Next month is Library Card Sign-Up Month, a national campaign to emphasize the importance of library cards to a child’s education and to combat illiteracy. The campaign first started in 1987 as a response to then Secretary of Education, William Bennett, who stated: “Let’s have a campaign … Every child should obtain a library card and use it.”
The ALA took Secretary Bennett’s words seriously and teamed up with the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) to start the campaign, with a grant of $85,000 from the Reader’s Digest Foundation.[1] A telegram was sent to Secretary Bennett saying, “We accept your challenge.”[2] Continue reading “A Library Card for Every Child: Library Card Sign-Up Month”