Celebrate National Library Week with Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library
Recognized annually in April, National Library Week highlights the valuable role that libraries, librarians and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening our communities.
Our library's greatest asset is our friendly and knowledgeable staff, who create a welcoming environment and help connect customers with needed resources. From providing a warm greeting at the front door to finding a long-forgotten book title, the library staff are the heart and voice of promoting all the great things you can see in our buildings and our website.
The library offers many learning opportunities, and the staff constantly explores new and old collections, databases, classes and services to share with customers. We provide various learning opportunities, including crafts, Job Now for job seekers and worksheets for young children through The Mailbox Plus and Universal Class for continuing education. Library staff share their expertise through programs like Tech Help, Story Time and Book Discussions.
We take our library services into the community with our bookmobile, Library2Go. This service helps provide library access to those who cannot visit a library branch in person. We mainly visit senior centers and aging services, but we also go to remote areas in the county. We make about 10 weekly stops, spending about one hour at each location.
Our bookmobile offers complete library services on wheels. We can register new customers for library cards, check out and return materials and provide tech support. Our bookmobile contains various materials, including magazines, books for children and large-print books in Spanish and English. We aim to bring exciting reading options to those who cannot access a library branch.
In addition to our Library2Go service, our outreach team loves visiting with the community and engaging kids and families with library resources. We can sign up families for library cards, answer questions, share information about the library and inspire you to take a fun photo with our library card photo prop.
Our outreach team loves connecting with kids and families in the community, helping you sign up for library cards, answering questions and sharing fantastic library resources. Don't forget to snap a fun photo with our library card photo prop!
You may find us at back-to-school and literacy events, where we're eager to meet parents and students and share information about all our outstanding resources and programs. This year, we teamed up with the Junior League of Tampa to bring the Mobile Interactive Literacy Opportunity (MILO) vehicle to the Gasparilla Children's Parade, where we gave out over 2,000 free books.
We can't wait to see you at community events or during your next visit to your local library branch. Come say “Hi” and join us on this literary adventure!
READ MORE:
- Public Library Resources Offer New Ways to Learn and Explore
- Fine Arts at the Library: Resources for Your Family!
- 7 Books About Time Travel for Daylight Savings!
Originally published in the April 2025 issue of Tampa Bay Parenting Magazine.