JBER Consolidated Library celebrated National Library Week

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher R. Morales
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  National Library Week is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians by promoting and supporting their efforts. 

It was first developed by the National Book Committee in 1957 to motivate people to read when 1950s research showed that Americans were spending less time on books and more on radios, televisions and musical instruments. The first National Library Week was observed in 1958 with the theme of 'Wake Up and Read,' according to the American Library Association.

The theme this year is 'Libraries Transform.' Libraries have transformed with the advancement of technology allowing readers to search for titles and check out audio books, e-books and more. Also very important, libraries can transform the lives of people through books, opening their eyes and their minds.

For National Library Week, the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Consolidated Library hosted a contest in which participants could win a book of their choosing by guessing the title of a shredded book within a jar.

There were three books for three different age groups; kindergarten through 2nd grade, 3rd grade through 6th grade, and 7th grade and up. The shredded books were donated to the library in bad condition or the library had many copies of them.

"All the books are very popular books, it's still not easy to guess what the books are - especially if you're not a big reader - but they are books everyone has heard of," said Jody Evans, JBER Consolidated Library reference librarian. "This is something that I thought was a lot of fun last year. There was a lot of excitement over it."

The story time theme for the week was libraries. A selection of titles read to the children were "The Library Lion," "Bats in the Library," "Froggy Goes to the Library" and more.

Story time is every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 to 11 a.m. for preschoolers and provides short stories, singing and crafts.

"Sometimes, we get parents who come in and have kids who don't like to read," Evans said. "My first question is 'what is your child interested in, does he or she like horses, dogs or Legos? We have those books.

"I remember, as a child, my grandmother was a huge book worm and kept so many books around the house," Evans said. "That transformed my world; learning to read and developing a love for books. That's what we are hoping to instill into these kids who come into the library now."

The JBER Consolidated Library offers books, movies, music, audio books, video games, many language learning programs, free Wi-Fi, 31 Common Access Card-enabled computers and a quiet study area all year.

For more information, call the JBER Consolidated Library at 384-1640/1648.