Acting Governor Eleni Kounalakis proclaims California Library Week 2025

During National Library Week, we celebrate the essential services, resources, and opportunities that libraries and library workers provide for all Californians. Free and open to all, each of our 1,127 public libraries is a community hub for education and lifelong learning, health and wellness, civic engagement, and workforce and economic development.

Libraries are gateways not just to learning but to new opportunities and ideas. Our state’s public libraries provide hundreds of thousands of programs each year and continually evolve and adapt to the needs of all Californians. They offer online tutoring, adult literacy programs, summer reading, test prep, resources for science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math (STEAM), early learning for infants and toddlers, meals for children, and services for job seekers.

Libraries are community centers and shelters, serving as heating and cooling centers, technology and communication providers, and safe places during emergencies. They provide free Wi-Fi and offer collaborative workspaces, career centers, quiet spaces for studying, and community gardens.

But the heart and soul of California’s libraries are the workers who help people of all ages and all backgrounds access the resources, programs, and services they need and serve as a key source for trusted information. Librarians help us start new chapters at every stage of our lives, from showing us the magic of reading as children to teaching us new skills in our golden years, with expanded digital access offering more opportunities than ever before.

School and library book challenges have been on the rise for some time, many targeting LGBTQ+ authors and writers of color. But now libraries themselves – and their critical programs and supports – are under attack, too. Now more than ever, we must celebrate and support the vital role that libraries, and all that they offer, play in keeping Californians informed and supported. These institutions house millions of books and materials that reflect the breadth of our rich diversity and defend the essential role of public libraries in protecting intellectual freedom.

In California, we know libraries hold more than books — they are the heart of our communities. During National Library Week, we honor our libraries and the dedicated library workers who offer endless possibilities to enrich the lives of Californians across the state.

NOW THEREFORE I, ELENI KOUNALAKIS, Acting Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim proclaim April 6 to April 12, 2025 as “California Library Week.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 3rd day of April 2025.