AAP and allies filed a second amicus brief in support of Texas public library patron plaintiffs in Little v. Llano County following the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ order of a full court rehearing of its June 6, 2024 decision. That earlier decision largely—but not entirely—upheld a preliminary injunction against the unconstitutional removal of 17 books from the shelves of the Llano County public library system. The brief authors include the Association of American Publishers, The Authors Guild, publishers of books removed from Llano County public library shelves including Candlewick Press, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishing, Penguin Random House, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks, and prominent authors Steven King and James Patterson.

The Book Manufacturers’ Institute (BMI) released the December results for its monthly survey on capacity and lead times for soft cover and hard cover books.. This month held fairly steady on capacities but showed lead times continuing to decline. According to responses regarding hard cover books, the average manufacturer was running at 82% of their capacity, equal to October and November. The average lead time for completed hard cover books went down to 50 days from 59 days, continuing the trend. For soft cover books, capacity usage stayed similar at 82% compared to 81% last month. The average lead time dropped to 33 days from 38 days, continuing that trend as well.

All timber originating from Russia and Belarus is ‘conflict timber’ and therefore cannot be used in PEFC-certified products, the Board of PEFC International clarified today. PEFC is extremely concerned about the Russian government's attack on Ukraine. The military invasion is in direct opposition to our core values. This aggression causes unspeakable and unacceptable pain and death to innocent people, including women and children. It also has an immediate and long-term destructive impact on the environment, on forests, and on the many people that depend on forests for their livelihoods. The clarification that timber from Russia and Belarus is conflict timber follows an extraordinary meeting by the PEFC International Board to discuss Mr Putin's military aggression against Ukraine and its implications for PEFC and PEFC-certified forest owners and companies.