05 Apr National Library Week

National Library Week (April 3 – 9, 2022) is a time to celebrate our nation’s libraries, library workers’ contributions and promote library use and support.

My first  job at the age of 13 was a page at the local library. When someone would ask me what I wanted to when I grew up, I would always say I wanted to own a library.  Of course, no one owns a library-the library is the heart of the community and owned by everyone in that community-but I always wanted to be an owner of something and the library was my favorite place in the world.   I remember the smell of the library, of cellophane, mildewed books, carpet cleaner and ink and to this day I know the Dewey Decimal System and which shelf housed VC Andrews or Louis Lamour.  The job was boring to my 13 year old self and I would pull my cart to the back of the shelves to take a nap but I loved the library and I still do.

Did you know that:

There are more public libraries than Starbucks in the U.S. – a total of 16,568, including branches. Nearly 100% of public libraries provide Wi-Fi and have no-fee access to
computers.

In 2016, there were 1.4 billion in-person visits to public libraries across the U.S., the equivalent of about 4 million visits each day. That’s 2,664 per minute.

There were 113 million attendees at public library programs in 2016, more than all Major League Baseball, National Football League, and NBA games combined.

Unfortunately, library staff in every state faced an unprecedented number of attempts to ban books. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 729 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2021, resulting in more than 1,597 individual book challenges or removals. Most targeted books were by or about Black or LGBTQIA+ persons.  As a business owner but unfortunately not a libary owner,  I am fully invested in diversity and inclusion-banning books is antithetical to building a community where all are recognized and celebrated.

Thank you to librarians and libraries for your integral place in our world and to The Guilderland Free Library for my first job and for my love of books.  Find more about our amazing libraries at https://nationaltoday.com/national-library-week/

And write your congressman at https://cqrcengage.com/ala/app/write-a-letter?0&engagementId=514122 to #fundlibraries.