khayden

Happy Spring and Happy National Library Week! National Library Week is an annual celebration highlighting the valuable role libraries, librarians, and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening our communities. This year, National Library Week takes place from April 23 to 29 and is being celebrated with the theme “There’s More to the Story.” This year’s theme is a reminder that libraries are about more than books! Libraries are welcoming spaces that bring communities together for entertainment, education, and connection through book clubs, storytimes, movie nights, crafting classes, lectures, and more. Libraries also play a critical role in the economic vitality of communities by providing internet and technology access, literacy skills, and support for job seekers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. That isn't to say libraries are not facing some difficult times. Just this week, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom released new data documenting 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling this data more than 20 years ago. This nearly doubles the 729 challenges reported in 2021. 58% of these challenges targeted books and materials in school libraries, classroom libraries or school curricula and 41% of the book challenges targeted materials in public libraries. I also want to focus on the many victories we can celebrate here in Corvallis and Benton County. Here are just a few: The Corvallis Library finished a construction project that expanded the square footage of the building, adding four new study rooms, a reading lounge, and a small classroom space. In partnership with the Alsea Community Effort, we began new fundraising efforts to support the Alsea Community Library and received several large [Read more]