School Library Month was initiated by the American Association of School Librarians and they started recognizing it in 1985. It is also poetry month so those two celebrations line up. Its purpose is to promote libraries and literacy in the schools not only as the library has become a media center full of information and technology and not just a reading place. Every April school librarians are encouraged to host activities to help their school and local community celebrate the essential role that strong school libraries play in transforming learning.
Our librarians at Liberty take this role very seriously. “We try to make sure that everybody knows what we have to offer when they come in, what they can find, what they can expect.” said school librarian, Mrs. Converse. She points out that promoting libraries is even more important nowadays as technology has become more prominent in our lives and the need for physical books is not as great as it used to be because people can read on their phones or their computers. She explains that for the month of April, she and Ms. Corbin incorporate things that happen already at the library and take it up a notch.
Liberty’s library has many different activities planned all month. For example, almost every day you can participate in a “Guess the Library Staff” contest so you can guess between Mrs. Converse, Ms. Corbin, and Mrs. Lee. Last week was running up a guess of how many books are in the library and winning a prize. There are also some cards where you can write why you love the library.
Last week there were multiple animal therapy sessions with dogs or even a chinchilla and a lizard. Another day was black poetry day, or there was a kahoot in the cafeteria…
But the librarians mentioned that they usually offer most of those activities already but this month they can make people more aware of it.
Coming up are even more exciting activities. From April 15th through 19th you will have the chance to suggest a new addition to the library plus a photobooth is going to be set up.
On Wednesday you can participate in a fortune-telling event and on Thursday the 18th a Library Bingo taking place in the library during all lunch shifts is organized. Finally the last week of April the library offers a Bookface contest on Monday, and jumbo games during lunch shifts on Tuesday. Another session of therapy dogs will take place on Wednesday and there will be a “make a paint chip bookmark”. Finally, there will be a read-in activity during 1st block on April 26th.
The librarians’ purpose is to raise awareness and public interest and to try to get students to come in. If they’re not used to spending time in the library, the librarians can give them another point of view and show them what this place offers and how it can be really helpful to study and learn new things.
