State/Region Representatives

What does it mean to be a state, region, or country representative for Take Your Child to the Library Day? In general terms, it means you believe in the importance of this day and are willing to take a leadership role in your state. It does not, however, mean a large volunteer commitment! Here is a little information for current state reps. If your state does not yet have a rep (see the list at the bottom of this page), and you wish to volunteer as a rep, please contact us! caugusta [at] stratfordlibrary [dot] org.

Promotion
State representatives agree to promote Take Your Child to the Library Day in their states and professional communities, regional and national. You each know your communities best, and each representative may choose to promote the day differently. Promotion might include:
- Posting once a month on a library listserv or state library association news area or other social media site
- Raffle - Be sure to promote the annual raffle to your state librarians! Every year we give away some prizes, and that contest is posted on our Facebook page and blog. If you are able to secure any prizes for the raffle, please let me know. Usually we give away music CDs, audiobooks, children's books, other swag, etc.
- Explaining the day to colleagues at roundtables, meetings, or conferences, either formally or informally
- Other print or electronic media promotion
- Securing endorsements from authors or other dignitaries or organizations that live in your state - Please let us know so we can add them to our Events page :)

Proclamations - Some words on wording!
Some states request and receive gubernatorial proclamations regarding the day and ask us for suggestions. Here is the wording we used in our state; feel free to adjust so long as your wording stays true to the goal of the day.

[[

Take Your Child to the Library Day February 2012 Resolution

Whereas libraries serve as community resources for children and families

Whereas children develop literacy skills and form a life-long love of reading at libraries

Whereas libraries provide free opportunities for children and families to enjoy engaging programs and a diverse array of materials and services

Whereas libraries strive to inform children and families of resources and services available to them that will enrich, educate, and entertain citizens

Be it resolved that the first Saturday of February will hereby be designated as Take Your Child to the Library Day in the state of Connecticut ]]

Annual Reports
You know your state best, and we would love to hear about your community's efforts. So, we ask each state representative to write a one page (or less) report on the past year's events. This is to help us improve our outreach to you and to learn about the amazing things each state or region has accomplished. Your report might include:
- Summary of Promotion efforts. What worked? What might you try next year? What feedback did you receive from participants
- Take Your Child to the Library Day events in your state - a summary, anecdotes, highlights, whatever fits your experience
- Special Accomplishments - Did you, your state library association, or any librarians in your state go above and beyond for Take Your Child to the Library Day? Please tell us all about it.

Submitting Your Annual Report
- We ask that state/region/country reps submit their annual reports no later than the first week of March.  Please send them to caugusta [at] stratfordlibrary [dot] org
- By submitting your report, you allow us to use all/part of it in our publicity. We will attribute to you anything that we do use from your report.

Thank you! We love 'meeting' and working with all of you. Librarians rock!
Caitlin Augusta
Nadine Lipman
Connecticut Library Consortium (our sponsoring organization)
Take Your Child to the Library Day Planners and Connecticut librarians

Current List of State/Region Representatives - updated 11/23/2014

Canada
Ontario - Jody Seeley, Meaford Public Library, Meaford, Ontario

US
Arkansas - open

California - Cen Campbell, Bookboard

Colorado - Dawn Mendel, Park Hill Branch Library, Denver Public Library, Denver ,CO

Connecticut - Caitlin and Nadine, plus the CLC!

Illinois - Kimber Martin, North Pike District Library

Indiana - Mary Voors, Children's Services Manager, Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Kansas - Lindsey Sanchez, Eudora Public Library, Eudora, Kansas

Kentucky - Carol Sexton, Children's Services Librarian, Pulaski County Library, Somerset

Maine - Samantha Cote, State Representative

Massachusetts - Jessica Lamarre - Duxbury Free Library

Minnesota -  Angie Petrie, Stillwater Public Library, 2013 Chair of the Minnesota Library Association's Children/Young People's Subunit

Missouri - Amy Koester, Corporate Parkway Branch, St. Charles City-County Library District, Wentzville, MO

New Hampshire - Janis Minshull, Conway Public Library, Conway, NH

Nevada - Marcie Smedley, Assistant Branch Manager, Youth Services Department Head, Henderson Libraries, Gibson Branch, Henderson, NV

New York - Contact NYLA YSS: https://www.nyla.org/max/4DCGI/cms/review.html?Action=CMS_Document&DocID=302&MenuKey=yss_resources 

Ohio - Trista Kunkel, Youth Services Librarian, Birchard Public Library, Fremont, OH

Pennsylvania - Linda Esposito, Peters Township Public Library, McMurray, PA

North Carolina - Heather Hardin, Martin Memorial Library

South Carolina - Jennifer Simmons, Anderson County Library, Anderson SC

Tennessee - Mecca Caron, Maury County Public Library, Colombia, TN