APRIL 2026 NEWSLETTER
The April 2026 newsletter of Let’s Move in Libraries includes:
- The continued celebration of the I Partner with My Public Library Awardees
- How and why to join the Public Library Community Partnership Coalition
- Big Talk From Small Libraries on food, health, and community collaboration
- How and why to join our monthly Birds of a Feather online conversation
Our featured photos this month continues the celebration of the 2025 I Partner with My Public Library Awards. Among this year’s 10 winners is Boone County Parks Department, nominated by Boone County Public Library, Kentucky, USA.
Boone County Public Library partners with the Boone County Parks Department in a 25+ year collaboration that brings library programming into park spaces, increasing access for families, seniors, and rural residents. The partnership combines parks’ site & logistics expertise with the library’s literacy and cultural programming to create recurring community events like StoryWalks®, Summer Concerts, and Family Nature Days.
When the library’s Hebron branch opened on a 50-acre site in 2019, Parks staff enthusiastically designed and installed a StoryWalk® at no cost — they visited the site, helped with layout, produced and mounted signs, while the Library provided and continues to provide story content and activities. Now parents and grandparents report children eagerly “rush to the next storyboard,” showing how the StoryWalks® combines movement and reading.
Another notable impact are Summertime Concerts that have become a jointly created community ritual: Concert nights draw hundreds and are described as becoming a summertime tradition for families, seniors, and neighbors — a cultural glue moment that shows the partnership’s social value and legacy in the community.
Learn more about this inspiring partnership at the 2025 I Partner with My Public Library Awards webpage.
Does your library do great things with community partners? Get ready to share your story in the Fourth Annual I Partner with My Public Library Awards. The call for nominations opens June 1, 2026.
Also check out the launch of the new “Stories of Partnerships” webpage. Over the last three years, we have received so many amazing nominations, but we’re only able to award 10 partners a year. This new Stories of Partnerships webpage serves to showcase many of the other amazing stories we’ve received over the years. Check back for more stories to be added throughout 2026, and beyond.
How and why to join the Public Library Community Partnership Coalition
We’re thrilled to invite you to join the Public Library Community Partnership Coalition. This group launched in February 2025, and over the past year members have been meeting online to build infrastructure and connections.
Join us in shaping the future of community partnerships involving public libraries! In March 2026, the PLCPC officially launched its webpage.
During the first year of its existence, the PLCPC has grown to include over 180 individuals, and we’re just getting started. We invite you to join this growing group.
At the webpage, you’ll find information on how to join the group, how to attend a meeting, and how to access and share a broad range of resources related to community partnerships and public libraries.
Big Talk From Small Libraries on food, health, and community collaboration
Excerpt from Food for Thought: Food Pantries, Rescues, and Feeding Our Future, presented by Marie Elena “Jett” Reed, Branch Manager, Indian Springs Library – Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, Indian Springs, NV, Population served: 1,000
On February 27, 2026, the Nebraska Library Commission in collaboration with the Association for Rural & Small Libraries held the annual online conference, Big Talk from Small Libraries.
The recordings of all sessions are now available online, and we especially encourage checking out the following:
- Rural Libraries and Mental Health
- Beyond the Stacks: Creative Campus & Community Partnerships for Student Success
- Food for Thought: Food Pantries, Rescues, and Feeding Our Future
As always, this online conference was an amazing event, and we want to thank NLC and ARSL for sharing the full recording online.
How to join our monthly Birds of a Feather online conversations
Want to join a community of public library workers and partners interested in the topics celebrated by Let’s Move in Libraries?
Have a burning question you’d like to ask other librarians?
Join us in our monthly Birds of a Feather conversation series.
Beginning in February 2023, we host a monthly one-hour Birds of a Feather online conversation. Join us April 15, 2026 at 12 pm Eastern / 9 am Pacific for the next installment in this series of inspiring, engaging, open and lively conversations.
What is a Birds of a Feather conversation? It’s an opportunity for individuals with shared interests to gather together (birds of a feather flock together) to share resources, inspire one another, and generally build community.
These events are never recorded so that all participants can share freely. Join us!
Here are some of the resources shared during our March conversation:
Books and resources related to food, agriculture, and foodways
Getting Something to Eat in Jackson: Race, Class, and Food in the American South – James Beard Foundation Book Award Nominee • Winner of the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Book Award, Association of Black Sociologists • Winner of the C. Wright Mills Award, the Society for the Study of Society
READERS to EATERS Food Literacy books
Wunderland food education workshops
International Composting Awareness Week Event at Vernon Area Public Library
National Ag in the Classroom with chapters every state.
Book on woman farmer: FARMER EVA’S GREEN GARDEN LIFE book.
Celebrating International Year of the Woman Farmer
This book covers the effects of refrigeration on the nutritional value of food, how it reshaped agricultural priorities etc.
“Soil Your Undies” program to introduce kids to healthy soil
Books and resources related to climate change and health
Climate and Health Youth Education Toolkit
Sustainable Libraries Initiative
The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert
The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter
Akeem Keeps Bees!: A Close-Up Look at the Honey Makers and Pollinators of Sankofa Farms
Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
Other resources
Kingsport Aquatic Center and library launch story time and swim
The University of Georgia Extension and the Georgia Public Library Service are partnering to launch the Electronic Radon Monitor Loan Program, an initiative to promote radon safety and awareness across the state. The program promotes public health by providing electronic radon monitors for checkout at all Georgia public libraries.
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Subscribe to the Let’s Move in Libraries newsletter for monthly editions of success stories, educational opportunities, and food for thought that will deepen the impact of HEAL (Healthy Eating & Active Living) programs and services in public libraries. Also follow the project on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter to stay up-to-date. The Let’s Move in Libraries project focuses on how public libraries create opportunities for individuals of all ages and abilities to engage in healthy activities.