National Library Week, April 23-29
AzLA ALA Councilor
2023 Theme "There's More to the Story" Highlights Multitude of Services Libraries Offer Communities
During National Library Week, the ALA invites communities to observe the following:
● Monday, April 24: Right to Read Day, an inaugural celebration to acknowledge and promote the right to read and mark the one-year anniversary of ALA's Unite Against Book Bans campaign; the 2023 State of America's Libraries Report and Top Ten Frequently Challenged Books of 2022 will also be released on this day.
● Tuesday, April 25: National Library Workers Day, a day for library staff, users, administrators, and friends groups to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers.
● Wednesday, April 26: National Library Outreach Day (formerly National Bookmobile Day), a day to celebrate library outreach and the dedicated library professionals who are meeting their patrons where they are.
● Thursday, April 27: Take Action for Libraries Day, a day to rally advocates to support libraries.
April is also School Library Month, sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians, an ALA division.
New York Times best-selling and award-winning author, Kelly Yang, will serve as this year's honorary chair. Yang authored many books for young readers, including the Front Desk series, as well as standalone titles, "New from Here" and "Finally Seen."
In addition, ALA will kick off National Library Week by unveiling its highly anticipated list of the Top Ten Frequently Challenged Books of 2022 on Monday, April 24, along with the annual State of America's Libraries Report. More than 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship, a 38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted for censorship in 2021, with a majority written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color.
"ALA began documenting the book challenges reported to us over two decades to illuminate the threat of censorship. Book challenges distract from a library's core mission to provide access to information," said ALA President Lessa Pelayo-Lozada. "While a vocal minority stokes the flames of controversy around books, most people across the nation are using life-changing services that public and school libraries offer. Our nation cannot afford to lose the library workers who lift up their communities and safeguard our First Amendment freedom to read."