National Library Week 2019

Alright. My husband would be very upset with me if I let National Library Week end without acknowledging it here! Plus his mother (my mother-in-law) is a reader, library lover, and worked at one when she retired from being a 1st grade teacher. So she’d be upset too!

It’s true. My man is much more of a reader than I am. I love books, and I used to read all the time. But I go through phases where it’s hard for me to stay focused as I read. (ADHD, anyone?)

The excitement M feels when he gets to a new city and gets his new library card is always so interesting to me. But it’s become a running joke between us. The joy of the library card!

Two of his favorites have been when we lived in Chicago, IL and when we lived in Pasadena, CA. And you can see, they’re beautiful! And FILLED with books!

Her are some library facts I found interesting:

  • There are more public libraries than Starbucks in the U.S. โ€“ a total of 16,568, including branches. Nearly 100% of public libraries provide Wi-Fi and have no-fee access to computers.
  • The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 167 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves, which would span roughly the distance from The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., to Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Wowzers!)
  • There were 113 million attendees at public library programs in 2016, more than all Major League Baseball, National Football League, and National Basketball Association games combined. Thatโ€™s 16.5 million more than in 2013.
  • Students in high-povertyschools are almost twice as likely to graduate when the school library is staffed with a certified school librarian.

So what about you? Do you have a library card? Do you visit often? 

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