Did You Celebrate National Library Week With This Year?

Here at UMassOnline, we are all proud to support and celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians, as we would not be where we are today without them!

In the mid-1950s, research showed that Americans were spending less on books and more on radios, televisions, and musical instruments. This brought a major concern to the American Library Association (ALA) and the American Book Publishers; in hopes to keep their organizations alive, the two organizations developed a plan for a National Library Week.

Their plan was to motivate and educate people on the importance of reading books, citing reasons such as improving education, incomes, and overall health; developing family ties and relationships; and to enhance leisure time by reading. The first National Library Week was observed in 1958 with the theme of "Wake Up and Read!"

Today, 58 years later, the ALA and our nation continue to celebrate National Library Week. This year’s event was held on April 10-16, and Gene Luen Yang, an award-winning graphic novelist and the 2016-2017 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, served as Honorary Chair. The theme, “Libraries Transform,” was used to show how lives and communities benefit from libraries and the technology, careers, development, resources, etc. that they have to offer.

Mark your calendars for next year’s National Library Week, April 9-15!

For more information on National Library Week visit: http://www.ala.org