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The theme for National Library Week, April 14-20, 2013, is Communities matter @ your library.  How appropriate that on Wednesday, April 17, we celebrate National Bookmobile Day.  Bookmobiles and other forms of library outreach are the embodiment of libraries expressing their commitment to the communities that surround and support them.

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In preparation for Mother’s Day, many libraries are planning all sorts of programs for children, teens and their families to celebrate all the different mothers, grandmothers and caregivers in their lives. 

Author Blaine Harden expresses his affinity for libraries in this interview.

Harden, who grew up in small towns in Washington State, “There just wasn’t much culture at all. If I wanted culture outside of my house, it was really the only place to go."

When growing up in Moses lake and Aberdeen, Harden said, he would go to the library nearly every day, because, "It was the only place whre I could find interesting stuff to think about."

If you and your children bond over comics, then this week will be a treat, first, with the release of Iron Man 3 on May 1, and then Free Comic Book Day on May 4 (also known as Star Wars Day – “May the Fourth be with you…”).

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Author Ron Grossman writes in the Chicago Tribune  recently about the important role libraries have played in his life in an article entitled, “On First Looking Into the Public Library”:

“For 60 years, I looked down my nose at the public library, even though it's one of the key inventions and discoveries that lifted humans above lesser beings.

In this video, author Sarah Jio shares her special memories of libraries, reaching back to those summer days when her mother would take her and her three siblings to the library.

"It was our favorite day of the week, and we would load our baskets up with books," she says.

She also remembers storytimes at the library, where she would enjoy hearing librarians tell stories. In particular, she recalls one room with a special child's door that she would enter for storytime.

The six finalists for the 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were announced today by the American Library Association.

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National Library Week, sponsored by the American Library Association and celebrated this year from April 14-20, is an important event for local communities.

Several local governments commemorate the event by issuing proclamations recognizing the importance of libraries to their communities - further emphasizing the fitness of the theme of this year's National Library Week, “Communities matter @ your library.”

In this video, Kat Richardson recalls how libraries played an important role in developing her love of reading.

"When I was a kid, the library was my absolutely favorite place," she says. There, she could always find a new story or a new adventure.

"I always felt safe in libraries. I always felt they were the most magical place in the world," she says.

According to one blogger, "Kat Richardson is Paranormal Fantasy's next superstar."

It’s National Library Workers Day, a day for library staff, library users, administrators and Friends groups to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers.
 
To coincide with School Library Month, and our 30 Reasons to Celebrate School Libraries promotion, let’s celebrate the ways that school librarians matter to their school communities.