National Libraries Day is today (Saturday 7th February 2015)
and it is the culmination of a week of festivities and celebrations for the
extraordinary work that our libraries and librarians do.
This is a chance to say thank you to our
nation’s librarians for the wonderful work they do. It is an opportunity to get
people out to visit their library and see the amazing services our libraries
offer - and join up if not already a member.
Most of all this is a reminder. This is
a loud reminder that libraries matter to us all. On this day we can bond
together and send a collective, public message to the decision makers. We can
show them that we love and value our libraries and that we recognise that no
one else can do the work of a professional librarian,
This is an election year, and so National
Libraries Day is an opportunity to show the various political parties that we
are a powerful, bonded and supportive group – and we will not stand for the
destruction of something that is so vital to all of our communities. This is
our chance to celebrate what we value, and what is so essential to the literacy
of our entire nation.
National Libraries Day is a grassroots
celebration led by library staff and library users. It is supported by CILIP
and a coalition of leading literacy, reading, library and education
organisations including the Reading Agency, the School Library Association and the
Society of Chief Librarians – and you!
In 2014 NLD was hugely successful, but
we can make it even bigger this year.
We want to top this list from 2014….
§
Over 603
events were registered on the website,
§
Over 17,000
tweets were made using the hashtag #NLD14 (3 - 9 Feb)
§
It had a social
reach of 286,000 through the Thunderclap
§
Nearly 31,000
Facebook users reached
§
Over 8,200
website visits (3-8 Feb)
….and we are well on the way towards
beating these figures in 2015
Philip Ardagh knows exactly how to support librarians!
What can you do right now to show your support?
Email a quote or comment: approve a comment on what public libraries mean to you giving
permission for us to use it on the NLD website and social media (include a pic we
can use) Post this on social media and send to @CILIPinfo or via the NLD comment form.
Retweet our main message: “I’m sending a message that I love libraries & the wonderful work
done by librarians.” RT to celebrate National Libraries Day #NLD15
Share your
support on social media
Follow @NatLibrariesDay
and sign up to our
Thunderclap.
Share a library #shelfie or two with caption /comment and upload to the NLD15 Flickr pool or send to us
for uploading or tweet it using #NLD15
Lend your talents - Write or create something - could you find the time to write a blog, letter or
create a piece of work about what libraries mean to you?
Find an event near you – get out and get into your local libraries (with our without chocolates!). Tell them who you are and
let them know that you support them. The NLD map will show you where the
registered events are.
We all know how important libraries are, but we can’t save them unless
we put up a fight. All over the country both school and public libraries have
been saved by public campaigns. Not many, but some. This is just the beginning.
It’s not going to be easy, but we have to stand up and fight for what is right.
We need to fight to make sure that our communities all get what they deserve;
the essential service that only a library staffed by a professional librarian can
provide.
Make a noise for libraries, before the silence falls forever.
Dawn Finch - Vice President CILIP
Children's author and library consultant
Children's author and library consultant
Those all-important links again...
Links
http://www.nationallibrariesday.org.uk/
NLD Events map – Nationwide Events map - Load the large map for the full list NLD on Facebook
NLD on Twitter - #NLD15
NLD Flickr pool
NLD Events map – Nationwide Events map - Load the large map for the full list NLD on Facebook
NLD on Twitter - #NLD15
NLD Flickr pool
2 comments:
Thank you, Dawn, for giving us all some concrete things we can do to help. This is so important.
Thank you! Looks like it's been the most successful one ever!
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