Around this time every year, Library employees and visitors gather in the Thomas Jefferson Building’s Great Hall to celebrate the holiday season. One of the highlights of the annual festivities, dating back to 1997, is a reading of a story or poem by the Librarian of Congress to the children in attendance. While an in-person reading by the Librarian was not possible this year, on Wednesday, December 16, Dr. Hayden and other staff from the Library participated in a virtual holiday celebration. The celebration included a series of holiday poems and essays read by staff of the Library’s National Library Service for the Blind & Print Disabled, a performance of “Jingle Bells” from the Busy Bees from the Little Scholars Child Development Center, a medley of holiday favorites from the Library of Congress Chorale, and a special holiday message from the Librarian of Congress.
As always, though, my favorite part of the Library celebration was the Librarian’s special reading. This year, Dr. Hayden selected Apryl Stott’s picture book Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light, which offers an important message everyone should take to heart this holiday season. You can watch Dr. Hayden’s warm and joyful reading below:
To learn more about the history of the Librarian’s annual holiday reading, see our 2018 blog post “A Visit from St. Nicholas…and the Librarian of Congress.”
Happy holidays from the staff of From the Catbird Seat!