That’s right: every week we are going to celebrate some small holiday! We want you to join us in celebrating every week – because really, everyone needs a little more happiness in their lives.

Join us in celebrating the holiday just yourself, and take some small quiet time to enjoy it. Or, take our book and program ideas, and celebrate in a larger way in your library. Take a small, goofy opportunity to have a little more fun today! (We celebrate you in doing this!)

“In 2020, the Department of Labor collectively inducted the nearly 6 million women who served as “Rosie the Riveters” into our Hall of Honor. On March 21, designated Rosie the Riveter Day, we honor the legacy of the women whose work supported the war effort and push for continued equity for women in nontraditional jobs.

This Rosie the Riveter Day, the Women’s Bureau has returned to the park to talk with real-life Rosies and modern-day tradeswomen about their work. Their stories are moving, tough and surprisingly similar.

While women workers proved more than capable during the war effort, many also recount stories of gender and racial discrimination and harassment. Betty Reid Soskin, a leading spokesperson for the diverse experiences of domestic war-effort workers during World War II, joined the Park Service in 2004 to ensure that visitors to the historic park learn about the experiences of black women who were fighting to secure a double victory: defeat of fascism abroad and racism at home.”

While working in a library is pretty traditionally a job women take, the work we do is still value and interesting; it’s good to share the possibilities available in all kinds of jobs for all kinds of people. And it’s good to notice that those possibilities have not been fairly or justly made available.

Check out some books:

• Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II, by Penny Colman
• Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters, by Andrea Beaty (Author), David Roberts (Illustrator)
• Thriving in a Male-Dominated Workplace (HBR Women at Work Series), by Harvard Business Review
• I’m Not Yelling: A Black Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Workplace (Women in Business, Successful Business Woman, Image & Etiquette), by Elizabeth Leiba
• Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work, by Deborah Liu

Setting up some programs to celebrate this day could be pretty fun!

• bring in people to talk about all kinds of different jobs they have
• for younger patrons, let them think about the best job they can imagine (bonus points if it absolutely makes no practical sense!)
• have a panel of people talking about going to technical or trades programs – it’s not just for kids who don’t want to go to college, these jobs are in high demand and can be really satisfying
• have a discussion about how to handle unfairness in the workplace; how to respond, how to be successful in spite of it, and how to avoid being the problem

Join us in celebrating the holiday just yourself, and take some small quiet time to enjoy it. Or, take our book and program ideas, and celebrate in a larger way in your library. Take a small, goofy opportunity to have a little more fun today!