The Bicentennial of the Library of Congress was celebrated not only in Washington on April 24, but also across the nation. From second-day issue cancellation ceremonies for the Library's commemorative postage stamp to oversize birthday cards signed by entire communities, the nation joined in the effort to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Library's founding. As "Sesame Street's" Big Bird posed with a giant birthday cake on the steps of the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building, public and state libraries throughout the nation held their own birthday parties to honor the occasion.
Working with the American Library Association, the Library distributed 30,000 Toolkits last summer outlining how the library community could participate in the Bicentennial celebration and use the occasion to celebrate all libraries. Featuring a "Why Do You Love Libraries?" poster, a fact sheet on the history of libraries and a stand-up guide to the Library's online American Memory collections, the Toolkit also outlined fun and interesting ways for patrons to honor their local libraries. By establishing a "Why My Local Library Is Important to Me" bulletin board or sponsoring a "Library Appreciation Day," patrons were invited to highlight the importance of their libraries to their communities.
Illinois was one of many states that heeded the call. Sponsored by the Illinois State Library, the Schaumburg Township District Library participated in a statewide essay contest on "What My Library Means to Me." Several of these essays appeared in What My Library Means to Me: A Special Report in Honor of the Library of Congress Bicentennial issued by state librarian Jesse White. Among them were these words submitted by Julie Desch and daughters Hannah (third grade) and Kayla (kindergarten): "To us, the library means family time. Once a week we make a trip to our new library in Schaumburg and check out books, CDs, video and computer software. All these things are available to us for free. … The library means providing my children with the culture they will not be able to experience firsthand, but through their imagination."
Coming on the heels of National Library Week (April 9-15), many libraries included the nation's library in their weeklong celebrations. Falvey Memorial Library at Pennsylvania's Villanova University mounted a display featuring the art and architecture of the Library of Congress and interesting facts about the institution. Connecticut's Monroe Public Library mounted an exhibition on how local librarians create bibliographic records for local materials following the standards established by "the mother of all libraries, the Library of Congress."
Other libraries linked the celebration to their own historic milestones. Marking the 100th anniversary of the first public library in Marysville, Kan., local columnist Barbara Read, (Marysville Advocate) began several of her "Books and More" columns with a series of articles on the local library's history. Noting the recent publication of Margaret Truman's Murder at the Library of Congress, she declared, "We intend to celebrate our anniversary without the dead body—even if it means that nobody writes a book about us."
Arkansas' Boone County Library, in conjunction with the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, celebrated its centennial with a birthday party, time capsule, second-day issue stamp cancellation ceremony and a program stressing the importance of libraries in a democratic republic. Presentations included a history of the Library of Congress and an explanation of how the nation's library is making its vast resources available on the Internet.
Several libraries used the opportunity to announce plans for expansion. The Huron Public Library (Sandusky, Ohio) hosted a "bring-your-own-shovel" groundbreaking ceremony to kick off an effort to double the library's current size. Similarly, Dover Plains Library (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) announced its plans to move to a new home while unveiling the Library's commemorative stamp.
Libraries were also encouraged to host local programs similar to those of the Library of Congress. These included documenting local customs and traditions, honoring local living legends and hosting "favorite poem" poetry readings—all of which the Library of Congress has done on a national level. The Milton Branch Library (Milton, W. Va.) did all three. In addition to requesting "Why My Local Library Is Important to Me" essays, the Milton Branch Library assembled a Local Legacies time capsule, asked its patrons to describe or photograph a local living legend and sponsored a "favorite poem" event in April in honor of National Poetry Month.
To celebrate the Library's Bicentennial and to mark the last year of the four-year "Building a Nation of Readers" initiative, the Library's Center for the Book invited libraries, schools, corporations and educational, civic and governmental organizations to sponsor reading promotion projects. From Alabama to Wyoming, descriptions of regional projects are accessible on the Center's Web site at www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook. Also included on this Web site are descriptions of national reading promotion campaigns.
The Library's Bicentennial celebration will continue through December 2000. For program information, visit the Library's Bicentennial Web site at www.loc.gov/bicentennial.
