Libraries Respond to Communities Hit by Hurricanes
Hurricanes have devastated the southeastern United States this month, and libraries and library associations are stepping up to help their communities in the aftermath.
White House Recognizes Library Efforts to Combat Opioid Crisis
The Biden-Harris administration announced October 8 the participants of the White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose, a nationwide call-to-action for organizations to increase training on and access to life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone. The American Library Association (ALA) is one of more than 250 organizations and businesses that have made voluntary commitments to the challenge.
It’s Banned Books Week! Help Protect the Freedom to Read
It’s Banned Books Week, when libraries, schools, bookstores, groups, and individuals around the world—including Banned Books Week Honorary Chair filmmaker Ava DuVernay—call attention to censorship and ways to fight it. Here’s how you can get involved.
New Survey Looks at Evolving Tech Trends in Libraries
This week, the Public Library Association published its 2023 Public Library Technology Survey report which looks at emerging trends around technology, patron resources, infrastructure, digital literacy, and staffing in U.S. public libraries. This data is vital to understanding how libraries serve as hubs of knowledge and innovation and evolve to meet community needs.
The report addresses questions such as: How are library professionals advancing digital equity in their communities? What types of technology devices do libraries loan to patrons, and are more or fewer libraries offering these items compared to 2020? What are the primary challenges libraries face in providing technology resources and services?
Take Action for Your Library This Election Year
From Congress to local library boards, our elected officials need to hear from library supporters at all levels of government—especially during election years. To launch ALA’s new Reader, Voter, Ready campaign, we’re asking library advocates to pledge to get informed, get registered, and get ready to vote!
Get Involved! Become a Library Trustee
Want to get involved in your library at a higher level? Consider becoming a library trustee. Library trustees are powerful advocates for libraries. Through the coordination, hard work, and determination of trustees, new libraries have been built, budgets have been restored and increased, and new respect has been generated for the powerful role libraries play in communities and on campuses.
Who You Gonna Call? Libraries and Open Access Are Busting Misinformation Ghosts
Within the walls of the library, or more often now, behind the authentication screen, is expertly researched and peer-reviewed scholarly literature that can help anyone make important decisions about their health or habits or inform their understanding of complex social problems. Unless you have a university login, however, you may not be able to access that scholarship or use it to improve your personal and professional life. Even those fortunate enough to have institutional access can’t get everything, not even at the richest universities.
New Data Shows Record Surge of Book Challenges in Public Libraries
On September 20, the American Library Association (ALA) released new preliminary data that documents the continued rise in attempts to censor books and materials in public, school, and academic libraries during the first eight months in 2023. The data shows that, between January 1 and August 31, 2023, ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom reported 695 attempts to censor library materials and services and documented challenges to 1,915 unique titles. The number of unique titles challenged has increased by 20% from the same reporting period in 2022, the year in which the highest number of book challenges occurred since ALA began compiling this data more than 20 years ago.
ALA Condemns Violence at U.S. Libraries
On September 12, libraries in Chicago and neighboring Aurora, Addison, and Evanston, Illinois, received bomb threats. After investigations, no explosive devices were found at the libraries, but some of the facilities were evacuated and remained closed for the day.
The threats are part of an increase in violence targeted at libraries and librarians across the U.S. The American Library Association has released a statement condeming the actions.
California Governor Pens Love Letter to Libraries
We’re still buzzing from National Library Week (NLW), which wrapped on Saturday, April 29. The awareness, advocacy, and love for libraries, librarians, and library workers that we saw throughout the country was outstanding. While it would be a near-impossible task for us to highlight every single way that libraries were championed during NLW 2023, one instance stood out for us.
In addition to officially proclaiming April 23-29, 2023, to be “California Library Week,” California Governor Gavin Newsom penned a love letter to the “nation’s hardworking librarians” at the close of NLW, thanking them for their service and for changing the lives of people everywhere-himself included. We’d be lying if we said the letter didn’t bring a tear to our eyes. Here it is, in full.
To our nation’s hardworking librarians-
You share words with the world, and as we close out National Library Week, I want to share two words with you: Thank you.
In my childhood, I struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia. Books and words weren’t just difficult to read-they felt entirely out of reach. Without them, my world was far smaller than it could have been: I avoided classrooms and libraries for reasons I couldn’t fully understand or articulate. But as I grew, my world did too. Through support, advice, and mentorship from specialists, educators, and librarians too numerous to list, I didn’t just fall in love with words… my life started revolving around them. Because people-people like you-took the time to care about me, to show me the power of words and the power of books, I was able to find my footing in business, service, and eventually, elected office. I am in your debt.
You helped get me here. And my story isn’t unique. Librarians change lives every day. Your impact goes far beyond book recommendations (although, you have recommended many great books over the years). You help us start new chapters at every stage of our lives, showing us the magic of reading as children, and teaching us new skills in our golden years. You are the heart of our communities, providing a way out and a way up for those unsure of where they’re going-including those who are unhoused, unemployed, or simply looking for a new path.
You guard the sanctity of our pasts, good and bad, as you shepherd the possibilities of our tomorrows.
And yet, despite your indispensable contributions-or perhaps because of them-you have become the target of unjust attacks across the nation. Idealogues and demagogues are attacking you for championing diversity, inclusion, and equity-for making sure our children and all people belong. You are facing censorship, battling record numbers of book bans and challenges, as you defend free access to literary works, especially those written by authors who are often targeted: LGBTQ+ writers, writers of color, and those daring to challenge the status quo.
It is more important than ever that we have your back and that we ensure and expand access to public libraries and defend your essential role in preserving freedom. We must refuse to dabble in the zealotry of whitewashing literature and banning books. And in California, we are. Together, we’ve accomplished some incredible things: investing hundreds of millions to equitably improve and modernize your workplaces; working to preserve and share our historically and culturally significant materials by investing in library digitization; renovating and enhancing the Jewish Family and Children’s Services Holocaust Center Library and Archives building; expanding and diversifying our library resources to promote health and wellness and reflect our multilingual and multicultural communities; and beyond. We’ve even worked with Dolly Parton to establish a Statewide Imagination Library.
In California, we know libraries hold more than books-so much more. Libraries, and librarians, stand at the crossroads of opportunity and information, acting as gateways to online job training and educational upskilling programs; to state parks by enabling people to check out a parks pass, regardless of income; and to food through free lunch programs. And above all else, our library walls hold the most valuable treasure: you.
So, I will continue to stand up for you – and stand up to those that get in your way. California has your back, because you’ve always had ours. You’ve always had mine.
I know from my own challenges with dyslexia that when we help people read, we help them succeed. You do that every day. The value of a librarian is inestimable-you go beyond books, and even beyond knowledge. You open the doors to possibility. To opportunity, imagination, and the pursuit of freedom. I’ve experienced it firsthand.
This National Library Week, and always, thank you.
In gratitude,
Gavin Newsom
Governor of California
Thanks to Governor Newsom-and many other governors and state leaders-for celebrating and providing incredible visibility for libraries during NLW. Keep the love going throughout the year!
Photo: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons
