Library Lovers Month
A month long celebration of libraries of all types. This is a time for everyone to recognize the value of libraries and to work to assure that the Nation's libraries will continue to serve.
How do you love your Library? Let us count the ways.
- Contribute @ your library by donating time, money, or expertise.
- Be a Friend @ your library by joining the Friends of the Library for only $10 a year.
- Volunteer @ your library by giving time to help out.
- Promote @ your library by telling everyone you know how wonderful your Library is.
We will be celebrating Library Lovers Month by giving out special bookmarks. This collection of ten different bookmarks have library loving sayings. (Click to see a list of all bookmarks.) You may have a free bookmark with each book you check out. Check out enough books, and you can collect all ten bookmarks.
Here’s a wonderful idea for a Valentine’s Day present that doesn’t cost a thing: check out a book for your lover with one of our bookmarks inserted. Taking the time to select a book you think your lover will appreciate combined with a mushy bookmark is guaranteed to impress!
Fun Facts about Valentine’s Day: February 14
How did it begin?
One legend has it that Valentine’s Day originated to commemorate the anniversary of the death of St Valentine, a Roman clergyman who was executed on February 14, about 270 AD, for secretly marrying couples in defiance of the emperor. According to another, the holiday began as a Roman fertility festival. Americans probably began exchanging handmade valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther Howland, a native of Massachusetts, began to sell the nation’s first mass-produced valentine cards.
Young and Looking for Love
118
Number of single men (ie, never married, widowed, or divorced) who are in their 20s for every 100 single women of the same ages. Corresponding numbers for the following race and ethnic groups are:
Hispanics: 159 men per 100 women
Non-Hispanic whites (single race): 117 men per 100 women
Blacks (single race): 89 men per 100 women
Asians (single race): 129 men per 100 women
Source
Young at Heart and Looking for Love
33
Number of single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) age 65 and over for every 100 single women of the same ages. Corresponding numbers for the following race and ethnic groups are:
Hispanics: 37 men per 100 women
Non-Hispanic whites (single race): 33 men per 100 women
Blacks (single race): 34 men per 100 women
Asians (single race): 30 men per 100 women
Source
Try Looking Here . . .
Below are names of some romantic-sounding places:
Love County, Oklahoma
Love Valley, North Carolina
Lovejoy, Georgia
Lovelady, Texas
Loveland, Colorado
Loveland, Ohio
Loveland Park, Ohio
Lovelock, Nevada
Loves Park, Illinois
Loving, New Mexico
Loving County, Texas
Lovington, Illinois
Lovington, New Mexico
Loveland, Oklahoma
Romeo, Colorado
Romeo, Michigan
Romeoville, Illinois
Valentine, Nebraska
Valentine, Texas
Where is Mississippi??
Source
Be Mine
2.2 million
Number of marriages that take place in the United States annually. That breaks down to about 6,000 a day.
Source
138,600
The number of marriages performed in Nevada during 2003. So many couples “tie the knot” in the Silver State that it ranked fourth nationally in marriages, even though its total population that year was 35th.
Source Source
25.3 and 27.1
The estimated U.S. median ages at first marriage for women and men, respectively, in 2003. The age for women is up 4.3 years in the last three decades. The age for men is up 3.9 years.
Source
The proportion of women 20 to 24 years old who had never married more than doubled between 1970 and 2003 — from 36 percent to 75 percent. Changes were also dramatic for men — the corresponding rate for men in this age group increased from 55 percent to 86 percent.
Source
54% and 57%
The percentages of American women and men, respectively, who are 15 and over and currently married.
Source
4.6 milllion
Number of cohabitating couples who maintained households in 2003. These couples comprised 4.2 percent of all households, up from 2.9 percent in 1996.
Source
Candy is Dandy
1,006
Number of locations producing chocolate and cocoa products in 2002. These establishments employed 42,538 people. California led the nation in the number of such establishments (with 114) followed by Pennsylvania (with 100).
Source
619
Number of locations that produced nonchocolate confectionary products in 2002. These establishments employed 24,284 people.
Source
3,782
Number of confectionery and nut stores in the United States in 2002. Often referred to as candy stores, they are among the best sources of sweets for Valentine’s Day.
Source
24.6 pounds
Per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2003; it is believed a large portion is consumed around Valentine’s Day. Candy consumption has actually declined over the last few years; in 1997, each American gobbled or savored more than 27 pounds of candy a year.
Source
Flowers
$425 million
The combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut flowers in 2003 for all operations in 36 states with $100,000 or more in sales. Among states, California was the leading producer, alone accounting for nearly three-quarters of this amount ($306 million).
$52 million
The combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut roses in 2003 for all operations in 36 states with $100,000 or more in sales. Among all types of cut flowers, roses were second in receipts to lilies ($70 million).
23,094
The number of florists nationwide in 2002. These businesses employed 119,117 people.
Source
Jewelry
28,914
Number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2002. Jewelry stores offer engagement, wedding and other rings to lovers of all ages. In February 2004, these stores sold $2.4 billion worth of merchandise — a much higher total than in the preceding month or succeeding months.
Source Source
The merchandise at these locations could well have been produced at one of the nation’s 1,892 jewelry manufacturing establishments. The manufacture of jewelry was an $8.3 billion industry in 2002.
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