Sponsored by the National Book Committee, Inc., and in cooperation with the American Library Association, the first National Library Week was launched March 16–22, 1958. Citing a 1957 survey showing that only 17% of Americans polled were reading a book, the inaugural National Library Week slogan was “Wake Up and Read!”
In March 2022, the American Library Association (ALA) announced a new project in partnership with the Association for Rural & Small Libraries, under ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities initiative, to expand support for hundreds of small and rural libraries across the country.
It’s National Library Week, the weeklong celebration of the important role libraries and library workers play in schools and communities across the United States. It also marks the release of ALA’s 2026 State of America’s Libraries Report and the highly anticipated Top 11 Most Challenged Books List.
This National Library Week, we are invited to “Find Your Joy.” The joy found in libraries isn’t incidental. Library joy is built intentionally, collectively, and often against the odds.
For this installment of our weekly book reviews from Booklist, the American Library Association’s nationally distributed book and media review publication, we have Donna Seaman’s review of “The War Within a War: The Black Struggle in Vietnam and at Home” by Wil Haygood.
Belén (N.M.) Public Library was awarded two rounds of grant funding via ALA’s Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities initiative. Those dollars have helped the library reach its goal of becoming a safe place for everyone—including those with mobility disabilities, low vision or blindness, hearing loss, and those who are neurodivergent.
This National Library Week, celebrated April 19-25, we want to know: What brings you library joy? Show us with your original creative work and you could win a $150 VISA gift card or an ALA READ poster!
For this installment of our weekly book reviews from Booklist, the American Library Association’s nationally distributed book and media review publication, we have Diego Báez’s review of “In the Blood” by Carl Phillips.
On April 6, a federal court granted the Trump Administration’s request to withdraw its appeal of a federal judge’s earlier ruling that struck down the Administration’s dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services—the only federal agency dedicated to providing funding for the nation’s libraries.
The proposed Fiscal Year 2027 federal budget released April 3 by the White House would cut funding for the only federal agency dedicated to supporting all types of libraries, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the school library program Innovative Approaches to Literacy, and several library-eligible programs.
