Started by the American Library Association in 1958, National Library Week is meant to promote every library in America. Before that, states had their own "state library weeks." The goal is, and has always been to give libraries, especially smaller libraries with smaller budgets, a central theme and marketing materials to increase awareness of Libraries. It is also meant to celebrate the accomplishments of librarians and libraries.
Libraries have celebrated with many different events: open houses, movie screenings, book discussions, raffles, scavenger hunts and more. Heck, a few years ago we had an after hours rock concert!
The choice of themes has been interesting. In 1958 it was, "Wake up and Read," which was used the following year, then slightly adapted in 1960 to, "Open wonderful new worlds...wake up and read." The theme seems to be altered slightly each year. By 1974 it had morphed into,"Information Power," which bred the following year's awkwardly worded, "Information Power at the library? At the Library." The Internet finally made its influence known in 1997 with the inclusion of the @ symbol. "Kids connect @ the Library." The @ symbol has been used in every theme since then.
This year's theme is "Worlds Connect @ Your Library."
In 2003 it was decided that each Tuesday of National Library Week would be designated as National Library Worker's Day. Hey that's today! I for one am glad I get to work with everyone here at the library. You couldn't ask for a better bunch of co-workers. Thanks guys (and gals)! More on National Library Worker's Day later...
Thanks to these online resources: Library History Buff, RensSearch, American Library Association
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