Good afternoon! ALA President Barbara Stripling is rolling out an exciting community initiative called "The Declaration for the Right to Libraries". The Declaration for the Right to Libraries is the cornerstone document of ALA President Barbara Stripling's presidential initiative, Libraries Change Lives, which is designed to build the public will and sustained support for America's right to libraries of ALL types - academic, special, school and public. In the next year, libraries of all types will hold signing ceremonies, during which community members can visibly declare their right to have vibrant libraries in their community. The signing ceremony is intended to serve as the launching point for continued and vibrant community engagement to: * Increase public and media awareness about the critical role of libraries in communities around the country * Inspire ongoing conversations about the role of the library in the community * Cultivate a network of community allies and advocates for the library * Position the library as a trusted convener to help in the response to community issues Please take a minute to visit http://www.ala.org/advocacy/declaration-right-libraries for ideas on how to hold a signing ceremony, print out your own Declaration for your library, or participate with the virtual Declaration. If you choose to participate, would you please send me details of your event so I can share them with ALA? Trish Burns Director, Public Libraries of Saginaw 505 Janes, Saginaw MI 48607 989-755-9833 989-755-9828 (fax) tburns@saginawlibrary.org www.saginawlibrary.org ALA Chapter Councilor for Michigan [cid:image001.jpg@01CEC5DA.6459EB40]