Please see the message below for an opportunity for the library field from the Governor’s Advisory Council on Library Development Communications (Education and Advocacy) Committee:

Share YOUR Library Story & Photo

Dear Library Community,

The Governor’s Advisory Council for Library Development is working on a report to Governor Shapiro about Pennsylvania libraries.

A key part of this report will be stories about the importance of libraries in:

• Education
• Career and workforce development
• Intellectual freedom
• Democracy

Please share YOUR stories with us to include in the report. We are looking for stories and photos in short form formats about each of these library roles. Photos/images can include people or pictures of special initiatives. Of course, you should have a photo release on file for any person in a photo. We hope to educate the Governor – and others – about how libraries lead the way in each of the four areas. Details that we hope to include in each of the four areas are outlined below:

Education
• Early literacy programs and success stories
• School readiness programs and success stories
• Role and value of academic libraries
• Lifelong learning examples (showing the full age spectrum of library users)
• All forms of literacy including health and financial literacy
• Collaborations with school libraries
• Role of libraries and librarians in learning how to effectively use new technologies including artificial intelligence

Career and Workforce Development
• Programs to support workforce development, including any outcomes data
• Collaborations with other community organizations to offer programs and services
• Creation of digital literacy and equity

Intellectual Freedom
• Role of librarians as “information scientists” (highlighting the importance of Library Science in the MLS degree!!)
• Right to read as a freedom
• Book bans and challenges (including insights into the increased workload and stress)

Democracy
• Civic engagement stories
• Creation of civic and social literacy
• Any story to support the role of libraries as essential to the function and preservation of an informed democratic society

General
• Any story about lives changed by libraries
• Genealogy research stories
• Fundraising activities required at a local level to support library expenses (including insights into the financial challenges)

Please use the form here: https://forms.office.com/g/u9Ms1Anhsz  to submit your stories and to follow instructions to share high-quality photos no later than February 16, 2024.

If you have any questions about how to submit your story, please contact Carrie Cleary in the Office of Commonwealth Libraries at ccleary@pa.gov.