✊🏽The Right to Read📚

A Call To Our Community, and a FREE National Library Week Mad Libs

Today, April 7th, 2025, marks a day to reflect on the fundamental right to access information and the increasing threats it faces in our society. We've all witnessed a disturbing trend of political advancements and executive orders that actively limit access to vital history in our schools, libraries, and museums. Said erasure of knowledge impacts our understanding of the present and our ability to shape a more informed future.

This concerning trend extends to the rise of national book bans, igniting a critical conversation about how information is accessed, viewed, and archived. These bans rest on the foundational inequities that have long persisted, revealing that the promise of freedom hasn't been a reality for all. The foreseeable future will rely on the active participation of individuals and communities in what feels like a long and unrelenting political war to regain what has yet to be fully realized as freedom for everyone.

Considering the short-term and long-term effects on the #thefutureofeducation and #thefutureofwork landscape, there are gross opportunities available to transform the "standard" by exploring possibilities at the intersection of access and quality of information. We have to develop solutions that work for collective intents and purposes. That looks like the co-designing of ecosystems that protect our right to learn and thus earn with scenario plans, participatory strategies, and high-quality data collected by those empowered to utilize and greatly benefit from engagement.

It’s not enough to create another group to talk about it. We must enact our freedoms on a collective level that does not exploit the very basis of community. That looks like rallying around core values and advocating for practices and policies that actively support and protect education that reinforce communal development, growth, and sustainable engagement.

While there may seem to be a long laundry list of actionable steps to encourage the freedoms we can all benefit from, the first insists that we choose to be active. There’s much we can do when we stand firm on our values, together.

Learn more about the importance of the right to read and how you can get involved. Sign up for our new iSupport Community newsletter to stay informed on strategy development to make transformative educational solutions available to all.

Celebrating National Library Week

The Right to Read Day kicks off National Library Week this year. Typically observed annually in April, the first National Library Week was enacted in 1958, driven by the concern that Americans were spending less time reading. With the inaugural theme, "Wake Up and Read!", this week was established to encourage reading and garner support for libraries across the nation. Over the years, National Library Week has served as a vital reminder of the pivotal role libraries play in providing access to information, fostering literacy, and strengthening communities. Librarians are at the heart of this mission, diligently selecting and preserving a diverse collection of titles for public access and enjoyment. Their expertise ensures that a wide range of voices and perspectives are available, enriching our understanding of the world.

With the ongoing challenges with the Right to Read, supporting local library systems is more important than ever, with extensions being just as critical. When we created our very first Little Free Library years ago in the historic OST community in Houston, Texas, the initiative was born to directly respond to the need for increased access and a safe space for learning and development within the community. The outcomes, as illustrated in our community report, detailed our success with eliminating access barriers and encouraging participation and advocacy across different generations. We couldn’t have done it without the support of the Houston Public Library. Their support played a significant role in our endeavors by providing free meeting space for us to plan, strategize, and facilitate the co-design, building, and installation of the Little Free Library. That’s just one story of the power of library collaboration. We have others that we will share in celebration of the week, while reflecting on this year’s National Library Week theme, "Drawn to the Library!", where we encourage our community to explore the many ways that supporting access and equity through participation in library system programs and the creation of Little Free Libraries can improve and strengthen community rapport for everyone.

Thank you for Imagireading this important Community Call from The iReadE Academy. This post is public, so please feel free to share it with those you know will find it valuable.

Don’t forget to download your free National Library Week Mad Libs, created by Penguin Random House and sponsored by the American Library Association, here.