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On Monday and Tuesday, YALSA President Kim Patton, YALSA Executive Director Beth Yoke, and I went to Washington, D.C., to represent YALSA at National Library Legislative Day. On Monday, we met with several hundred other librarians and library supporters from 49 states for some briefings from ALA’s Washington Office staff. They gave us information about the current state of appropriations and other library-related legislation. They gave us tips on talking to legislators and their staffs, and an overview of the current climate on the Hill.

The big issues included asking legislators to

1) fund the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) at $232 million, the level last authorized in December 2010;

2) preserve the Improving Literacy through School Libraries program with its own budget line and appropriate the program at its FY2010 level of $19.1 million; and

3) adjust cuts across programs equitably.

Beth, Kim, and I then went to the Department of Commerce, where we met with Gwenn Weaver and Laura Breeden of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, who are working with 11 other federal agencies on a joint project called the Digital Literacy Portal. This portal, which will go live on Friday, is meant to be a place where everyone concerned about digital literacy can connect to the most current resources available, collaborate, and share best practices. It’s an ambitious project, aimed at both learners and teachers of digital literacy. We talked about some of the ways YALSA and its members might be involved, including content creation, and sharing of success stories in the area of digital literacy.

Then, along with representatives of PLA, ALSC, and AASL, we met with staffers for the House Education and Workforce Committee. We talked about what libraries are doing for all ages in the areas of literacy, digital literacy, and workforce development. We also met with Steve Midgely, a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Education and the Deputy Director of Educational Technology. We shared with him some of the ways YALSA and its members work with teens in the technology and education realm and he shared with us a project that he is working on called the Learning Registry, which is a social data gathering and analysis tool.

On Tuesday, Kim and representatives from ALSC, AASL, and PLA met with the Senior Education Policy Advisor for the House Education and Workforce Committee, while Beth and I met with David Grossman, the Senior Technology Policy Advisor for Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA). Rep. Eshoo has been a great supporter of library legislation, including net neutrality, and has recently introduced the “dig once” bill that would improve connectivity by requiring that any time federal roads are built, broadband conduit must be laid at the same time. We gave David some information on YALSA and gave him a resource sheet that lists our areas of expertise, reminding him that we can provide Rep. Eshoo with contacts to teens and front-line librarians for photo ops, town hall meetings, and so on. It was a great reminder to me that we should all be inviting our Congressional representatives to library events, and letting their staffs know when we are doing things like celebrating Teen Read Week™ and Teen Tech Week™. It’s an opportunity for them to be part of a feel-good celebration.

Finally, Beth and I , along with members of PLA, ALSC, and AASL, met with Susan Hildreth, the Director of the Institute for Museum and Lib

Writing to your elected officials is one of the most simple and effective tools available to influence policy.

First, find your elected officials here.  This link also provides a list of current library-related issues, and loads a pre-written letter. It is important to add personal details to the letter in order to make the greatest impact.

What are the issues?

In addition, ALA’s Washington Office provides up-to-the-minute information on the bills under consideration at the Legislative Action Center.

Writing the Letter

Tips on writing a letter, fax or e-mail can be found within the Advocacy University materials.

You can use this general sample letter asking for support for libraries, or take a look at this more specific sample letter posted by AASL.

“Speaking up for Library Services to Teens,” a YALSA publication, has a section titled “Legislative Advocacy,” which includes a “Communicating with Elected Officials” subsection.

Even if you can spare only a few minutes, by using these resources you can focus the attention of your legislator on the crucial issues facing libraries today.

Want to advocate for your libraries? Want the chance for your legislators to hear what you have to say on National Library Legislative Day? Not sure how to make this happen when you lack the funds to travel?

There is an answer! The American Library Association will be hosting a virtual NLLD for all those who want to give their support but are limited in their ability to travel to the capital. You can still be part of the effort by calling, emailing, or writing your representatives on  May 10th or even the entire week of May 9-13.

To help you in getting your message crafted and to your elected officials, ALTAFF  and I Love Libraries have set up, on their respective websites www.ala.org/altaff and www.ilovelibraries.org, informative talking points and links, contact information, and promotional materials.

Even if you can’t be a physical presence on Capital Hill on NLLD, you can still be a vocal one! Start accessing the resources today, and take this unique opportunity to have your voice heard! The more the better!

The future of libraries is in our hands. Over the course of two days, librarians and library advocates have the unique opportunity to have their voices heard by the elected leaders of this country. National Library Legislative Day will be taking place on Monday, May 9th and Tuesday, May 10th.

It is easy to register…ALA has a National Library Legislative Day webpage that makes getting involved a snap. On this page, one can look at photos from NLLD 2009, register for the event, and even reserve a hotel room for the duration.

For those who are first-time participants, there will be an informative training session entitled “Introduction to National Library Legislative Day: How to Make Your Participation Effective,” on Sunday, May 8th at the ALA Washingtion Off ice from 3:00-5:30 p.m.  

There are so many issues on the table that affect librarians, libraries, and the millions of patrons and communities out there.  All of the legislative representatives need to hear about why it is so important to support libraries when it comes to issues such as  Access, Copyright, Broadband and Telecommunications development, as well as many others.

Are you registered? What are you waiting for? Libraries need Advocates!!!! Libraries need YOU!!!

Are you interested in advocacy related issues? Looking to get more information about how to become an advocate or become a better one? Need solutions to some advocacy issues? Or, are you just looking to be able to make some connections and share important information about advocacy resources with other librarians, teens, community members, and trustees?

YALSA has introduced a new resource to help us out! It is an open email discussion list that anyone can join to get more information about advocacy or to just share and reflect on ideas. To get more information about it or to join the list go to http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/yadvocacy-l Once you have  subscribed to the list, you can send messages to [email protected]. With National Library Legislation Day fast approaching, this forum would be the perfect place to get some ideas to attract your Legislators’ attentions and get their support!

Share this resource with your teens, your colleagues, your administrators, and most importantly your community! Advocating for our libraries is absolutely essential! Start some necessary conversations today!

Every day we read in the news about how libraries are facing more and more cuts; each day we read about another librarian losing his/her job or a school losing its librarians altogether.

As I see it, we have only two choices here:

1. We  can sit by and watch it happen pretending that as long as we are somewhat ok in our districts that it isn’t our problem. or 2. We get proactive and start working together to advocate for our teens, our services, our libraries. What impacts one of us truly impacts us all!

In our communities, we are given many opportunities to share with others the importance of libraries and how necessary it is to continue funding them and the work that they do.

In fact, ALA is hosting National Library Legislative Day in Washington, D.C. on May 9-10 to allow us to go the Hill and explain to our Congressional members why we need them to continue funding libraries and help us become advocates for all that we do.

On this day, library supporters can meet face to face with their legislators and share their concerns and ideas. For those who are unable to travel to Washington, the day is used to present programs to the different communities and speak to local representatives about ways in which they can help. Supporters can also send messages and make phone calls to the Capital to get their voices heard.

But, when planning how exactly to advocate for libraries, one may ask “How do we get our legislators to listen and support what we are trying to say and do?”

To help library supporters all over get prepared to be advocates, ALA Washington Office is offering a FREE Webinar called “Advocating for Federal Legislation in Support of Libraries” on March 30, 2011 from 5:00-6:00 EDT. This session will be filled with great tips and strategies to help library supporters become better advocates. For those who have never taken on the advocacy role, it will be an excellent session to get one started. For those who have been advocates, it will help to brush up on those skills or get some ideas before the big day.

To register, simply click on https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/817050579 and fill out the requested information.

Take a moment and register for this valuable webinar…we all know how much we need advocates; become one today! Each voice helps to fend off the budget cuts and allows us to continue to support and empower our communities. Sign on to be one of those voices!

This week, the House of Representatives will consider two amendments to the FY2011 Continuing Resolution that are critical to libraries – one that would eliminate all Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funding including Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding and another that would halt all funding for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) orders seeking libraries and bookstore records of U.S. citizens.

E-mail via Capwiz or call your representative at (202) 224-3121 today and tell him or her to oppose Amendment #35 to the Continuing Resolution!

Amendment #35, submitted by U.S. Rep. Scott Garret (R-NJ), seeks to zero out the Institute of Museum and Library Services, eliminating all federal funding specifically for libraries.

Message to Your Representative:

• Libraries are essential to every community, and federal funding is critical for ensuring library resources and services remain available to their constituents.
• LSTA supports all kinds of libraries including school, academic, and public libraries.
• Public libraries are the primary source  of no-fee access to the Internet and are active in assisting the public with online  job searches, e-government services, and lifelong learning.

E-mail via Capwiz or call your representative at (202) 224-3121 today and tell him or her to support Conyers’ amendment to the Continuing Resolution!

This amendment, sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), would halt all funding for FISA orders seeking libraries and bookstore records of U.S. citizens.  Currently, this vote is scheduled for this Thursday, February 17.

Message to Your Representative:

• Vote YES on the Conyers amendment to the FY2011 Continuing Resolution to halt funding for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) orders that would seek library and bookstore records of U.S. citizens;
• The Conyers amendment seeks to protect individual privacy and personal reading records from inappropriate access by law enforcement;
• Like previous reader privacy bills, this amendment has bipartisan support;
• Law enforcement access to the reading habits of individuals should be held to a higher legal standard in order to protect civil liberties and the right to read and access information.

In the weeks to come, extending your advocacy efforts to your senators as well as continuing to reach out to your representatives will be vitally important to protecting the future of libraries. Questions as well as reports and feedback from your calls and e-mails are welcomed.  Please contact Kristin Murphy or Lynne Bradley at the ALA Office of Government Relations, Washington Office.

Through grassroots efforts of the library community and their patrons, the U.S. Senate passed the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) Reauthorization (S. 3984) on December 8. This bill will help promote library workforce development, library services, literacy and education and will help preservation the knowledge found in library collections. Now after being unanimously voted upon, the bill will go to the House.

The passage of this bill is an example of advocacy in action. Efforts of many people were involved in making this happen and more effort is now needed. To contact a member of the House about this bill you can look up your representative at http://www.house.gov . As some say “all politics is local” and it is through the work of the local community that action happens.

The day has finally come, Mid-Term Elections are here! It is imperative that you make time to cast your votes today! We are blessed as a nation to have the priviledge and the right to vote and choose our political leaders. Make your voices known and heard! As you step up to fill out your ballots, remember your libraries, schools, and teen participants. How will your votes impact them?

In the last week, you have seen a variety of resources about what some of the major legislative issues are that are impacting young adult library services. In addition, tons of excellent information has been shared about the different resources for advocacy and how to advocate for your libraries and teens. The Legislation Committee hopes that everyone was able to take away at least one nugget of wisdom that has helped you in making your voting decisions.

Don’t wait; cast your vote!

What are the major legislative issues affecting young adult library services? This post will focus on two.

First, the 2011 funding level for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). ALA is encouraging members to ask their congressional leaders to fund LSTA at $300 million for FY 2011.

LSTA funding is distributed to states by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through population-based grants. LSTA is the only source of federal funding for public libraries, and with more and more public libraries facing state and local budget cuts, it is critically important that libraries receive this money. In this case, we are not seeking to pass legislation, but to influence the funding level for legislation that is already in effect.

Second, the good news. In August, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1586, a $26-billion state aid package intended to prevent layoffs of educators and other state and local government workers. $10 billion will go specifically to education, and school librarians can benefit from this funding.

However, ALA is continuing to lobby for additional support to school libraries, specifically for the inclusion of school libraries in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ALA is pushing for the ESEA to include a goal of having a school library staffed by a state-licensed school librarian in every public school, and to open state and local professional development funds to school libraries for the recruiting and training of school librarians.

The ESEA legislation will determine education policy for years to come. We need to make sure that it includes school libraries.

Where can you find information about legislative issues affecting libraries?
ALA’s Legislative Alerts and Updates page
Or the more extensive, “Legislation We are Watching” page

With all the talk of advocacy in ALA, you might ask yourself: “How can I be an advocate? I’m just a librarian.” No one is “just a librarian.” Each voice counts and everything you do for your teens affects not only them but your community.

Librarians can be advocates by speaking out. A well thought out email or letter to a legislator can be persuasive. I talked to one legislator and she said that she hears from the same people all the time. Most people do not have the time or inclination to write their legislators and so only a minority of voices gets heard. Also, it is usually the same people who always go to open forums like a city council meeting. If you feel you have something to say, thoughtfully write it out and bring it to your council. Bring your teens along with you as it gives them an opportunity to participate in the political process as well as let officials know who they are helping.

You do not only have to speak out to people in government but your own administrators need to hear your voice too. Many times they do not know the problems or concerns among their staff. Some members of administration may only see teens as a nuisance instead of important patrons at the library. It is important to talk openly with administration to dismiss these beliefs, let them know what your teens are doing, and what administration can be doing for them.

While it can be frightening to speak out to those that give us our paychecks, it is necessary if we desire change. The more you speak out, the easier it will come.

ALA has many resources available online to help you advocate for your library and libraries in general.

The Advocacy University page includes links to many toolkits, including resources for frontline advocacy, advocating in a tough economy, and an advocacy toolkit geared specifically towards youth development and services.

The Advocacy Clearinghouse page provides advocacy fact sheets, a printable brochure including library facts, and links to advocacy pages geared towards specific types of libraries.

Check the Advocacy Events page for information on upcoming events with advocacy opportunities, and information from past advocacy events.

Not sure what issues need librarian advocates, or how to contact your legislators? Visit the Federal Legislation and Libraries page and the Issues and Advocacy page. These pages provide information on important issues, upcoming legislation that affects libraries, and information on contacting your federal legislators.

ALA provides one central page, the Advocacy for Libraries page, with all of these links and other links that you may find useful.

If you need further support or information about becoming a library advocate, contact the ALA Office for Library Advocacy.

YALSA has many resources to help you be an advocate for teens and teen services in your library. Are you aware of what YALSA has that can help you?

YALSA has a legislative committee. That’s us, writing these posts this week, to get you ready for the elections. We’re here to tell you where to find the information that you need so you can speak up for teen services.

YALSA has webinars. YALSA has even had a webinar on advocacy! Check the website for current information and find out what previous webinars YALSA has offered. If it is more than 2 months old, you can check the archives.

YALSA’s Professional Development Tools include many different things. I mention this page because of the extensive list of resources at the bottom of the page. These include white papers on hot topics such as the importance of teen literature. Important links, such as the YALSA advocacy toolkit are also included.

There’s also a link to the Legislative Advocacy Guide. This pdf document gives you steps to take to become aware of the issues and tells you how to get involved. It mentions listservs you can join to be informed about the upcoming topics, tells you how to find out who your representatives are, how to contact them, and gives tips for what to say to them. This is an excellent resource to help get you started.

YALSA’s wiki has a page about Advocating for Teen Services in Libraries.

The wiki has many resources as well, including the “Speaking up for library services to teens: a guide to advocacy” pdf. It is very text heavy, but contains many pointers for becoming an advocate.

The Advocacy Workbook is a true step-by-step, broken down guide on how to be an advocate. It gives advice and work space to develop your messages and keep track of the important issues.

Lastly, there is a pretty hefty  list of links to other websites helpful for advocating for teen services.

As many of you know, it is exactly one week until Mid-Term Elections take place. All across the country, some new political candidates will move to the forefront, some will remain in positions of power, and some will be cast aside. As voters, it is our voices that will create this change.  Now you may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with young adults and library service?

Well, it is important for libraries, community members, and any one capable of voting in the election process be aware of the different issues and legislation facing libraries and specifically young adults, and what the potential political candidates interests are and whether they are in support of or are against these issues.

Most young adults are not yet old enough to vote so it is absolutely necessary that we, as their advocates, keep issues that impact them and their library services in mind as we go to the polls in one week. All this week, the YALSA Legislation Committee will be posting some informative posts about how to get different stakeholders involved in library advocacy, what the legislative issues impacting libraries and young adults are, and what advocacy resources are available from ALA and YALSA to help guide you through the process.

While we always see a big push for advocacy right before election times, it is also necessary for me to note that topics we will be talking about here will be things that you can do and use in your libraries year round.  If you do not have advocates or haven’t thought about advocacy, then there is no time like the present to get involved.  If you do have advocates or target advocacy as a goal in your libraries, then this might be a time to re-double your efforts,  touch base with these people, get information on the issues out there, and encourage people to voice their support for library services.

The people being elected this coming week will have a great impact on how our libraries, programs, and services continue to operate in the future.  Advocacy and education are important in getting the support libraries need to continue doing all the wonderful things that we already do, and to have positive futures in our communities.  Every single voice counts!

Librarians know more than anyone how important it is right now for our profession and our advocates to speak up for libraries — to rally our communities behind our libraries and to encourage our elected officials to support funding and policies for libraries. Next Tuesday, June 29, the ALA Washington Office is sponsoring Library Advocacy Day on the Hill, beginning with a rally at 11 a.m. Eastern to which the public — and you — are invited.

If you’re attending ALA Annual Conference or live near DC: Join YALSA at the rally, wear read, and bring your teens and any other library advocates you k now! We would love to have your support. The more people we can bring to Library Advocacy Day, the more impact we have on legislators, letting them know that librarians are a force to be reckoned with.  For more information on the rally, see the Library Advocacy Day website at www.ala.org/lad and YALSA’s information on participating in the rally.

Unable to attend: Of course, not everyone can make it to the rally in DC on Tuesday. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be part of Library Advocacy Day! We’re also hosting Virtual Library Advocacy Day.  Show your support for libraries the week of June 28-July 2 by participating in Virtual Library Advocacy Week. A simple phone call or e-mail is all it takes.  To send an e-mail, go to Capwiz and click on the issue you are interested in.  The website will take you to a sample form letter.  Customize it with stories on what your local library is doing to help people look for jobs or gain digital literacy skills as well as other programs. These examples truly matter to your elected officials. Looking for more tools for advocacy? See YALSA’s Advocacy Wiki and our District Days page. Learn more about how to participate in Virtual Library Advocacy Day!

In both cases, feel free to post to Twitter about what you’ve done and use the hashtag #LAD2010.

Thank you for all you do for teens and libraries in your community. Your voice, along with over a thousand advocates rallying on Capitol Hill on the 29th, will raise awareness about the important work that libraries and librarians do on a daily basis to help kids learn to read, help people find jobs, and so much more.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is seeking input from the educational community’s key stakeholders including parents, teachers, librarians, students & administrators on needed changes to the current federal education law, feedback on the Obama Administration’s “Blueprint for Reform” and any other education related ideas stakeholders may want to share. HELP is a bipartisan committee that has started the process of reauthorizing the federal education bill, known as Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA).  The “Blueprint for Reform” can be accessed at

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/blueprint.pdf

Individuals are invited to submit comments until Friday, May 7th by sending them to [email protected]. This is a key opportunity to let elected officials know about the essential role that school librarians and school libraries play in student achievement.  Please take a few minutes to email your comments to the Senate committee and encourage library supporters to do the same.

For help with developing your comments, you may want to read the testimony of Jaime Greene, a school librarian who testified before the HELP Committee earlier today: http://tinyurl.com/34xahs2 .  Other good resources with information about the important role school libraries play is www.ala.org/additup and AASL’s advocacy page on their web site: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslissues/advocacy/advocacy.cfm

One important issue to include in your comments is to let the Committee know how important the highly rated Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program is.  In his FY2011 budget request, President Obama consolidated Improving Literacy Through School Libraries with five other literacy programs. This would mean that the only federal funding specifically earmarked for school libraries would disappear.  Instead, school libraries will have to directly compete with dissimilar programs to receive federal dollars under the President’s plan.  However, Congress is drafting their own budget for FY2011 right now, and there is no word yet if they will go along with President Obama’s recommendation of consolidation.  Hearing from you could help save the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program.

Please pass this item on to friends, colleagues, etc. and encourage them to send their comments to the HELP Committee.  Thanks for all that you do to ensure young people have access to excellent library staff and resources!

Did you know that there are two major letters circulating around Congress today that will have a direct impact on libraries? Did you also know that our representatives only have until tomorrow to be informed of these letters and get their signatures on them to support library legislation? This means, we must act now!

What are these letters about?

Letter #1:  Congress is working on the 2011 fiscal year budget.  And, after the last year, we know it is more important than ever for our voices to be heard. We need Congress to provide $300 million in funding for the Library Services and Technology Act or LSTA.  This is the federal funding that supports libraries and is our only source of support. Libraries cannot continue to function without money, especially with the rate of our state and local cuts.  We need to have funding.

Letter #2:  Congress needs to hear from their constituents about how important school libraries are today.  The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee is considering appropriating $100 million for Improving Literacy Through School Libraries.

Please contact your congressional respresentatives today and let them know that you support these initiatives and so should they.  Ask them to put their names on the funding for LSTA and for Improving Literacy Through School Libraries.

You only have one day to act, so act NOW!

To take action, please take the following steps:

1.  Please go to http://capwiz.com/ala/ or click on the “Take Action!” button in the upper right hand corner of this e-mail.

2.  Customize the sample letter as you see fit – remember, a personal story on how your library uses LSTA and ILTSL funding to benefit their constituents is VERY effective.
3.  Enter your contact information.
4.  Press Send.
5.  If you would prefer to telephone your representative’s office, please call the Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3121 and ask for your representative.  The switchboard will transfer you to their office.  If you need to locate your members of Congress, go to http://capwiz.com/ala/.

This is being reposted, courtesy of the ALA Washington Office

As the American Library Association (ALA) has emphasized since first enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), concern for children’s safety is our first priority in providing materials to young patrons.  On August 26, 2009, the CPSC’s final rule on children’s products containing lead was released.  In the rule, CPSC confirmed that libraries have no independent obligation to test library books for lead under the law. CPSC also announced its intention to release a Statement of Policy specifically providing guidance for libraries with regard to the treatment of older children’s books that could potentially contain lead.  According to our conversations with CPSC officials, that Statement of Policy should be released within the next several weeks.

While we await the Statement of Policy, ALA recommends that libraries take the following actions.  If a library is aware that any children’s book does indeed contain lead above the legal limits or otherwise presents a danger to children, it should remove it from public access, for instance by moving it to the non-circulating collection.  We would also ask that if libraries do learn of any books containing lead to please let the ALA – Washington Office know so that we might  share that information with other libraries.  When the Statement of Policy is released, we will promptly notify our members.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Jessica McGilvray, Assistant Director of the ALA Office of Government Relations at [email protected] or 1-800-941-8478.