This week, the Polk County Public Library joins libraries in schools, campuses and communities nationwide in celebrating National Library Week, a time to highlight the value of libraries, librarians and library workers.

Libraries today are more than repositories for books and other resources. Often the heart of their communities, campuses or schools, libraries are deeply committed to the places where their patrons live, work and study. Libraries are trusted places where everyone in the community can gather to reconnect and reengage with each other to enrich and shape the community and address local issues.

Librarians work with elected officials, small business owners, students and the public at large to discover what their communities needs are and meet them.  Whether through offering e-books and technology classes, materials for English-language learners, programs for job seekers or those to support early literacy, librarians listen to the community they serve, and they respond.

The Polk County Public Library serves western North Carolina by providing books, magazines, audiobooks, movies, storytimes, eBooks, free music downloads, meeting spaces, coming soon monthly music programs and more.

“Service to the community has always been the focus of the library,” said Cindy Nanney, director. “While this aspect has never changed, libraries have grown and evolved in how they provide for the needs of every member of their community.”

The Polk County Public Library is celebrating National Library Week by recognizing that it takes more than one organization to make a community. “We all have our roles we play in providing services and information.”

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

For more information, visit the Polk County Public Library at Columbus and Saluda, call 828-894-8721 or see the library’s website at www.polklibrary.org. Libraries hours are Monday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Tuesday-Thursday 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

– article submitted by Cindy Nanney