Library and Reading Advertisements in Las Vegas

For my reading week this semester, my mom and I went to Las Vegas, Nevada. As this was my second trip to Las Vegas, I really thought how cool it would be if the American Library Association hosted their conference here (definitely a large enough city with convention centers and hotels to house numerous tourists).

After being excited by seeing library and reading posters in Las Vegas, I am beginning to realize that I am on my way to actually becoming a librarian. I am already having the "library eye." I went to Las Vegas in May 2010 for my 25th birthday. However, 10 months ago I did not come across the two posters that are posted in the pictures below.

This poster was all over the bus stops on Las Vegas Boulevard strip. It states, "Explore New Worlds. Read a Book" and has a picture of Jim Carey's movie of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.  It is sponsored by the Library of Congress and advertises the website www.read.gov. When I went to the website, I was not overly impressed with the content it provided but it did at least attempt to promote reading to all individuals. The books that were available for children and teens to view are classics and were not of any interest to me personally, but it was neat to see scanned photos of old book pages of the Library of Congress' rare book collection. For example: you can browse through a 1911 copy of the Secret Garden, under the teen section.

This picture is of a poster I saw in the Las Vegas international departing terminal. It really caught my eye when I was on the moving walkway with just the book being in the colour red. I had to walk back and take a photo of the poster promoting the Las Vegas Clark County Library District. I find the slogan at the top "I'm Serious. The Library Is Amazing." as both catchy and witty. I believe the design and layout of the poster is simple but gets straight down to the point, which is promoting the library and it's resources available to the public. What drew me in here was the last part of the resources - Free Wi-Fi.

I found it quite interesting that, despite I was in a city of sex, drugs and rock & roll, I still came across educational materials that promoted libraries and reading. Unfortunately, I did not come across any libraries during my visit, but I was impressed with how the city promoted literacy through posters.