Celebrate Michigan Library Appreciation Month

WHEREAS, in October 2025, we celebrate Michigan Library Appreciation Month and MI Right to Read Week, observed October 5-11, with the theme “Find out”—reminding us that libraries are places where curiosity is welcomed, discovery encouraged, and the right to read—and to find out—is protected;

It’s officially Michigan Library Appreciation Month! Help us celebrate Michigan’s excellent libraries and amazing library staff all October long! Follow us on social media, share our posts, and join the fun as we share interactive questions and photo prompts like:

Celebrate Michigan Library Appreciation Month

MLA is building a growing photo collection to feature in our social media and communications—and we want your library to be part of it!

Note From Erin

Erin Schmandt, Chair, MLA Nominating and Leadership Development Committee

MLA is based on the strength of its members. The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee cultivates leadership potential within MLA membership to maintain strong and effective governance and solicits and evaluates nominations of candidates for service on the MLA Board of Directors. We are tasked with seeking candidates to serve on the board and as officers. We often struggle with getting multiple candidates for the same role since librarians do not like to run against one another (we are nice and collegial, as a whole) and no one likes to lose. The membership would really like to see choices on the ballot though.

Note From Lisa

Lisa Waskin, MLA 2025 Annual Conference Chair

When I think of a kaleidoscope, I have memories as a child of holding up a tube filled with brightly colored glass or plastic to the light and turning the cylinder so that it created endless combinations of symmetrical colors and shapes. I did not then understand the construction of the device, or how prisms precisely placed created the beautiful shapes. I just knew that it was exciting and special, and no two images seemed to be the same. If you look up the word in Webster’s Dictionary, you will find a very cut and dried definition of the word that is similar to what I remember as a child: an instrument containing loose bits of colored material (such as glass or plastic) between two flat plates and two plane mirrors so placed that changes of position of the bits of material are reflected in an endless variety of patterns.

The Sustainable Libraries Initiative (SLI) & the Sustainable Library Certification Program (SLCP)

by Rebekkah Smith-Aldrich, MLS, LEED AP, co-founder of the Sustainable Libraries Initiative, and executive director of the Mid-Hudson Library System (NY) 

The Sustainable Libraries Initiative (SLI) provides library leaders, which we define as all library workers and trustees, with a proven path forward to co-create libraries and communities that will thrive in the coming years. The Sustainable Library Certification Program and the SLI community of practice focus your leadership to enable your library, and ultimately your community, to become more environmentally sound, socially equitable, and economically feasible.

MLA Advocacy Action Plan FY2026

The MLA Advocacy and Legislative Committee finalized the Fiscal Year 2026 Action Plan. The plan outlines the top legislative priorities on both a State and Federal level, as well as an advocacy plan to promote the value of libraries and librarians to both legislators and the general public. View the MLA FY2026 Advocacy Action Plan (PDF).