Celebrate National Library Week
April 3, 2018
April 8 to April 16
“When I think about what it should mean to be an American, I think of my librarian, Mrs. Crowell, a woman who couldn’t speak a word of Spanish, yet took this kid who couldn’t speak a word of English and made sure that I understood my privileges in the library.”
Those words were spoken by Junot Diaz, the bestselling author whose novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, in an interview that aired recently on PBS.
National Library Week, being celebrated from April 8 to 14, is a good time for everyone who has ever used a public library to think about what it means to them.
Residents of Lackawanna County are especially fortunate to have a Library System comprising seven community libraries with 10 locations that are trusted and treasured institutions in our County, and where librarians and library staff members work to ensure that everyone who enters understands, like Junot Diaz, what their privileges are.
Lackawanna County libraries are open to all who seek information and access to technologies, especially as our society is at a critical juncture regarding a changing information landscape and the skills needed to thrive in a digital world.
“Who in the world should not love the public library,” Mr. Diaz continued. “The public library as a concept…is as American as jazz.”