Start planning your library programs now...
Applications accepted online beginning September 19, 2006.

"Happiness is the aim of life," wrote Thomas Jefferson.

But what is happiness? Is it pleasure, wealth, or success? Goodness, peace, or justice? Friendship, love, or self-fulfillment? Does our right to pursue happiness mean we have a right to be happy?

In this fourth We the People Bookshelf program, two thousand libraries will receive a set of classic books related to the theme “Pursuit of Happiness.” The National Endowment for the Humanities is proud to offer this program in cooperation with the American Library Association.

For the first time, this year’s Bookshelf includes a music CD, “Happy Land: Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder.” “Sweet By and By," "Barbara Allen," and “The Girl I Left Behind Me," are among the classic tunes performed by the players and singers assembled for this recording. According to producers Butch Baldassari and Dale Cockrell, the CD is a tribute to Wilder “for her efforts to illuminate, explain, and capture the place that music-making once occupied in the family lives of ordinary Americans."

This year, once again, school districts and library systems are invited to apply for Bookshelves on behalf of the multiple schools or branches they comprise. Changes in the application system will make it faster and simpler this year.

Now is the time to start planning your library programs on the “Pursuit of Happiness” theme. Guidelines and applications will be available online from September 19, 2006, through January 31, 2007.