The American Library Association (ALA) is pleased to announce that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has joined the popular Celebrity READ poster series. The Celebrity READ poster campaign is one of the most effective ways to encourage people to get a good education, improve their reading skills, and to read for sheer enjoyment. The ALA has been fortunate to have the support of many actors, athletes, artists, and musicians who support the campaign to increase public awareness of the importance and pleasure of reading. Mr. Abdul-Jabbar joins other notable stars like Orlando Bloom, Salma Hayek, Corbin Bleu, Tony Hawk, Serena Williams, Rachael Ray, Yo-Yo Ma, and many others. Mr. Abdul-Jabbar is the 2008 Honorary Chair Library Card Sign-up Month, which takes place in September. He will also appear at the American Library’s National Convention on June 28th and 29th at the Long Beach Convention Center to sign his poster.

To view the entire line of Celebrity READ Posters, please go to: http://www.alastore.ala.org

Below are some quotes from Kareem about reading and libraries:

What does the library mean to you?
The library has always been my own personal time machine. I can walk through the doors and land in any place, any time period in history. I didn't have to wonder what their worlds were like; I could experience it first-hand.

Library important to community?
On the practical level, libraries share our common knowledge, which makes us smarter as individuals, there for better to contribute to our community. But on a spiritual level, it fuels our curiosity about the world, opening intellectual doors that help us appreciate and ettjoy our lives more. On a world community level, libraries teach us about other cultures, making us less insular and afraid of what's different, and more compassionate toward others.
One last thing, the very fact that we think public libraries is a priority tells us something about the values of our community, defining us as people who love knowledge and art over ignorance and expediency.

Advice to young people?
The library can feel like your own personal room, a place where you can hide out with your thoughts, test your ideas, explore other worlds and other times. In a way, it's a testing ground of who you are and who you want to become, because every time you walk out of those doors, you can be smarter than you were going in. My advice? Use it to transform yourselfinto the person you know you can be.