whispers in the Dark,” “The Witch in the Water,” “The Easiest Room in Hell,” and “The Song of Destiny.” As the introduction explains, these stories can be read in any order. (I read them in the order given in the book which is also the order listed above.)
The Ghosts of Heaven is an incredibly smart and ambitious novel. The stories here span a variety of genres and forms as they work together to convey a larger meaning.
“Whispers in the Dark” is told in sparse verse as a girl begins to make sense of written words and forms.
“The Witch in the Water” returns to more traditional prose as the story watches the hysteria and fear that fed the fires of witch accusations and trials in the seventeenth century. This segment also demonstrates how much of the novel deals with unequal power dynamics–in this case as Anna tries to work around much unwanted attention.
“The Easiest Room in Hell” brings readers to an asylum on Long Island where supposedly revolutionary treatments highlight the arcane and unfeeling nature of much mental health care in the early twentieth century. This story also underscores the fine line that can exist between creativity and madness.
Finally in “The Song of Destiny” Sedgwick brings the golden ratio (and the Fibonacci sequence) to the forefront in this solitary and meditative story as all of the vignettes come together in a conclusion with surprising revelations about the spirals and their ultimate meaning.
Sedgwick weaves subtle references between each quarter to make sure that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts as readers–along with the characters–move toward a larger understanding over the course of the entire novel.
The Ghosts of Heaven is a startling, clever and life-affirming novel that pushes the written word to its limit as Sedgwick expertly demonstrates the many ways in which a story can be told.
Possible Pairings: All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson, All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry, Plain Kate by Erin Bow, Costumes for Time Travelers by A.R. Capetta, Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore, Wildthorn by Jane Eagland, The Curiosities by Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater and Brenna Yovanoff; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, Folly by Marthe Jocelyn, Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones, These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix, Where Futures End by Parker Peevyhouse, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, In the Shadow of Blackbirds of Cat Winters
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