Library Week April Ideas - Positive Promotions

Library Week April Ideas

Library Week

As most of us know, libraries are essential to communities through-out the United States. For 50 years, National Library Week has served as a time to recognize and celebrate the importance of these institutions and the people who work there. This week is a great time to promote patronage at libraries and to garner support for the valuable resources they provide.

Positive Promotions understands these things and has created products to help you spread the message that libraries are vital assets wherever they may be located. Use the ideas below, along with our cost-effective and library-tested items, to ensure a library week event that all will remember.


	Team Players
	Use National Library Week as a time to stress the benefits of family involvement in reading, and give it a sports-related twist. Develop a cute slogan for the special event, such as “Everyone Wins With Reading” or Reading TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More).” Decorate your library with sports equipment and memorabilia. You can even ask library staff to dress up in sports uniforms. Invite families to attend. They can dress up, too! During the program, emphasize the importance of paternal involvement in reading. Encourage parents to read with their children each day and help them get library cards. Before parents leave, hand them “10 Ways To Make Reading Fun For Your Child” or “10 Ways Busy Parents Can Encourage Reading” E-Z Stick Glancers.


	Judge It By The Cover
	Put children’s reading skills, along with their creativity, to the test. Have a coloring contest during National Library Week in which children design their own book cover. At the beginning of the month, have children choose a book that they want to read. Set a deadline for finishing the book the week before National Library Week starts. Then give children a week to design a new cover for it! Have them hand in their artwork at the beginning of National Library Week. Give children who participate “Be Nice To Library Books” Bookmarks that teach them how to treat books kindly. Select a panel of judges to choose the three best covers and, at the end of the week, announce the winners. Present “Read, Believe, Achieve” Medallions to the three top artists.


	Put It In Words
	Encourage children to use their “poetic license” to express their feelings about the library, books and reading. Hold a poetry jamboree the week before National Library Week and make the theme “What My Library Means To Me.” Invite children to submit their poems the Friday before the event. Hang up their entries throughout the library to help decorate for the special occasion. Also use Balloons and the Poster from the Library Week Celebration Pack to brighten up your library. Give Stickers and Bookmarks from the pack to children who wrote poems.


	Save The Planet
	Shine the light on global warming and environmental friendliness during this year’s library week celebration. Invite a local authority on these matters (perhaps an Earth Science teacher) to talk to families about steps they can take to clean up the Earth. Print a list of books that deal with helping or appreciating the environment, such as “Recycle! A Handbook For Kids” by Gail Gibbons and “The Tree” by Dana Lyons. Hand them out to people after the presentation. To further tie in Earth care with the library, give children “Discover The World At Your Library” Water Bottles. Have “Families That Read Together Succeed Together” Banners hanging up throughout the library to remind parents that reading with their children is important, especially when it comes to topics that they can work together on like how to reduce global warming.


	A Laughing Matter
	Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the library! April is National Humor Month so use it as an opportunity to spread laughter during National Library Week. At the beginning of the month, advertise that children who use their library cards and tell the librarian a joke will get a gift. When the time comes and a joke is told, give each child a “My Library Card” Card/Coin Purse with a Sticker from the “Wild About Reading” Sticker Roll.


	Politically Correct
	With the 2008 presidential election right around the corner, use National Library Week as a time to explain voting and elections. Invite local politicians to come in and speak to children about elections. Have them talk about what they had to do to become elected. Also have the politicians speak about the responsibilities of elected officials. At the end of the program, have the visitor read a children’s book such as “Vote!” by Eileen Christelow or “America Votes: How Our President Is Elected” by Linda Granfield. When the program is over, have the politician pass out “Readers Are Leaders” Silicone Bracelets or “Readers Are Leaders” Dog Tags to all children present.


	On The Record
	Invite the public to play a part in documenting the history of your town, village, city, neighborhood or library. Weeks in advance, hang a sign-up sheet on a bulletin board asking for volunteers. Request that some people research and write about local history, and have others read it aloud. Record the readings by the middle of April and put them on a CD that can be made available to library patrons. During National Library Week, coordinate an event for the public where the new local history collection is unveiled. As part of the presentation, recognize those who volunteered by awarding them with “Library Volunteers Are Shining Stars” Key Tags and “Friends Of The Library” Lapel Pins.


	Around The World
	Remind children that the library brings the world to their fingertips. Create a display of books about places all over the globe. Ask library staff and friends of the library to bring in items they have from foreign countries to add to the display. Decorate the walls of the library with “Discover The World At Your Library” Posters Blow up “Discover The World At Your Library” Balloons and attach them to bookcases that contain books about other countries.


	Vroom! Vroom!
	Get children and sports fans excited about reading by giving your National Library Week a NASCAR or car-related theme in 2008. Organize a car show that will take place one weekday evening. Put signs throughout the community encouraging those who have rare or antique vehicles to stop by. Hang checkered flags throughout the building and display books about cars. Put out “Race Into Reading” Temporary Tattoos and “Race Into Reading” Pencils with the books and encourage children to take them.


	Creepy Crawly
	Help children “catch the reading bug” by catching bugs! Have them bring glass jars to catch bugs in or provide jars for their use. Venture outside, if weather permits, to look for insects. Let the children bring their bugs inside and draw a picture of them on construction paper that you provide. When they finish, have them write “Catch The Bug…Read!” on their picture. Hang the artwork throughout the library. Give participant a “Catch The Bug…Read” Educational Activities Book and a “Celebrate Library Week” Lollipop.