My presidential initiative,
entitled Libraries Change Lives, will focus on increasing public
understanding of the value of libraries, especially in the realms of literacy,
innovation, and community engagement. Now is the time for us to
build the public will for libraries of all types.
As part of this effort, we have
planned a campaign called America’s Right to Libraries and developed a Declaration
for the Right to Libraries (attached-in original e-mail) to serve as a strong public statement
of the value of libraries for individuals, communities, and our nation.
Through this initiative, libraries of all types will have the opportunity in
the next year to hold signing ceremonies where community members, organizations,
and officials can visibly sign and stand up for their right to have vibrant
school, public, academic, and special libraries in their community.
Beginning with our Annual
Conference in Chicago, we will be inviting ALA members, ALA member groups,
Chapter leaders and our affiliates to join us in the effort to secure hundreds
of thousands of signatures from community members across the country. Our
plan right now is for the signed scrolls to be presented at a national summit
and ceremony to be held in the spring of 2014.
We hope that you will consider
inviting people in your local community and in your state to join us in
proclaiming the value of libraries. For those interested in holding local
signing ceremonies, we will be providing a “toolkit” to help you plan your
signing ceremony, garner public support and attract media attention.
I will be talking more about the
campaign when we get together in Chicago in three weeks, but wanted to provide
you with some advance information prior to our upcoming Annual
Conference. In the meantime, please share this message and the
Declaration with colleagues and friends, and please feel free to contact me
with any ideas you may have about how we can use the Declaration to increase
public awareness of the incredible value that libraries represent.
Sincerely,
Barbara Stripling
ALA President Elect
315 443-1069
@barbstripling
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