Like so many other anticipated events, National Library Week—April 19-25—is sure to be treated quite differently this year. U.S. libraries will have to forego NLW open houses in favor of focusing on social media promotions.
Since 1958, the American Library Association has sponsored National Library Week, observed each April by public, school, and academic libraries. It is a national effort to showcase the important presence of libraries in American life. From ALA “…just as libraries are pivoting in response to the current situation, ALA is changing the focus of its annual NLW celebration. The theme “Find Your Place at the Library,” was chosen before the emergence of the global pandemic. To acknowledge our altered landscape, ALA flipped the script a bit on that theme. “Find the Library at Your Place” is an alternate motto, helping to highlight how libraries are offering virtual services and digital content their communities need now more than ever…”
While this year the place can’t be physical, it can definitely be virtual. Here are some ideas to recognize National Library Week 2020:
ALA Tip Sheet
ALA’s National Library Week website has this unassuming tip sheet titled “20 Easy Ways to Participate in NLW 2020.” These really are easy ways, guaranteed not to overwhelm.
National Library Workers' Day
Tuesday April 21 is National Library Workers’ Day. Use the hash tag #NLWD20 to move your staff recognition online. It’s a great time to thank library staff for their work throughout the year, especially now as they provide creative and caring service during this health crisis.
Libraries Transform
The Libraries Transform website has dozens of new BECAUSE statements, many of them especially significant these days. BECAUSE statements are messages that stress the contributions of all types of libraries. Here are just a few, all available for downloading,
- Because 5 million students can’t access broadband at home
- Because learning happens 24/7
- Because librarians know that information is the best medicine for health care questions
The State of America's Libraries Report
ALA’s “State of America’s Libraries Report” is available and downloadable today. Each year during NLW, this report offers a summary of national trends and issues affecting all types of libraries during the past year. The report also includes the annual feature "Top 10 Most Challenged Books List" compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom. In addition, there are themed days throughout the week including National Library Workers Day (Tuesday), National Bookmobile Day (Wednesday), and Take Action For Libraries Day (Thursday
Olympic ice skaters Maia and Alex Shibutani serve as NLW 2020 honorary chairs. Find a video clip of them, along with all manner of digital graphics, press releases, and posters available at the National Library Week website
Offering Free Resources
A few weeks ago, the Eye-Opener showcased examples of how library staff have been stepping up with care and creativity, providing a surprising level of service despite building closures. Today a look at how vendors are stepping up by providing free resources or reduced pricing during this health crisis.
TumbleBooks
TumbleBooks, a world leader in online children’s book databases, is making its collection free to all libraries until at least August 31. Its flagship product, TumbleBook Library is a collection of animated talking picture books, read-alongs, books, quizzes, lesson plans, and educational games used by thousands of schools and public libraries in over 100 countries across the world. Simply email
info@tumblebooks.com with subject line Free TumbleBooks in order to receive free links to all five of its databases so they can be shared and accessed by patrons from home.
Author Dav Pilkey
Children’s author Dav Pilkey of the Captain Underpants books is collaborating with the Library of Congress to offer a new video on Friday mornings (7:00AM CST) The videos include free activities will be available online including how-to-draw demonstrations, engaging read-a-louds and inspiring resources from the Library’s collections. Additional videos and content will be shared periodically throughout the week and will feature downloadable activities, conversations about books and creativity, and tips for kids and families to create their own characters and act out scenes from Pilkey’s Dog Man book series. Read more here https://www.loc.gov/
Booklist
The magazine Booklist has made all of its content at Booklist Online freely available until further notice. The April 15th issue is ready to read.
BookBrowse
This online readers’ advisory site has a free newsletter, but more content is available to paid subscribers. However, BookBrowse is making its premium content available to librarians and patrons until the end of May. If interested for your library staff—or to provide complimentary access for your patrons--complete the form here https://www.bookbrowse.com/lib/ and the company will send a login and password to share with your colleagues and patrons within two days.
United For Libraries
United for Libraries is a division of the American Library Association devoted to the interests of library trustees, Friends Groups, and foundations. Some of their material is free, some is available to members. From now until June 30th, United For Libraries has opened its online discussion forum without the requirement of membership. The discussion forum provided library boards, Friends, and foundation members as a place to share experiences and questions. Online conversations with library staff has surged in recent weeks, how about this virtual space for boards.
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Upstream by Dan Heath
The next Big Ideas Book Discussion is scheduled for May 29th (9:30-11:00AM) when we'll take up the title Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen (c2020)
by Dan Heath.
From Amazon “…So often in life, we get stuck in a cycle of response. We put out fires. We deal with emergencies. We stay downstream, handling one problem after another, but we never make our way upstream to fix the systems that caused the problems. Cops chase robbers, doctors treat patients with chronic illnesses, and call-center reps address customer complaints. But many crimes, chronic illnesses, and customer complaints are preventable. So why do our efforts skew so heavily toward reaction rather than prevention? New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Moments and Made to Stick, Dan Heath delivers practical solutions for preventing problems rather than reacting to them…”
In Big Ideas Book Discussions, State Library staff and guest stars facilitate discussions using books outside of library management, but with plenty of application to library management. Choosing books on leadership, civic engagement, customer service, presentation skills, etc. we’ll connect those ideas with public library service. In addition to a great assortment of non-fiction titles there are other spin-off benefits of Big Ideas:
- Titles help with collection development for participating libraries
- Titles are good choices for local book discussion groups
- This program serves as another model for how to facilitate local book discussions
We encourage participants to purchase books used throughout the Big Ideas series for your own collection. Join us for the next good read Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen And this time around, plan to use to your computer mic
or your headset to talk in breakout rooms!
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