WHEREAS, National Library Week is being celebrated in public libraries throughout California from April 12 to April 18, 2009, inclusive; and

WHEREAS, California’s public libraries are centers for education, information, knowledge, and entertainment; and

WHEREAS, California’s public libraries and librarians advance teaching and learning by helping the general public, students, faculty, and researchers obtain the best, most accurate, and complete information; and

WHEREAS, California’s public libraries are changing and dynamic places, offering books, computers, Internet access, e-mail reference, and other innovative services to connect their users with ideas and information; and

WHEREAS, California’s public libraries provide technology training for library users of all ages and help to bridge the “digital divide” for those who do not have access to technology at home or at school; and

WHEREAS, More than 21 million people use California’s public libraries each year; and

WHEREAS, California’s public libraries change lives by serving over 20,000 adults annually through unique, confidential, and customized literacy services delivered primarily through trained volunteers. These volunteers contribute over 750,000 hours annually to assist adults in learning how to read, thus helping adults to achieve goals such as obtaining a driver’s license, writing a resume, obtaining employment, or reading a book to a child for the first time; and

WHEREAS, The students of California are a rapidly growing group of library users, visiting the state’s libraries after school and on weekends for homework assistance and for materials to use in school assignments; and

WHEREAS, California’s public libraries are important community educational resources, providing books, and innovative programs and services such as preschool literacy readiness, Toddler Times, the Summer Reading Program, Homework Help Centers, Grandparents and Books, and Reach Out and Read in conjunction with pediatric clinics; and

WHEREAS, California’s public libraries provide equal and economical services to library users, and in many cases, serve as a community’s only point of access to resources for learning; and

WHEREAS, California’s public libraries preserve our cultural heritage, inform our present, and inspire our future; now, therefore, be it