Local library asks community to "Come Together"
(Submitted to the Current-Argus )
CARLSBAD — "Come together at your library" is the theme of this
year's National Library Week, April 15-21. It's a time for libraries of all types and the people who use them to celebrate the contributions of those libraries, librarians and library workers in our nation's schools, campuses and communities.
As our first lady, and our first librarian in the White House, Laura Bush said, "Libraries are community treasure chests, loaded with a wealth of information available to everyone, equally, and the key to that treasure chest is a library card."
But some may think that libraries are becoming obsolete, a quaint vestige of our past. Have library stacks been outpaced by memory sticks? Has the Internet crushed local libraries with its weight of information?
Not according to the facts which report library use is up nationwide. More than two billion items were checked out last year, and librarians serve nearly 1.8 billion visitors annually. Our local library circulates nearly 6,000 items a month with an average of 9,500 people coming through the doors each month.
Rather than threatening our libraries, the age of technology has only complemented their services and expanded their reach.
This is because libraries are about more than information and data sharing.
Libraries are about community.
They provide a physical gathering place, a crossroads for people of all ages, ethnicities and economic means, complete with trained information professionals - librarians - fostering inquiry and assisting with interpretation of information both onsite and online.
Libraries are also leading the way in forging creative public-private charitable partnerships with a new generation of supporters like the Bill & Melinda Gates Library Foundation, this year celebrating 10 years of major financial support for computer equipment, software and training at our nation's libraries.
These efforts aren't simply charitable. Education and literacy are essential to staying competitive in a global society. Recent studies indicate we've got some serious distance to travel.
More than eight million American children, grades four through 12, struggle to read, write and comprehend on the most basic levels, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and only three out of 10 eighth-graders are reading at or above grade level.
Society as a whole pays dearly, according to the National Governors Association, whose "Reading to Achieve" report indicates that deficits in basic literacy skills drain as much as $16 million annually from businesses, universities and under-educated workers themselves in lost productivity and other costs.
Libraries are part of the solution. Research in 14 states has found that students with well-developed school libraries consistently score 10-18 percent higher on reading and other tests. Just recently a group of 15 seniors who met each day after school at their library learned that 100 percent of their group was selected for early admissions at some of the nation's most selective colleges. College and university librarians help students conduct research, either in person or online through "ask a librarian" services. In fact, they answer almost 73 million reference questions each year about twice the attendance at college football games.
For many, a large number of whom don't have computers at home, our public libraries make the difference between decent wages and economic disenfranchisement.
Libraries and librarians are more relevant than ever before, providing a 24/7 information delivery service. The multi-faceted, multicultural, multilingual resources are providing a bridge to the best conceivable future for millions nationwide. And, of course, admission is free.
It's democracy in action. There's nothing obsolete about that.
Americans value their libraries, and they show that appreciation by using their libraries in large numbers and by supporting library funding. The library is one of the very few places you can go and be provided with educational, recreational, and/or useful materials for free. You can walk out the door of a public library with hundreds of dollars worth of your tax money in your hands all because you have a library card!
In these challenging economic times, libraries are being used more than ever, and with less financial backing. Therefore, the same amount of library staff, almost all with fewer resources, are providing more services than ever before with story hours, reference help and outreach programs.
On Tuesday, April 17, during National Library Week, schools, campuses and communities across the country will celebrate the second National Library Workers Day and the valuable contributions of our librarians and library support staff.
At noon Mayor Bob Forrest will recognize the Carlsbad Public Library staff and read a proclamation declaring this week, National Library Week. President Theodore Roosevelt, played by Randy Milligan, will also be featured in a presentation of "Bully for Books."
Libraries are part of the American dream places for opportunity, education, lifelong learning and free and equal access to a world of resources no matter what your age, income or background — but that dream would not exist if it were not for the people who work in libraries.
Library workers organize and maintain everything that is in the library. Materials need to be selected, ordered, processed, and then made available for users. From a book for research or leisure reading to a laptop that can be checked out to a display of drug awareness in our community, a skilled and dedicated human is responsible for its presence in the library.
They choose, order, catalog, label and shelve all of the books, media, serials and other materials. They lobby for funding and crusade against censorship. Library workers read stories to children and books to the blind. They suggest good reads, organize book clubs, advise vampire slayers, fight crime and throw fabulous parties. In the local college or university they provide the educational support for students, faculty and staff.
Those in public service, whether it's in a public, school or university library, are skilled and knowledgeable researchers who know just which tool to use for which information need, navigating through a variety of electronic and print resources: almanacs, bibliographies, catalogs, databases, dictionaries, gazetteers, encyclopedias, reviews and yearbooks. And they know! Sometimes locating just the right answer appears so simple that users do not realize that it isn't that easy. Most times library workers are drawing on education and experience that just make it look that way.
Library workers do all this and more, even though they are rarely thanked and often poorly rewarded. When town, school and company budgets become tight, librarians are often the first group to be cut. Yet, working in the library is rewarding for most people because it involves giving a service that contributes to the overall quality of life in a community. It is positive work that should be recognized in a society that values knowledge, learning and opportunity.
So take a moment this Tuesday to thank our library workers for the services they provide.
The Young Adult Library Services Association, the fastest growing division of the American Library Association, is celebrating the first ever Support Teen Literature Day April 19, in conjunction with ALA's National Library Week.
Librarians all across the country are encouraged to participate in Support Teen Literature Day by hosting events in their library. The purpose of this new celebration is to raise awareness among the general public that young adult literature is a vibrant, growing genre with much to offer today's teens.
As part of the Support Teen Literature program, the Carlsbad Public Library will feature a Teen Poetry reading at 7 p.m. Friday, April 20, at the annex with award winning poets from New Mexico state competition reading their winning poems.
(Submitted to the Current-Argus )
CARLSBAD — "Come together at your library" is the theme of this
year's National Library Week, April 15-21. It's a time for libraries of all types and the people who use them to celebrate the contributions of those libraries, librarians and library workers in our nation's schools, campuses and communities.As our first lady, and our first librarian in the White House, Laura Bush said, "Libraries are community treasure chests, loaded with a wealth of information available to everyone, equally, and the key to that treasure chest is a library card."
But some may think that libraries are becoming obsolete, a quaint vestige of our past. Have library stacks been outpaced by memory sticks? Has the Internet crushed local libraries with its weight of information?
Not according to the facts which report library use is up nationwide. More than two billion items were checked out last year, and librarians serve nearly 1.8 billion visitors annually. Our local library circulates nearly 6,000 items a month with an average of 9,500 people coming through the doors each month.
Rather than threatening our libraries, the age of technology has only complemented their services and expanded their reach.
This is because libraries are about more than information and data sharing.
Libraries are about community.
They provide a physical gathering place, a crossroads for people of all ages, ethnicities and economic means, complete with trained information professionals - librarians - fostering inquiry and assisting with interpretation of information both onsite and online.
Libraries are also leading the way in forging creative public-private charitable partnerships with a new generation of supporters like the Bill & Melinda Gates Library Foundation, this year celebrating 10 years of major financial support for computer equipment, software and training at our nation's libraries.
These efforts aren't simply charitable. Education and literacy are essential to staying competitive in a global society. Recent studies indicate we've got some serious distance to travel.
More than eight million American children, grades four through 12, struggle to read, write and comprehend on the most basic levels, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and only three out of 10 eighth-graders are reading at or above grade level.
Society as a whole pays dearly, according to the National Governors Association, whose "Reading to Achieve" report indicates that deficits in basic literacy skills drain as much as $16 million annually from businesses, universities and under-educated workers themselves in lost productivity and other costs.
Libraries are part of the solution. Research in 14 states has found that students with well-developed school libraries consistently score 10-18 percent higher on reading and other tests. Just recently a group of 15 seniors who met each day after school at their library learned that 100 percent of their group was selected for early admissions at some of the nation's most selective colleges. College and university librarians help students conduct research, either in person or online through "ask a librarian" services. In fact, they answer almost 73 million reference questions each year about twice the attendance at college football games.
For many, a large number of whom don't have computers at home, our public libraries make the difference between decent wages and economic disenfranchisement.
Libraries and librarians are more relevant than ever before, providing a 24/7 information delivery service. The multi-faceted, multicultural, multilingual resources are providing a bridge to the best conceivable future for millions nationwide. And, of course, admission is free.
It's democracy in action. There's nothing obsolete about that.
Americans value their libraries, and they show that appreciation by using their libraries in large numbers and by supporting library funding. The library is one of the very few places you can go and be provided with educational, recreational, and/or useful materials for free. You can walk out the door of a public library with hundreds of dollars worth of your tax money in your hands all because you have a library card!
In these challenging economic times, libraries are being used more than ever, and with less financial backing. Therefore, the same amount of library staff, almost all with fewer resources, are providing more services than ever before with story hours, reference help and outreach programs.
On Tuesday, April 17, during National Library Week, schools, campuses and communities across the country will celebrate the second National Library Workers Day and the valuable contributions of our librarians and library support staff.
At noon Mayor Bob Forrest will recognize the Carlsbad Public Library staff and read a proclamation declaring this week, National Library Week. President Theodore Roosevelt, played by Randy Milligan, will also be featured in a presentation of "Bully for Books."
Libraries are part of the American dream places for opportunity, education, lifelong learning and free and equal access to a world of resources no matter what your age, income or background — but that dream would not exist if it were not for the people who work in libraries.
Library workers organize and maintain everything that is in the library. Materials need to be selected, ordered, processed, and then made available for users. From a book for research or leisure reading to a laptop that can be checked out to a display of drug awareness in our community, a skilled and dedicated human is responsible for its presence in the library.
They choose, order, catalog, label and shelve all of the books, media, serials and other materials. They lobby for funding and crusade against censorship. Library workers read stories to children and books to the blind. They suggest good reads, organize book clubs, advise vampire slayers, fight crime and throw fabulous parties. In the local college or university they provide the educational support for students, faculty and staff.
Those in public service, whether it's in a public, school or university library, are skilled and knowledgeable researchers who know just which tool to use for which information need, navigating through a variety of electronic and print resources: almanacs, bibliographies, catalogs, databases, dictionaries, gazetteers, encyclopedias, reviews and yearbooks. And they know! Sometimes locating just the right answer appears so simple that users do not realize that it isn't that easy. Most times library workers are drawing on education and experience that just make it look that way.
Library workers do all this and more, even though they are rarely thanked and often poorly rewarded. When town, school and company budgets become tight, librarians are often the first group to be cut. Yet, working in the library is rewarding for most people because it involves giving a service that contributes to the overall quality of life in a community. It is positive work that should be recognized in a society that values knowledge, learning and opportunity.
So take a moment this Tuesday to thank our library workers for the services they provide.
The Young Adult Library Services Association, the fastest growing division of the American Library Association, is celebrating the first ever Support Teen Literature Day April 19, in conjunction with ALA's National Library Week.
Librarians all across the country are encouraged to participate in Support Teen Literature Day by hosting events in their library. The purpose of this new celebration is to raise awareness among the general public that young adult literature is a vibrant, growing genre with much to offer today's teens.
As part of the Support Teen Literature program, the Carlsbad Public Library will feature a Teen Poetry reading at 7 p.m. Friday, April 20, at the annex with award winning poets from New Mexico state competition reading their winning poems.
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