For the first time this year, National Library Week includes “Take Action for Libraries Day,” which we will celebrate on April 13, 2017. Take Action for Libraries Day is part of a national advocacy effort to promote awareness of the impact of libraries and librarians in their communities and to mobilize community members in support of libraries facing significant budget challenges.
This year, the DePaul University Library is teaming up with the American Library Association and EveryLibrary to celebrate the work of librarians and library staff as they help to transform their communities through their contributions to teaching, learning, scholarship, and community engagement. We are also working with both of these library associations to promote greater awareness of challenges to library funding in communities across the United States, and to provide DePaul students, faculty, and staff with the tools they need to advocate for their academic, public, school, and special libraries.
This week, you will find information on tables throughout the Richardson and Loop libraries introducing you to EveryLibrary, “a non-partisan, pro-library organization with an alignment toward sustaining libraries as they evolve and grow in the 21st century,” and inviting you to learn more about how to support libraries across the nation through information and advocacy. Based in Illinois, EveryLibrary has been a leader in helping to raise awareness of, among other things, challenges to school library funding in Chicago.
DePaul also joins the American Library Association, this week and throughout the year, in the fight for libraries, as libraries, museums, and cultural heritage organizations of all types face the prospect of damaging changes to federal support for our libraries and our community members.
Library advocacy starts with our staff and our community members, and we look forward to working with you throughout the year to support the libraries at DePaul, throughout Chicago, across the country, and around the world. If you would like to know more about how to “take action for libraries,” you can follow ALA and EveryLibrary on Facebook and Twitter, and, on Twitter, follow hashtags including #nationallibraryweek, #librariestransform, and #saveimls.