NMI libraries to join celebration of National Library Week

The CNMI State Library System—composed of Saipan’s Joeten Kiyu Public Library, Rota’s Antonio C. Atalig Memorial Public Library, and Tinian Municipal Public Library—joins libraries in schools, campuses, and communities nationwide in celebrating National Library Week on April 13-19, a time to highlight the value of libraries, library workers, librarians, and library volunteers. This year’s theme is “Lives Change @ Your Library.”

Libraries today are more than repositories for books and other valuable resources. Often the hearts of their communities, campuses or schools, libraries are deeply committed to the value-added public spaces where their patrons live, work, and study. Libraries are trusted public spaces where everyone in the community are welcome and can freely gather to reconnect and reengage with each other to enrich their lives, shape their community, and address local issues.

Librarians work with elected officials, small business owners, students and the general public at large to discover and meet what their communities’ needs are. Whether through offering e-books and technology classes, reference assistance for STEM fair projects or resources for school research assignments, programs for job seekers or those to support early literacy, libraries and library staff listen to the community they serve, and they respond.

“Service to the community has always been the focus of our public libraries,” said Mark O. Rabauliman, chairman, CNMI Library Council. “Keeping with its inherent educational value, our libraries have grown and evolved in how they provide for the informational needs of every member of our island community, recommitting ourselves to empower citizens to grow intellectually and be competitive globally.”

JKPL executive director John O. DLR. Gonzales said the NMI State Library System, in collaboration with public school libraries, is celebrating National Library Week by hosting an array of educational programs and activities, featuring physical and online resources.

“Libraries specialize in information literacy, information access and retrieval, information organization, and the creation of new information using higher order thinking skills,” said Gonzales. “JKPL, for example, is the ideal public resource for research and homework assistance. Got a project? Let JKPL find the information you need to get started. Make an appointment with a librarian today.”

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries across the country each April.

For more information, visit the public library on Rota or call 532-7328/29; on Tinian or call 433-0504/05; and on Saipan or call 235-READ (7323) or 7322. You can also visit the state library’s website: www.marianaslibrary.org.

Library hours for Tinian’s TPL are 9am to 6pm, Mondays to Fridays, and 1pm to 5pm on Saturdays; for Rota’s RPL, it is 9am to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays, and 9am to noon on Saturdays; for Saipan’s JKPL, it is 10am to 6pm, Mondays to Fridays, and 9am to 4pm Saturdays. (PR)