Welcome back, library friends. I have a mega list of library news for October, including updates and think pieces to keep you at the top of your circulation and reference game. Also included is a huge roundup of horror, mystery, and Gothic book lists to keep your October displays stocked.
Let’s dive in to all things October library news.
Library Updates
- Kentucky school districts are finding higher checkout rates when cell phones have been banned.
- Are library eBooks really hurting sales?
- Clarivate has a new global library trends report on AI usage.
- Want to borrow a dinosaur fossil? (Of course you do!) Try California’s one-of-a-kind taxidermy lending library.
- How rural libraries build diverse collections.
- Great professional development tools, databases, and courses for library workers.
- 9 excellent book and reading apps for kids.
Censorship Updates
- Librarians who are suing their former employers over wrongful termination are winning.
- How to check your sources when it comes to censorship.
- PEN America’s latest report: A new state list underscores the astonishing state of book bans across Florida.
- Related: a Florida official has demanded more school book bans.
- How Florida students are pushing right-wingers out of school boards.
- The Cobb County School District (GA) has removed The Bluest Eye from all middle school and high school libraries.
- Former Rutherford County (TN) library director Luanne James has filed a lawsuit against the library board for unlawful termination tied to First Amendment violations.
- The Shawnee County (KS) GOP is trying to get multiple children’s books removed or relocated from the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.
New & Upcoming Titles
- Emily Henry is publishing a new romance novel, Modern Classic, in September of next year.
- Ian McEwan announces his first nonfiction title.
- Tara Westover, author of the mega-bestselling memoir Educated, is publishing a new memoir in 2027.
- 20 new fiction books getting major awards buzz.
- The ultimate Fall 2026 reading list.
Book Adaptations In the News
- Roxane Gay’s memoir Hunger has been adapted for Lifetime.
- Penn Badgley is starring in the adaptation of Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone.
- Stephen King’s short story, “Crouch End,” will be getting a limited series adaptation at Amazon Prime.
- The Netflix adaptation of Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze will premiere on December 2nd.
- Peacock has ordered a series adaptation of Kennedy Ryan’s Before I Let Go (bonus: here’s a guide to reading Kennedy Ryan’s books).
- Netflix has ordered a Lonesome Dove series.
- Robert Egger’s latest movie is an adaptation of Romeo & Juliet.
- Captain Marvel directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are directing the adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere. Here’s everything we know so far about the Atmosphere adaptation.
- AMC+ has picked up series rights to Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg.
Fall-Themed and Creepy Book Lists
- Spooky and not-so-spooky picture books for Halloween.
- The best YA thrillers to get your heart racing.
- Queer dark academia.
- 6 excellent mystery and thriller graphic novels.
- 8 unique takes on vampire stories.
- 8 femgore novels that reveal the women of horror can be just as monstrous as the patriarchy.
- Fall-themed comics.
- 9 terrifying Native American and Indigenous horror novels to welcome fall.
- WTF-level thrillers and crime novels.
- 8 nonfiction books that are just as terrifying as horror.
- 5 horror novels influenced by dark fairy tales.
- 5 Lovecraftian books that aren’t weighed down by Lovecraft’s baggage.
- The best Gothic horror set around the globe.
- Gothic mysteries and thrillers for the haunted at heart.
- 5 underrated books with queer vampires.
- Horror comics about small towns.
- 7 modern takes on folkloric monsters.
- 31 of the best books to read for Halloween.
- 8 tales that feature supernatural and otherworldly houses.
- 13 witchy books to read this fall.
- 5 books where the horror masks a deeper fear.
- 7 of the best horror retellings.
- Horror books for fans of The Traitors.
Want even more library world talk? Enjoy this fun look at library and bookstore pets.