Celebrating Constitution Day

  • Last Updated: January 18, 2022
  • Published: October 28, 2021

Each September, Federal depository libraries across the Nation celebrate Constitution Day with special events, library displays, and promotion via library websites and social media. Constitution Day is the perfect time to celebrate your library and promote the wonderful resources and services your library staff provides to the public.

Events & Activities Shared by FDLs

Looking for ideas on how to celebrate at your library? Assembled here is a sampling of the many ways in which depository libraries have commemorated this important moment in U.S. history. 

Share Your Events with GPO

The staff at the U.S. Government Publishing Office always likes to hear about the creative ways your library celebrates Constitution Day. Share your event details and photos with us.

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2021

  • Host an open discussion or public forum on a Constitutional topic. The Thomas G. Carpenter Library at the University of North Florida hosted ‘Popcorn and Politics’ focused on, ‘Hot Takes on the Most Underrated Constitutional Amendments.’
  • Pre-record speakers and conversations to share on your website and social media. Pick a constitutional theme. See this example from Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries.
  • Create fun quizzes for your patrons, and offer FDLP promotional items as prizes. See the University of Southern Alabama’s 2021 quiz and the St. Petersburg Library System’s 2021 quiz.
  • Share a companion biography with your patrons to accompany your display. See the University of South Alabama’s 2021 handout.
  • Host ‘Constitutional Bingo’ where participants use Pocket Constitutions to answer trivia.
  • Create a Constitution Day scavenger hunt in the library. Post clues online and in the library, and give away FDLP promotional items as prizes.
  • Create digital polls about the Constitution for patrons. Display the results on your library’s web page or social media.
  • Have a poster contest where patrons are invited to create a poster that details an amendment and its social impact.
  • Host virtual events that incorporate voting education, Constitutional history, guest speakers, and event breakout rooms where participants can discuss what they’re learning.
  • Create ‘grab and go’ bags of literature and giveaways for patrons (inspired by Harford Community College Library).
  • Does your library have a blog? Create a post about Constitution Day. Here’s a great example from the University of Georgia Law Library.
  • Host guest speakers virtually to reach wide audiences.
  • Provide online opportunities to learn about the U.S. Constitution through quizzes and interactive activities.
  • Create an online exhibit.
    • The New York State Library’s online Constitution Day exhibit showcases a variety of U.S. Government documents and offers readers some Constitution history.
    • The Atlanta University Center’s Woodruff Library developed the exhibit, The History of African Americans and the Right to Vote.
    • Florida State University’s Strozier Library developed a virtual exhibit featuring some history, as well as physical and electronic resources
  • Host a people’s reading of the Constitution. Watch Rice University’s Fondren Library’s 2021 event.
  • Hire a living historian to portray a Founding Father. 
  • Dress in period costume, and speak to patrons as though you are a Founding Father.
  • Offer baked goods and refreshments – star and flag-shaped cookies are popular. 
  • Set up an information table to spread the word about U.S. Government documents.
  • Use social media to have contests using trivia.
  • Offer printed copies of trivia quizzes at the reference desk.
  • Create table displays. Pocket Constitutions are great conversation starters. 
  • Link Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. Lots of FDLP publications apply to both commemorations. 
  • Invite political scientists and historians to host public discussions on topics such as freedom of speech, citizenship, etc. 
  • Set up a Constitution-themed photo booth with props such as American flags, and excerpts from the Constitution.
  • Hold social media contests where patrons have to portray a part of the Constitution using a unique hashtag and tag the library.
  • Create a Constitution Day LibGuide. Here are a few examples that have been shared with GPO over the years.
  • Create a video for sharing on your library’s website and on social media. Here’s a great example from the Dayton Metro Library and another from the Harford Community College Library.
  • Order a large puzzle of the Preamble and allow patrons to work on assembling it. 
  • Celebrate in conjunction with your library’s FDLP designation anniversary. See our free anniversary resources here, as well as examples of what others have done to celebrate their FDLP anniversaries.
    • The University of South Alabama created this Constitution Day quiz. The winning patron gets a prize at the library’s anniversary celebration event.
  • Host a debate on a constitutional topic.
  • Host volunteers to Board of Elections to register new voters.
  • Organize and promote an essay contest. 
  • Enlarge the pages of the Constitution and display them around the library.
  • Ask your library’s coffee shop to create Constitution-themed coffees for the day.
  • Host musicians to play patriotic music.
  • Lead a parade around town or on campus with participants dressed in period costume.
  • Invite local and campus newspapers to report on your Constitution Day events.