National Library Legislative Day

If you are on ALA Council, or have read-only privileges to the Council listserv you will have already seen this, but for those of you not on the listserv, I think it is a good time to begin the discussion of National Library Legislative Day. First a few (edited) excerpts from the posting that started the discussion.

. . .I have received a notice about registering for National Library Legislative Day. And it occurs to me .... that attending legislative day is a mystery to me. None of the folks in libraries I have worked at. . . have ever, to my knowledge, attended. And so I ask, because I am genuinely curious and wish to understand parts of the professional landscape that I don't frequent ...... do YOU go? Is it EXPECTED of you? Does SOMEBODY in your institution go? Is there institutional support for it? What do you hope to accomplish? Do you think you DO accomplish something?

Here was my response:
I for one, DO go to Legislative Day and encourage others to go. Two years ago, the spring class I was teaching at the University of Maryland on Library Administration met on Tuesday -- so I took my class to Legislative Day - and they loved it and got a lot out of it. It is not expected of me to go and several librarians at the central office level from other counties do go, and when we do we join up with our counterparts in the public, academic and special libraries to visit our Congressmen. The only institutional support I receive is that I do not have to take leave to go to Leg Day. (Granted a 45 minute ride on Metro gets me to Capitol Hill). Why do I go? - there are several reasons. 1)To attend the sessions the ALA Washington Office arranges and the overview which gives me a broad picture of what is happening politically in response to issues regarding all types of libraries -- it gives me the global picture so I can see the impact on myself and other libraries. 2)To have a chance to bring forth the issues affecting school libraries and hear from others around the country on how they are handling the issue or how it is impacting them and suggestions for us to join forces to address the issue. 3)To visit my Congressmen to - first thank them for their support in the past and tell them how it has made a difference and then to inform them of current concerns and ask for their help. What do I hope to accomplish? To make legislators aware of the needs of school libraries and when with my counterparts, how we work together for the needs of all types of libraries. Specifically, last year my interest was the introduction of the bill to include school librarians in NCLB -- the SKILLs Act. It was successful and got the attention of many and though there is still lots to be done -- I feel we (with the help of the Washington Office) did accomplish much! If we do not speak up for libraries -- all types of libraries -- who will? ALA Leg Day is not the only way to get our voice heard -- but it is an effective one. If we consistently advocate for libraries we can make a difference.

As a result of the posting I received several comments, one very interesting and which is one of those great ideas that comes from discussing a topic. Most of it centered around persons who would like to be involved, but for a variety of reasons cannot attend NLLD in Washington. The first comment was to have the handouts posted to the web so everyone can take advantage of them at the local level. Actually this is already done. The Washington office has been hosting Virtual Library Legislative Day for several years now, which is a great way to get involved if you cannot be there. The handouts are posted and there is an online Legislative Action Center (LAC) http://capwiz.com/ala that outlines all the pending issues and gives you an opportunity to send a fax directly to your legislators.

The next suggestion was to have a coordinated local event for those unable to attend. I wonder if the Federal Library Legislative Advocacy Network (FLLAN) might be the place to get such an action started -- ?? The FLLAN is a relatively new initiative by ALA's Committee on Legislation, the Public Library Association Legislative Committee and the ALA Washington Office to establish a more formal national grassroots advocacy network that is capable of responding to federal issues in an efficient and effective manner. Although developed primarily to get support when needed for an issue -- perhaps they could develop that support through a coordinated local event. Some states do have local events - perhaps they could be contacted to allow their success to be applied in other states to allow for a wider participation in our legislative actions.

The other suggestion, which I think is fantastic one and hope it is implemented -- is to web cast the various presentations at NLLD. This is simple technology and there are already web casts on the ALA page, so web casting the valuable presentations at NLLD and putting them on the web page with the handouts sounds like an easy way to get increased member involvement. It will certainly provide those unable to attend NLLD and who choose to work in local districts with the benefits those attending NLLD are able to gain, along with the ALA Washington Office staff's knowledge. I have emailed Emily Sheketoff, Executive Director of the ALA Washington Office requesting that this be explored for the NLLD this May.