National Library Week is coming right up, celebrated this year April 7-13 with the theme Libraries = Strong Communities. As you are no doubt aware, since 1958, the American Library Association has set aside this special week every year in April in order to highlight library efforts throughout the nation. Melinda Gates chairs the week this year.<\/p>\n
As part of National Library Week\u2019s festivities, the State of America\u2019s Library Report will be released and will include the Top Ten Frequently Challenged Books of 2018, as published annually by the Office for Intellectual Freedom. Also that week, on Tuesday, April 9, National Library Workers Day (NLWD) is celebrated and provides an opportunity to recognize the hard work of all library employees. Wednesday, April 10 is National Bookmobile Day and Thursday, April 11 is Take Action for Libraries Day.<\/p>\n
Naturally, having a week dedicated to highlighting our efforts on a national scale provides enumerable opportunities for advocacy. The week is, in and of itself, a form of advocacy. Take Action for Libraries Day, as an obvious example, includes the hashtag #MyLibraryMyStory which is an easy way to get patrons with children to tell a story about how bringing families to the library positively impacts their lives. Similarly, NLWD allows us to nominate library workers as \u201cstars\u201d (head to ala-apa.org\/nlwd<\/a>) which would be a great way to promote librarians and other staff on social media. Maddie, a 4 \u00bd year old from Erie, Pennsylvania says, \u201cAmos is a star because he is funny and I like him alot [sic].\u201d<\/p>\nOpportunities<\/h3>\n