If you've been following along at home, you've been reading our blog celebrating each day of National Library Week. Today wraps up the week, and all in all, I feel this week was a success. We went toe to toe with National Medical Lab Week, and I feel like, as a profession, we dominated. Not to underscore the importance of medical labs, but I've never heard anyone reminisce fondly about their childhood lab work or favorite lab tech.
Our team has enjoyed metaphorically throwing open the doors and showing you around our library. Every once in a while, we run across someone who expresses astonishment that the University of Phoenix has a library. I admit that surprise breaks my heart just a little bit. But we are confident that you will be a supporter now that you've had a peek at our resources and services. This brings us to today, Thursday, April 27, which is Take Action for Libraries Day.
I can sense you pulling back, thinking you've got a lot on your plate with work, family, and friends. You probably have hobbies and a TikTok account. How can you possibly make time to take up another cause, you ask? By doing one, simple thing:
Use our resources!
When you use the library's databases, ask for help through our Ask Us! service, schedule library instruction for your class, or make an appointment for help researching your doctoral thesis, you are supporting us and allowing us to justify adding additional services. We are excited to help you in your academic journey and want to continue to provide you with the resources you need to be successful.
Want to do more?
- You can advocate for Congress to invest in libraries. Public libraries are the backbone of their communities and provide a multitude of services that go beyond lending books. The American Libraries Association's (ALA) Fund Libraries page offers tools and resources to support libraries, including tracking Congressional member support of library funding. Contact your senator or representative and encourage them to continue to support the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal agency whose mission is to "advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations."
- Check out EveryLibrary, which is a national political action committee for libraries and has a Take Action for Libraries page. It consolidates various petitions supporting libraries, offers preformatted, editable email messages to send to Congress, takes donations, and provides news and articles related to supporting libraries.
I can honestly say that I cannot remember a time when, after revealing I'm a librarian, the response has not been positive. Almost everyone I've ever talked to loves the library (sorry, med lab workers). I encourage you to channel these positive feelings and support our libraries.
Nicole Tassinari is an associate university librarian and oversees content development. She's the proud mom of three almost-grown children who love to tell her to "just Google it!"