Thursday 7 October 2021

Taking action and changing lives - Libraries Week 2021, by Dawn Finch

 As this is #LibrariesWeek in the UK I thought I'd share some of my favourite vintage library posters again. Many of these can be found as part of the American Library Association digital archive and other library archives and you can easily lose days hunting around their files.

Libraries Week is an annual showcase and celebration of the best that libraries have to offer. Each year we pick a theme and explore the innovative and surprising things that libraries are doing to support their communities.

In 2021, Libraries Week takes place between the 4th and 10th October, celebrating the nation’s much-loved libraries and the central role that libraries play in their community as a driver for inclusion, sustainability, social mobility and community cohesion. We want to celebrate how your library is taking action and changing lives!

Libraries have always been at the heart of a cohesive community and it is important that we keep fighting to protect that, and to make libraries even better. Every day libraries and library workers are changing and saving lives and it is vital that we raise awareness of the huge importance of libraries in our communities.

Keep up to date with Libraries Week 2021 by following @librariesweek and share your plans at #LibrariesWeek. Libraries Week is organised by CILIP - The UK's Library and Information Association.

These posters are snapshot of the the past, and I share them as a reminder that libraries are still carrying these messages today and they are still as valid as ever.

More information about Libraries Week can be found on the dedicated Libraries Week website.

http://librariesweek.org.uk/














Dawn Finch is a children's writer, former library worker and library activist.

2 comments:

Joan Lennon said...

Those are fabulous - thanks for sharing them!

Penny Dolan said...

Great post! Thanks, Dawn, and probably essential promotion with rounds of Council cuts always hovering.

I'm not sure the first image - the rather fit man in overalls/dungarees in a working environment - would be welomed as a borrower orthat setting as the ideal place to study the borrowed books.

Wasn't there a long-ago era when a "hand inspection" took place before you were allowed a borrowers card? Or was that just children?

I think some of these posters are American rather than UK?