In her role as honorary chair of National Library Week, author, editor, library and literacy advocate Caroline Kennedy visited with students at Sanislo Elementary School library in Seattle on April 8 to discuss the power of poetry and libraries. The visit was timed in conjunction with April’s School Library Month.

Kennedy met with Sanislo Elementary librarian and AASL member Craig Seasholes (pictured above) and first through third grade students in Sanislo’s poetry club. She also shared from her recent book, “Poems to Learn by Heart,” published by Disney-Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Publishing Worldwide. Students also shared some their favorite poems, including Janet Wong’s “Liberty.”

When Kennedy asked the students what they love about the library, one boy responded, “Reading makes me happy, and makes my brain work better.”

“You are showing everyone that kids like poems, they like to read and they like to share with friends,” Kennedy told the students.

Photos are courtesy of Seattle Public Schools. More great photos of Caroline Kennedy visiting with students are available on the @ your library Facebook page.

Kennedy is also making an appearance at Horace Mann Elementary library in California’s Beverly Hills Unified District.

In addition to her school library visits, Kennedy appears in two TV public service announcements that are running on the Disney Channel. Approximately 1.4 million viewers see the PSAs every time they air. Kennedy appears in the PSA with the star of Disney Channel’s “Austin and Ally,” Laura Marano. They discuss the value and opportunities available at libraries.

Librarians can watch the PSAs by visiting the National Library Week website and link to the PSAs or embed them on their own websites, blogs or Facebook pages.

Free customizable print and digital PSAs featuring Kennedy are also available on the National Library Week website. Print PSAs are available for librarians to download and feature National Library Week theme, Communities matter @ your library, for use in local newspapers, library newsletters, websites and blogs. ALA offers customization of the print PSA; a library’s logo can be added at no cost.

The PSAs complement National Library Week products offered by ALA Graphics. In addition to a poster and bookmark, a mini poster and downloadable graphics are available.

Other promotional tools for National Library Week include a sample proclamation, press release and letter to the editor, as well as scripts for use in radio PSAs. Two other radio PSAs in mp3 format are also download-ready.

National Library Week and School Library Month are initiatives of the American Library Association (ALA) and are celebrated by libraries across the country each April.  It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use.

The American Library Association’s Campaign for America’s Libraries is a public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe – participate. The Campaign is made possible by ALA’s Library Champions.

For additional information, please contact Jennifer Habley, Manager of Web Communications for the American Association for School Librarians (AASL), a division of ALA, at jhabley@ala.org, or Megan McFarlane Campaign Coordinator for the Campaign for America’s Libraries, at mmcfarlane@ala.org.

Kennedy appears in the PSA with the star of Disney’s “Austin and Ally,” Laura Marano, discussing the value and opportunities available at libraries.

Librarians can access the PSAs from the National Library Week website or the atyourlibrary.org YouTube channel, where the videos can be downloaded or embedded for use on their websites, blogs or Facebook pages.

In addition to the video PSAs, free customizable print and digital public service announcements (PSAs) featuring Caroline Kennedy are also available on the National Library Week website.  Print PSAs are available for librarians to download and feature National Library Week theme, Communities matter @ your library, for use in local newspapers, library newsletters, websites and blogs. ALA offers customization of the print PSA; a library’s logo can be added at no cost.

More information is on the National Library Week webpage.

The PSAs complement National Library Week products offered by ALA Graphics. In addition to a poster and bookmark, a mini poster and downloadable graphics are available.

Other promotional tools for National Library Week include a sample proclamation, press release and letter to the editor, as well as scripts for use in radio PSAs. Two other radio PSAs in mp3 format are also download-ready.

An advocate for reading, literacy and libraries, Kennedy has written or edited 10 bestselling books on American history, politics and poetry. Her latest book, “Poems to Learn by Heart” from Disney-Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Publishing Worldwide, with original illustrations by award-winning artist Jon J Muth—is a companion to her New York Times No. 1 bestselling collection “A Family of Poems.”

National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use.

The American Library Association’s Campaign for America’s Libraries (www.ala.org/@yourlibrary) is a public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe – participate. The Campaign is made possible by ALA’s Library Champions.

As part of the Auditorium Speaker Series at the American Library Association’s 2013 Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, Caroline Kennedy, Honorary Chair of 2013 National Library Week, spoke to an enthusiastic crowd about her passion for libraries and the role that reading and poetry  has played in her family’s lives.

Kennedy said that all types of  libraries are, “tabernacles of personal freedom: freedom of thought, freedom of expression,  freedom of opportunity and the  true test of liberty – freedom to dissent,” and noted that, “Libraries have a critical role in teaching the higher order thinking skills that students need under the Common Core curriculum, and the research techniques  and analytics that are so critical in the information age.”

Video of Caroline Kennedy’s speech is available online.

Celebrate National Library Week  2013 (April 14-20) with Honorary Chair Caroline Kennedy. View 2013 National Library Week Public Service Announcement featuring Caroline Kennedy.

From a sign that librarianship was a calling to the culmination of a lifetime of work, winning the 2012 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award meant something different to each of the winners.

Each receives a $5,000 cash award and will be honored at a ceremony and reception in New York, hosted by The New York Times, on Dec. 18. Robert K. Massie, winner of the 2012 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, for his work, Catherine the Great, Portrait of a Woman will make remarks at the ceremony.

In their nominations, library patrons told stories of how their librarians make a difference in their communities.  This year’s winners include a librarian who coordinates her library’s mail-a-book program for homebound patrons, a bilingual librarian who specializes in outreach to her community’s Latino population and a college librarian who transformed her library into a supportive, 21st century research space.

Nominations were open to librarians working in public, school, college, community college and university libraries.  Fifty librarians nationwide have won the I Love My Librarian award since 2008.

The award is a collaborative program of Carnegie Corporation of New York, The New York Times and the American Library Association (ALA).

Commenting on the 2012 winners, Vartan Gregorian, President of Carnegie Corporation and Past President of the New York Public Library said, “The existence and the welfare of the library are of paramount importance in the life of a society, in the life of a community, the life of a school and a college, the life of a city, and the life of a nation. Indeed, libraries are a central part of our society. They are a critical component in the free exchange of information, which is at the heart of our democracy. In both an actual and symbolic sense, the library—and hence librarians—are the guardians of freedom of thought and freedom of choice.”

“The 1,500 nominations that library users nationwide sent in for this award tell a clear story: that librarians make a difference every day in the lives of their patrons and that libraries are vital to their communities,” said Maureen Sullivan, President of the American Library Association.

Members of the 2012 I Love My Librarian selection committee include Molly Raphael, ALA past president and committee chair; Dr. Rookaya Bawa, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Carl A. Harvey II, past president of the American Association of School Librarians, a division of ALA; Diane McNulty, The New York Times; Joyce L. Ogburn, past president of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of ALA; and Eva Poole, President of the Public Library Association, a division of ALA.

About Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation’s work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy.  For more information visit: www.carnegie.org

About The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading global, multimedia news and information company with 2011 revenues of $2.3 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, NYTimes.com, BostonGlobe.com, Boston.com and related properties. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news and information.

About the American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA), the voice of America’s libraries, is the oldest, largest and most influential library association in the world. Its approximately 60,000 members are primarily librarians but also trustees, publishers and other library supporters. The association represents all types of libraries; its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information.

The ALA administered the award through the Campaign for America’s Libraries, ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians.

As Honorary Chair, Kennedy will appear in public service announcements (PSAs) promoting National Library Week. The PSAs, developed by the American Library Association’s Campaign for America’s Libraries, will be placed in magazines and online throughout the spring. ALA will also offer free customization of the PSAs for libraries.

An advocate for reading, literacy and libraries, Kennedy has written or edited 10 bestselling books on American history, politics and poetry. Her latest book, “Poems to Learn by Heart”—due to be published in March 2013 from Disney-Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Publishing Worldwide with original illustrations by award-winning artist Jon J Muth—is a companion to her New York Times #1 best-selling collection “A Family of Poems.”

In addition, Kennedy is scheduled to speak at the 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27. More information regarding her appearance is available on the ALA Midwinter Meeting website.

In December 2011, Kennedy spoke at the Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award ceremony in New York City. . In that speech, she said that many librarians she has met are “professionals who are excited about their changing role in a changing world – who are dedicated to serving others, who respect scholarship, and who understand that you are our guides on a lifelong journey of intellectual collaboration and collaborative composition… . Your work is truly life changing.”

The American Library Association’s Campaign for America’s Libraries (www.ala.org/@yourlibrary) is a public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe – participate. The Campaign is made possible by ALA’s Library Champions.

Stuart Wolf’s father and son will join him on a trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. at the end of October for a once-in-a-lifetime behind-the-scenes tour of the library and archives.

With a father who worked for the Chicago White Sox, Wolf was destined to love baseball.  A love of baseball continues to unite the Wolf family, despite cheering for different Chicago teams. In fact, it was both his love of  family and baseball that lead Wolf to ultimately enter this year’s Step Up to the Plate contest 10 out of the program’s 14-week running time.

“I had recently asked my dad what he would like for his birthday, and he told me he had always wanted to go to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum,” said Wolf. “Two days later, I saw the sign at my library for Step Up to the Plate.”

In addition to the museum tour, the Wolf family will attend the museum’s World Series Gala.

Not only does the Wolf family have a passion for baseball, but a deep admiration for libraries, attending programs, checking out books and using library resources to do research for work and school at the Wilmette (Ill.) Public Library. One of the family’s favorite activities is renting DVD sets of TV shows that they watch together.

“I am impressed by everything my library has to offer,” said Wolf. “As a family, we are very fortunate to have such a great library that provides resources for all our different needs.”

Developed by ALA’s Campaign for America’s Libraries and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Step Up to the Plate @ your library teamed up two American classics—libraries and baseball—to promote libraries and librarians as essential information resources.

Step Up to the Plate @ your library is part of the Campaign for America’s Libraries, ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe – use the Campaign’s @ your library® brand. The Campaign is made possible by ALA’s Library Champions, corporations and foundations.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, a Partner in the Campaign for America’s Libraries, is a not-for-profit educational institution dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the historical development of the game and its impact on our culture by collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting its collections for a global audience, as well as honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to our National Pastime.

For more information, visit atyourlibrary.org/baseball.

With students immersed in the school year and the cooler temperatures, the library is the place to check out both academic and extracurricular indoor programs this fall.

Below are just a few examples of what libraries across the country are doing when it comes to fall programming at their libraries.

This autumn, the Syosset (N.Y.) Public Library is focusing on getting area students ready not only for the current academic year, but also the following one with college prep programs. Recently under the title, Fall @ your library, the library announced its new fall line-up of courses, including classes on selecting the right college, university or community college, college application essays and financial aid. Bilingual classes are also available in Mandarin and Korean.

As the Memphis (Tenn.) Public Library points out in its What’s new @ your library newsletter, “cool weather does not mean you can’t do cool things,” which is certainly true of the library’s list of fall programs for teens. Fall programs range from the creative, with t-shirt reconstruction, poetry nights and zine publishing, to the more intellectual Bookstock: Memphis Area Authors’ Festival and Memphis Area College Fair.

Each fall, the Gwinnett (Ga.) County Public Library hosts Fall into the Arts, a celebration of literary, performing and visual arts. During this year’s celebration the library will engage members of the public and area artists with the Chair-ish the arts @ your library contest, during which individual and organizational groups will be challenged get creative and design artist chairs for display in the library.

In its Check it out @ your library newsletter, the Crete (Ill.) Public Library recently announced a change in its usual Fall Family Fun Fest by going back in time to host a Renaissance Faire. During the faire the library will host a Renaissance dress up, lessons on chivalry from knights and performances of Medieval and Celtic music.

The Campaign for America’s Libraries is the ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians.  Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe – use the Campaign’s @ your library® brand. The Campaign is made possible in part by ALA’s Library Champions.

Share what’s happening @ your library. Send your @ your library success stories and press releases to mmcfarlane@ala.org, and your library could be featured in an upcoming post.

Image credit: Autumn Leaf in Nagasaki by Marufish

This year’s program is a whole new ball game. With a greater emphasis on social media, people of all ages are encouraged to use the resources at their library to answer a series of trivia questions developed by Hall of Fame staff.

Each week a new trivia question will be posted on atyourlibrary.org/baseball. Players will have a week to visit their library to use the print and electronic resources to answer the question correctly. All correct answers will be entered for a weekly drawing for a prize pack from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

All correct answers provided throughout the season will be entered into a final grand-prize drawing for a chance to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to attend the World Series Gala and a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum and archives in Oct. 2012.

Libraries can post the questions on their own websites, Facebook and Twitter pages to have ready-made content throughout the summer and to plug in to the national contest.  Baseball-themed programming ideas and sample social media content are also be available on atyourlibrary.org/baseball.

Players and librarians can follow atyourlibrary.org on Twitter (@atyourlibrary) or Facebook (facebook.com/atyourlibrary) for updates and reminders about new questions and content available on atyourlibrary.org.

Developed by ALA’s Campaign for America’s Libraries and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Step Up to the Plate @ your library teams up two American classics—libraries and baseball—to promote libraries and librarians as essential information resources.

Step Up to the Plate is part of the Campaign for America’s Libraries ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types—across the country and around the globe—use the Campaign’s @ your library® brand. The Campaign is made possible by ALA’s Library Champions.

As many Americans continue to pinch pennies, bookmobile use has become more popular than ever. Bookmobiles bring a wealth of resources to users wherever they are, and on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 communities across America will celebrate our nation’s bookmobiles and the vital services they provide during National Bookmobile Day @ your library.

Celebrated during National Library Week (April 8 – 14), National Bookmobile Day recognizes and celebrates the role of bookmobiles and direct-delivery outreach services in fulfilling the mission of libraries. An integral and vital part of library service in the United States for over 100 years, bookmobiles provide access to information and technology and supply resources for life-long learning to Americans of all walks of life.

National Bookmobile Day also offers an opportunity for bookmobile fans to make their support known—through thanking bookmobile staff, writing a letter or e-mail to their libraries or voicing their support to community leaders.

Bookmobiles, like libraries, offer free access to the latest technology and materials to users of all ages. By offering the same quality services available in libraries, patrons can search the Web, take a computer class, participate in resume workshops, listen to preschool story hours or check out books and DVDs.

“In times of economic hardship, Americans turn to – and depend on – their libraries and librarians,” said ALA President Molly Raphael. “Bookmobiles ensure that while communities are in critical need of library services, everyone has access, no matter where they are – rural areas, cities or suburbs.”

Bookmobiles bring services where libraries can’t go, enabling library systems to reach and serve isolated communities and provide service to children, disabled adults, older adults, people with health issues and those who lack or cannot afford transportation.

Not only do they visit neighborhood stops and schools, but they also serve day care centers, elementary and high schools, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, hospitals, prisons and individual residences for home delivery.

Submitted by Jennifer Petersen, Public Information Office

National Library Workers Day is April 10, a day in which communities across the U.S. will recognize the contributions made by all library workers – including librarians, support staff and others who make library services possible.

Celebrated on the Tuesday of National Library Week (April 8-14, 2012), National Library Workers Day is sponsored by the ALA-APA, an organization that manages certification programs for library employees and advocates for better salaries and status for the library workforce, is the sponsor of National Library Workers Day. The day’s theme is “Libraries Work Because We Do!”

“Library workers play a vital role in helping patrons succeed in a digital world,” said Lorelle Swader, director of the ALA-APA. “From computer classes for seniors to resume workshops for job-seekers to assisting entrepreneurs with research, library employees are an invaluable asset to any community and National Library Workers Day is great way to recognize them for it.”

As more employers and government agencies provide information exclusively in a digital format, communities rely on public library staff and technology services more than ever. According to the American Library Association’s 2010-2011 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study, more than 72 percent of libraries report that library staff helped patrons complete online job applications. In fact, an estimated 300,000 people receive job-seeking help at public libraries each day.

Libraries don’t just offer the hardware, but also offer the expertise of librarians in helping teach their patrons how to use the Internet and find the information they need quickly. For example, during a typical week, academic libraries had more than 31 million searches in electronic databases, answered more than 469,000 reference questions, and made more than 12,000 group presentations attended by more than 219,000 students and faculty (ACRL Academic Library Trends and Statistics 2010).

Library patrons are encouraged to nominate “star” library employees for public recognition on the National Library Workers Day Website. Anyone may nominate a “Star” library worker or team for creativity, enthusiasm, customer service or that special something they add to a library. Stars can be anyone - students, workers or supervisors.

Submitted by Jennifer Petersen, Public Information Office

In the following article, which appeared under the title “The Unsung Heroes in our Schools,” Brad Meltzer, renowned author and host of The History Channel’s “Brad Meltzer’s Decoded,” writes about the urgent need to support school libraries.

I write about heroes.

I spent ten years writing the books “Heroes for My Daughter” and “Heroes for My Son,” to give my children examples of inspiring people whose virtues, talents and wisdom made them such great role models.

There were some famous heroes in those books, ranging from Abraham Lincoln to Lucille Ball. There were also lesser-known “regular” people. But regardless of their fame, they all proved that ordinary people change the world.

One of those ordinary people is my former English teacher Sheila Spicer.

When I was in ninth grade, Miss Spicer came up to me and said, “You can write.” She told me, “You’re in the wrong class. You need to be in the honors class.”

For the entire school year, she made me sit in a corner and do the honors work, rather than what she was teaching the other kids in the classroom.

What she was really telling me was, “You’re going to thank me later.”

A decade later, when my first novel was published, I knocked on her classroom door. I said, “My name is Brad Meltzer, and this novel is for you.” And she started crying.

When I asked why she was crying, she said, “I was going to retire this year because I thought I wasn’t having an impact anymore.” What amazed me most was she had no idea of her impact on me.

In our schools today, there are many Mrs. Spicers, teachers who work away from the spotlight, going about the business of inspiring their students to aspire to greatness.

This is especially true of our school librarians.

And as we celebrate National Library Week, it is important that we recognize the importance of school librarians.

School librarians transform lives through education and make it possible for students to thrive in a 21st century learning environment.

You will find them at places like Pine Grove Middle School, in the East Syracuse Minoa School District in New York, which received one of the “National School Library Program of the Year” awards from the American Association of School Librarians, a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

Librarian Sue Kowalski created areas for students to focus on graphic novels and drawing. Through her “iStaff” program, middle school students were able to act as tutors, reading advisors and event tech support, while assuming the role of ambassadors to visiting legislators.

School librarians play an integral role in their schools, collaborating with teachers on lesson plans, working with administrators to obtain grants and aiding students in using new media.

But like Mrs. Spicer, their vital work is largely unrecognized. What is worse, it is being compromised, as local, state and federal funding for school libraries continues to shrink.

While this might improve the bottom line for schools, it is depriving students of an equal opportunity to gather the skills necessary to learn, participate and compete in today’s world.

On the federal level, school libraries are facing an uphill battle.

President Obama’s proposed budget called for eliminating millions of dollars in funding to school libraries.

Recently thousands of library supporters signed a petition that was sent to President Obama. Written by Indiana school librarian Carl Harvey, it calls for every child in America to receive access to an effective school library program.

In particular, it calls for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to include a dedicated funding source for effective school library programs.

The petition drive was successful, but the future for school libraries hangs perilously in the balance.

When I see what is happening to school library budgets today, I am horrified to think that we live in a country where school librarians – with the power to inspire, as my former teacher inspired me – are considered expendable just for the sake of saving a few bucks.

Let’s not sacrifice our future. As policymakers and school administrators struggle with tough decisions, we as a nation must voice our support and advocate for funding, so that all children have access to 21st century school library programs.

We are a world starving for heroes. If you want to find them, support our school libraries.

In his role as Honorary Chair, Meltzer has also recorded the following Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for National Library Week. These are available to libraries and library supporters celebrating National Library Week.

Starting today and running through Wednesday, April 11, library users can submit their stories through Twitter using the #nlw6words tag. Stories will then be complied and available for judging through atyourlibrary.org. Six word stories should reflect the 2012 National Library Week theme, You belong @ your library.

The winning author will receive Season 1 of Brad Meltzer’s Decoded on DVD. Brad Meltzer is National Library Week Honorary Chair of National Library Week 2012.

Gaining popularity on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, six word stories, as the name implies, challenge authors to write a complete story in six words.

Library users interested in going more in depth about why they belong at your library are encouraged to submit their stories to You belong @ your library, atyourlibrary.org’s story database.   Seeded initially with stories collected from Woman’s Day magazine readers during ALA’s long-time partnership with the publication, library users can submit stories about why the library matters to them and how it has made a difference in their lives.  The stories are searchable by state, library type and keyword.

Atyourlibrary.org will post new content every day of National Library Week. Visit atyourlibrary.org’s Facebook page, follow @atyourlibrary on Twitter, and share your National Library Week activities with the hashtag #nlw12.

Atyourlibrary.org is part of the Campaign for America’s Libraries, ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe – use the Campaign’s @ your library® brand. The Campaign is made possible by ALA’s Library Champions, corporations and foundations.

National Library Week is a time when communities across the U.S. celebrate the valuable contributions of our nation’s libraries.  This year’s National Library Week theme is “You belong @ your library,” and libraries will offer programs and services that showcase technology and educational resources.

The Honorary Chair for this year’s National Library Week is best-selling author, television host and library advocate Brad Meltzer. The author of nine books and the host of the History Channel’s series “Decoded,” Meltzer credits libraries and librarians as the reason he became a writer.

Libraries continue to evolve and reflect the needs of the communities they serve.  Once mainly a source for books and research, libraries continue to enhance traditional services with technology resources

“As technology continues to shape commerce, education and social interaction, libraries play a key role in leveling the playing field for their users,” said ALA President Molly Raphael. “Libraries are transforming lives through education and lifelong learning, as free technology programs provide patrons with the tech skills needed to enhance economic opportunities and help communities thrive.”

Having basic computer skills is a necessity in today’s work force, yet many struggle with logging onto the Internet and using email and word processing software. In response, more than 87 percent of public libraries provide formal or informal technology training to library patrons.

During National Library Week the Cleveland Public Library will offer free PowerPoint classes teaching adults and seniors how to create slide presentations, while the Colorado River Indian Tribes Library will provide free Microsoft Office training and tips on how to surf the Web.

The Montana State Library Association is working with AARP Montana and local libraries to offer seniors a variety of workshops on using the Web while staying safe online.  Library staff will assist seniors with everything from privacy settings to applying for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits.

Patrons of all ages are turning to libraries for free access to ebooks and eReaders.  Ebooks are available at more than 67 percent of libraries, up 12 percent from just two years ago. Libraries like the Denver Public Library offer demonstrations on how to download library eBooks or eFlick to personal devices. Also more than 27 percent of public libraries offer eReaders for check out.

According to the ALA’s 2010-2011 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study, each day an estimated 300,000 people receive job-seeking help at public libraries. More than 74 percent of libraries offer software and other resources to help patrons create resumes and employment materials, and 72 percent of libraries report that staff helped patrons complete online job applications.

For example, the New York Public Library offers a class called “How to Ace the Interview,” in which a human resources and career management expert shares her experiences and gives advice about what makes a great interview. The library also offers various career workshops nearly every day from resume writing to career satisfaction to sustaining morale in a job search.

National Library Week events include:

• On Monday, April 9, the ALA’s Public Information Office will release Its “State of America’s Libraries Report.” The annual report is one of the most comprehensive library usage and funding trends reports available. The Report also will include the highly anticipated “Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2011.”

• Tuesday, April 10, is National Library Workers Day and libraries and communities will recognize librarians, support staff and others who make library service possible every day.

• Wednesday, April 11, is National Bookmobile Day, recognizes the role of bookmobiles and direct delivery outreach services. For more than 100 years, library bookmobiles continue to provide access to information and technology and supply resources for lifelong learning.

• Thursday, April 12, is Support Teen Literature Day and libraries will showcase their services and programs for young adult users.

For more in National Library Week events, stay tuned!

Throughout the month libraries will offer a variety of programs and activities honoring and celebrating the contribution of women in the past and present. Here are just a few examples of what libraries are doing.

Bentley University Library in Waltham, Mass. promotes Women’s History Month on its In the Know @ your library website. The site guides students and faculty to both electronic and print women’s history resources available from the library. Resources include research guides, a women’s studies database, films on demand and access to feminist classics like “The Feminine Mystique,” “Sisterhood is Powerful” and “Manifesta.”

Continuing its annual tradition of celebrating Women’s History Month, the Omaha (Neb.) Public Library is offering a series of free programs that celebrate the impact of women today and throughout history. This will include a visit from Nebraska state Sen. Gwen Howard and her daughter to discuss women in politics. Additional programming includes discussions on women and civil rights and the role women played in Western expansion, while female poets and artists will present their works.

In honor of Women’ History Month, the St. Louis Public Library is offering a suite of programs, including Authors @ your library presents: Jeannette Batz Cooperman. The program will focus on Cooperman’s new book “The St. Louis Women’s Exchange: 130 Years of the Gentle Art of Survival,” which discusses the roles women have played in the production and preservation of all forms of art throughout the city’s history.

West Babylon (N.Y.) Public Library promotes the importance of celebrating Women’s History Month to young library users with Celebrate Women’s History Month @ your library. During the month the library makes kid friendly resources available on its website and with a book display of important women through history.

The Cumberland County (N.C.) Public Library & Information Center recently reached out to the public in its weekly @ your library article titled “@ your library: March is the time to celebrate women.” In the article the library promotes a book discussion of women in literature.

The Connect with your kids @ your library Family Activity Guide is now available in Spanish.

This guide for parents provides tips for using library resources to create quality family time. Suggested activities, such as learning to manage money, exploring different cultures and living ‘green’, are grouped by theme: learn, explore, connect, play and create.

Connect with your kids @ your library promotes the library to parents as a trusted place to spend quality time with their children, reinforces the notion that taking children to the library is a sign of being a good parent and demonstrates the free high quality programs available at the library for parents and children.

The English version of Connect with your kids @ your library launched at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. The Spanish guide was made available online and in a printable PDF format at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in January.

Both the English and Spanish family activity guides are hosted online on ALA’s public awareness website, atyourlibrary.org. In addition to the guide, the Connect with your kids @ your library site includes a blog and stories from families that use the library together. Two video public service announcements (PSAs) are also posted on the site for sharing online.

The two PSAs, developed with a grant from Lifetime Networks, cable television media sponsor of the initiative, feature families engaging in activities such as reading together, going online and researching their family tree and are augmented with custom animation to convey the excitement of family adventures.

The campaign’s print media sponsor, Scholastic Parent & Child magazine, provides promotional ad support.

It is the newest outreach campaign developed by the Campaign for America’s Libraries, ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe – use the Campaign’s @ your library® brand. The Campaign is made possible in part by ALA’s Library Champions, corporations and foundations.

If you’re attending the ALA Midwinter Meeting, be sure to visit the Campaign for America’s Libraries’ exhibit space to and submit your programming ideas for National Library Week. You could win a set of National Library Week themed promotional materials. Librarians who are unable to attend the conference can also participate by visiting the online form and submitting their answers.

Programming ideas will be featured on the National Library Week website as a useful tool for other librarians looking for creative ways to use the National Library Week theme, You belong @ your library. Each idea will list the name of the librarian that submitted it and their library.

The Campaign for America’s Libraries’ exhibit space is located in Lobby A outside of the exhibit hall. Hours for the exhibit space are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Friday, Jan. 20, 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21 and Sunday, Jan. 22, and 7:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23.

All librarians looking for ways to promote National Library Week 2012 are encouraged to visit the National Library Week website at www.ala.org/nlw . Public service announcements (PSAs) featuring author, TV host and Honorary Chair of National Library Week, Brad Meltzer, are available for download.

As Honorary Chair, Meltzer appears in print and digital PSAs promoting National Library Week. The PSAs, developed by the American Library Association’s Campaign for America’s Libraries, will be placed in magazines and online throughout the spring. ALA also offers free customization of the PSA for libraries.

Additional promotional materials include a sample op-ed, proclamation, press release and scripts for use in radio ads. All incorporate the 2012 National Library Week theme, You belong @ your library. Tools are available at www.ala.org/nlw.

ALA Graphics products supporting National Library Week are also available, including a poster, bookmark and mini poster, as well as downloadable Web files and high resolution art files. All Graphics products can be purchased through the ALA Store.

Here are just a few examples of how libraries across the country are helping their communities start and succeed in attaining their New Year’s resolutions goals.

A common New Year’s resolution is to get in shape and lose some of the excess weight we have gained with the help of holiday cookies and parties. The Onondaga County Public Library of Syracuse, N.Y. offers yoga classes as part of its Explore health and fitness @ your library.  Open to adults of all ages and yoga experiences, the library hosts a free hour-long session with a certified yoga specialist for five weeks. The Roselle (Ill.) Public Library takes a different approach to Fitness and Diet Resources @ your library through its YouTube video discussing the variety of materials the library offers to patrons looking to slim down and get healthy, including exercise DVDs, workout guides and healthy cookbooks.

Another resolution that seems to be a byproduct of the holiday season is saving money. The Houston Public Library’s More Money @ your library program offers a series of financial literacy classes for adults, children and teens.  Class participants will learn about budgeting, savings, banking and checking basics and identity theft. The library has also created a space on its website that includes suggested reading lists, books, periodicals and databases, class schedules, links to other community resources and self-guided education modules available in both Spanish and English.

The Brookfield (Ill.) Public Library offers Volunteer @ your library for library users who have resolved to give back during the New Year. The website features listings for each of the library’s volunteer positions, responsibilities and qualifications.

A popular resolution among families is to spend more quality time together. The Campaign for America’s Libraries’ Connect with your kids @ your library campaign encourages just that idea. Check out the Connect with your kids @ your library librarian toolkit for ideas on how you can promote your library and library resources to families looking to spend more quality time together in the New Year.

This is a special year for Carnegie Corporation of New York because it marks the 100th anniversary of the foundation Andrew Carnegie created to carry out his philanthropy during his lifetime and to carry it forward into the future. During our century of work, one of our proudest achievements is the part that Carnegie Corporation played in the first major cause that Andrew Carnegie supported, and the one that was always closest to his heart: helping to build public libraries. Mr. Carnegie believed that libraries are essential to the strength and progress of American society because there are three critical purposes they serve. They democratize access to information and knowledge. They empower local communities. But most importantly, they empower individuals to fulfill their aspirations and their potential.

Libraries are among the first and most important institutions in all of civilization to embody the concept of lifelong education. After all, nobody can graduate from a library—or wants to! Libraries do not give out diplomas. Libraries have no graduation ceremonies and they do not give exams. The only condition a library asks its users to honor is to do justice to their own imagination, their own curiosity and their own thirst for knowledge, and in the process, to achieve their own independence of mind and spirit.

Libraries are also bridges that link the past, the present and the future. How fortunate we are to have these remarkable, almost magical bridges that we can cross back and forth on as we explore the times that have passed and dream of the days ahead of us, in the years to come. These bridges are inviting enough for an individual to stroll across and yet sturdy enough to support whole societies, whole nations.

And in that connection, let me remind us all that in America, which truly is a nation of immigrants, libraries are among the most important links that immigrants have between their native country and the country they have chosen to join. Libraries are a place of acculturation, of civic integration, of learning how to be part of America without losing the part of yourself that will always remember the place where you were born. Hence, libraries are an invaluable source of the materials that help immigrants to steep themselves in their past while also building their future. Libraries enable immigrants to join in the life of our nation while allowing us all the chance to universalize ourselves. And for those who have become assimilated, libraries are a way to return again and again to the banquet of their culture and to have their children share in that banquet, as well.

For all of us, libraries are both the symbol and the living expression not only of culture and history and learning, but also of the heritage of humankind. Walk down the aisles of a library and you are traveling through the record of civilization, its triumphs and failures, its legacy of intellectual, scientific and artistic achievements. Hence, the library represents humanity’s collective memory. It is more than just a repository: it is truly an instrument of civilization. The library is a laboratory of human inspirations, a window to the future, a wellspring of action. The library is a source of self-renewal. It is the link between the solitary individual and collective mankind. It represents our community. The library is the university of universities, containing the source and unity of knowledge.

Almost everyone’s life has been enriched by what they learned in a library. But libraries would not be the wonderful teaching and learning places that they are without librarians. And that is why we are here tonight: to celebrate librarians, who are the true keepers of the flame of knowledge. Librarians are our guides to knowledge, the ones who classify and clarify, authenticate and actualize our desire to find the tools we need to educate ourselves and to become educated individuals. Even in the age of the Internet, librarians are the men and women who help us to find our way along the electronic highway, and there are no more intellectually rigorous, imaginative, and professional tour guides one could find, online or off.

Indeed, that is the business of librarians: to help us find where we are going in life. And perhaps to go even further than that, because they are also in the immortality business as well as the enlightenment business and the learning business and the democracy business. They are also in the equality business because everybody is always welcome to occupy a library!
The many branches of a library are like many stations of hope and imagination. At each station, there is always a librarian there to welcome you and to answer your questions. So tonight, we thank all librarians, and especially the ten men and women who are being honored with the I Love My Librarian award. They are extraordinary people with remarkable skills doing an irreplaceable job. We extend our gratitude to them, and offer our boundless congratulations.