Celebrating April 6-12

This is a grand celebration week for library staff, trustees, Friends, and patrons everywhere—it’s National Library Week April 6-12!  Recognized nationwide, NLW is a wonderful time to showcase the valuable services that libraries contribute in communities across the country.

The first National Library Week was observed in 1958 with the theme "Wake Up and Read!" The 2025 celebration marks the 67th NLW anniversary using the theme “Drawn to the Library.” 

From the project website “Millions of people across the country visit their libraries every week. What’s the draw? Everything!! From young families stopping in for play and storytimes, to students sketching out their next creative project in a makerspace, to seniors seeking tech help and everyone in between, libraries of all kinds help us connect the dots from one part of our journey to the next.

Chart your next literary adventure by browsing the stacks or joining a book club. Let an author color your imagination at an author talk, trace your history with your library’s genealogy resources. Make your mark and get involved with your library by volunteering or spreading the word!”

What are your National Library Week plans?  Holding Open Houses, distributing bookmarks and treats throughout the week, offering give-aways and prizes are all great ways to acknowledge National Library Week.  In addition, ALA has designated these days for special recognition, perfect for programming, displays, social media posts, and all kinds of promos 

Monday April 7: Right to Read Day is a National Day of Action in support of the right to read. The State of America's Libraries Report is released this day as well, an annual publication that includes the Top Ten Most Challenged Books in the country in the previous year.

Tuesday April 8: National Library Workers Day, a great opportunity to celebrate your library staff by publicly acknowledging their contributions to your library service

Wednesday April 9: National Library Outreach Day, a day to celebrate outreach services and programming, showcasing library workers who are meeting their patrons in schools, community centers, farmers markets … so many places

Thursday April 10: Take Action for Libraries Day, urging library advocates to in turn urge members of Congress to protect the freedom to read for free citizens in a free society.

Since the 2025 NLW theme is Drawn to the Library, why not ask your patrons what draws them into your library? In fact, there are notecards available at the button below asking that very question!  You can customize them in a variety of ways, then share your patrons’ answers on your social media, on bulletin boards, in creative displays. 

Whatever draws them in, the library has
something for everyone! 

Celebrate National Library Week 

At 15 Locations Statewide

A popular annual event comes back around in the  Merry Month of May--Director Roundtables.  The 2025 Director Roundtables will give attendees an opportunity to further dig into our education theme for this year: Assess, Adapt, Act.

With that focus, we’ll explore strategies for assessing library services and the critical connections between staff performance reviews, program evaluations, and board engagement.

Director Roundtables will be held in-person at 15 locations across the state, with at least two offerings in each District. Each will be worth 3 hours of CE Credit.  Find your preferred date and location on our webpage linked below, then register in WorkDay Learning. The 2025 Director Roundtable discussion topics are expected to include:

• Performance: Translating staff and board training into action plans
• Programming: Defining a “successful” program and knowing if you’ve met your goals
• Planning: Evaluating services like library spaces and your long-term strategic plan

Join your fellow library directors to share insights, experiences, and success stories about the actions you've taken to improve your library using evaluations or assessments. In addition to these discussions, these Roundtables allow time for open-ended conversation on topics of interest to attendees.

Director Roundtables: Register Today!

On May 16: Slow Productivity

The second title in this year’s Big Ideas Book Discussion series is Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport (c2024)  Named one of the best books of 2024 by The Economist and by NPR, this Big Ideas session is scheduled for May 16, 2025 (9:30-11:00AM)

Cal Newport has written several books dealing with today’s workplace, among them Deep Work, Digital Minimalism, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, and A World Without Email. 

In his newest book Slow Productivity, he challenges the mindset that motivates many tech companies to “move fast and break things.” Instead, his advice leads readers and workers to an easier place by adopting these three principles:

 (1) Do Fewer Things

 (2) Work at a Natural Pace

 (3) Obsess Over Quality

In exploring the ideas in this book, we hope to encourage librarians and their patrons to find ways to slow down, build up mental health, and say “goodbye” to busyness.

Of this book, one reviewer writes: "If you are stretched thin and having trouble getting everything done, you need to speed up, right? Wrong. In Slow Productivity, Cal Newport does what he does best, delivering counterintuitive secrets that just might save your career and sanity."  Arthur C. Brooks, author of Build the Life You Want

About 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, customer service, technology’s impact, etc. we connect those ideas with public library service.  Participants are encouraged to purchase books used throughout the Big Ideas series for local collections.  

Plan to meet us in ZOOM when we’ll discuss Slow Productivity!

Big Ideas Book Discussion: Register Today!

PopYS Live.  Volunteens: Making the Most of Teen Engagement @ Your Library.
April 9th. Online 1:00PM.

We’ll discuss the benefits to both libraries and teens, recruitment best practices, and how to manage teen volunteers. A well-structured teen volunteer program not only benefits the library but also empowers the next generation of library users and supporters!

Register in WorkDay Learning

New Director Meet-Up

The next New Director Meet-Up is next Tuesday  April 15^th at 1:00PM.  Our rationale behind New Director Meet-Ups is this: District Consultants team up to build upon our initial orientation visits by inviting all new directors to join us in ZOOM.  This is a great chance to extend our early conversations with new people by meeting online and offering the chance to talk about library management issues in more detail.  

This is very informal; we’ll have some questions teed up, but this is really your chance for Q&A with us and with each other.  Plus, we also see this as a great way to introduce you new directors to each other, inside and outside of your own District. 

And what do we consider "new?"  We're thinking people who have been on the job for about 1 year, although that question is really best answered by you. If you've been working abit longer than that, but would like to feel more connection with colleagues, this will be time well spent 😊

Save the Date and join us on April 15^thfor New Director Meet-Ups! 
No registration necessary, ZOOM link below.

Meet-Up ZOOM Room