National Library Week 2022: A Gentle Reminder to Visit Your Local Library
When was the last time you visited your local library? These community gems are crucial for families and educators, particularly when schools lack the resources to provide a broader range of reading material and culturally responsive books. From April 3-9, 2022, schools and communities across the U.S. recognized National Library Week: a weeklong celebration of the educational and social role of libraries. This week, we’re outlining 4 ways you can celebrate your local library all year long.
1. Visit your local library!
All too often, we forget that the library is just around the corner. As part of National LIbrary Week, local libraries across the U.S. marketed themselves as free resources for connecting with new technology, media, community programs, and classes: all of this, in addition to free books! Well-stocked school and public libraries - and qualified librarians - are essential to dispersing more information about the science of reading, while giving students and families safe spaces to connect with their communities and cultivate a love for reading.
2. #UniteAgainstBookBans
At the beginning of National Library Week 2022, the State of America’s Libraries Report highlighted the Top Ten Most Challenged Books of 2021. In response to the report, the (ALA) initiated a national campaign to Unite Against Book Bans, noting that there were 729 attempted book bans in 2021. The ALA believes that book bans harm communities by preventing students from accessing critical information about themselves and the world around them. If you’re a concerned parent, teacher, or simply an avid reader, you can sign up to join the campaign against book bans - and, in turn, the campaign for widespread access to socially impactful and relevant literature.
3. Promote and follow your local library on social media.
As more states shift toward reading curricula and textbooks rooted in the science of reading, libraries play an essential role in sharing science-based reading strategies with more families and teachers. Follow your local library on social media so you don’t miss out on any of their diverse offerings and trainings for community members and educators. To stay up to date, consider following the ALA on Twitter @ALALibrary, Facebook @AmericanLibraryAssociation, and on Instagram @americanlibraryassociation.
4. Invest in public and school libraries.
Many reading teachers recognize the immediate need to better fund both school and public libraries, particularly as communities reallocate educational funds in response to COVID-19. Nonprofits such as EveryLibrary are working to fill the gap between state funding and the immediate literary needs of reading students and teachers. In addition to signing relevant petitions and donating to the ALA, you can support healthy libraries by urging your elected officials to #FundLibraries for Fiscal Year 2023.
Our libraries need our support to continue transforming lives and strengthening our communities. At Reading Teacher, we view National Library Week as a yearlong celebration: one that recognizes our collective effort to share the science and social impact of reading with more teachers, families, and students.
Take-Aways:
- The ALA recently celebrated National Library Week, an annual recognition of the work of libraries, librarians, and library workers.
- Based on ALA suggestions, we propose 4 key ways to better support libraries:
- Visit more frequently!
- Unite against book bans
- Engage with your library on social media
- Advocate for better funding of public and school libraries
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