Literacy Round Table

National Family Literacy Day, November 1, 2010

November 1 is National Family Literacy Day.

Celebrated across the U.S. since 1994, this annual event provides an occasion for libraries to put a public spotlight on activities that promote learning experiences for children and their families.

Librarians understand that parents who read to their children everyday and talk about what they are reading together promote a joy of reading and life-long literacy achievement. It is for this reason the North Carolina Library Association Literacy Roundtable is making Family Literacy Day one of its top priorities for the coming years. Our goal is to have celebrations in libraries across the state on November 1, 2011. We are seeking a proclamation from the Governor, developing a publicity campaign, and sharing this toolkit to help librarians plan events for their communities.

We hope that every public library in North Carolina will be involved in some way. Your library’s Family Literacy Day event can be as simple as handing out bookmarks that promote family literacy or as ambitious as assembling a coalition of local providers (e.g., HeadStart, the school system) to organize the event. We encourage you to conduct a meeting on this November 1 to plan for the 2011 North Carolina Family Literacy Day observance.

We hope you will find this year’s web-based Family Literacy Day toolkit helpful as you begin the planning process. If your library commemorates Family Literacy Day with a planning initiative or program, please inform Donna Phillips, Roundtable Executive Board member, at donna [dot] phillips [at] waynegov [dot] com. We would like to report your activity on our website.

Thank you for joining us as we proclaim the message that North Carolina libraries are champions of literacy for all ages.

Sincerely,

NCLA Literacy Roundtable Executive Board

Pauletta Brown Bracy, North Carolina Central University, Chair

Jeanne Fox, H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library, Vance County

Betty Mehan-Black, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries

Donna Phillips, Wayne County Public Library

Steve Sumerford, Greensboro Public Library

Keith Burkhead, Guilford Technical Community College

2001-2003