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Ad Lib: Advocacy for Libraries

April 1, 2009

Get House Support for LSTA Today!

ALA has sent out an urgent call to action:

Please contact your Representative and ask him or her to sign the “Dear Colleague” letter being circulated by Congressman Raul Grijalva in support of funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Program.

The deadline to sign the letter is Wednesday April 1! LSTA and Improving Literacy Through School Libraries are two of the most important federal programs for libraries today.  The letter will not be taken seriously, and it will appear as if Members of Congress do not care about libraries if we don’t have hundreds of signers on the letter. Programs that don’t have a vocal support network are in danger of being cut.

The letter is addressed to the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriation Subcommittees and requests that the House include $300 million for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and $100 million for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program for FY 2010.

Once you have convinced your Representative to sign onto the letter, you must have him or her call Joseph Mais in order to co-sign the letter at 202.225.2435.

NSLS doesn’t have any Congressmen on the Subcommittee of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (but Illinois does: Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., IL-2), but that shouldn’t stop you from letting your representatives from knowing your position on this issue. All members of the House can sign on to the “Dear Colleague” letter, and as ALA says, the more legislators who have signed on, the more importance the issue is seen to have.

As always, you can find your legislators’ contact information in NSLS’s Legislative Directory.

posted by Alan at 11:06 am | Comments (0)

February 5, 2009

CPSIA Pushed Back a Year

There’s been…well, not progress, exactly, but motion on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. From ALA:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today released an announcement to the Federal Register staying implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) until February 10, 2010.  Click here to read the announcement.

Libraries now have a little room to breathe, but this announcement is not an end to this problem. Since we know children’s books are safe, libraries are still asking to be exempt from regulation under this law.

While the CPSC and Congress continue to toss the burden of responsibility back and forth, libraries are caught in the middle. ALA will continue to work with members of Congress and the CPSC to ensure that a year from now, this matter is resolved once and for all, and America’s libraries remain open and welcoming to children.

So if you’re concerned about your library’s children’s material being affected by this, they’ve bought you more time to contact CPSC and Congress, but you do still need to contact them.

posted by Alan at 4:39 pm | Comments (1)

January 23, 2009

Are Libraries Going to Get a PG-13 Rating?

Under 12? No going into the library for you!

At least, that seems to be the fear:

A federal law that will soon go into effect could have some startling consequences, including the possible banning of children from libraries unless certain books are pulled from the shelves.

The law is called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act and it is designed to protect children all over the country from the dangers of lead.

Experts said there could be trace amounts of lead in books because of the ink. That’s why the government wants all books, old and new, tested for lead.

. . .

The law goes into effect on Feb. 10. After that day, all products for children under 12, including books, games, toys and even clothing, must be tested for lead.Critics argue lead testing is expensive. For a book it could between $300 and $600.

ALA is fighting this, of course, arguing that the cost of testing is prohibitive, and would result in either countless books being pulled from the shelves, or else kids under 12 not being allowed to enter the library.

There’s news, of a sort, on this issue that came yesterday from ALA’s Washington Office:

A public meeting was held January 22, and Cheryl Falvey, General Counsel for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), stated that a decision should be made by the first week of February regarding libraries.  . . .

[W]e must let the CPSC know how important an issue this is to libraries.  … Explain to the Commission that it is simply impossible for libraries to remove all children’s books from the shelves and/or ban children under 12 from the library and still provide the level of service that is needed.

You can read the full action item here, which includes contact info for the CPSC’s acting commissioner, as well as specific talking points.

posted by Alan at 10:17 am | Comments (4)

January 13, 2009

Libraries’ Value in Tough Economy

Just got a great link to information on how libraries can let their communities know of services they have to help folks through tough economic times.  While most have seen the video at the link below,  look farther down the page for pieces of a toolkit that can be used to be sure your patrons and your communities know just how valuable you are.

The ALA toolkit contains information on how to work with decision-makers, ways to work with the media, and talking points to help libraries articulate the role of libraries in times of economic downturn. Talking points on the economic value of libraries, with return-on-investment examples; libraries and the economy; and upswings in library usage are included.

www.ala.org/tougheconomytoolkit

I think this information would make a great discussion and look forward to comments on the blog about how libraries are telling their communities about their value.

posted by Judy R. at 1:24 pm | Comments (0)

January 12, 2009

Exciting New Advocacy Program at NSLS on February 12!

Greetings Advocates! We have a great advocacy program that was recently posted to the L2 calendar which will be taking place here at North Suburban Library System on February 12, 2009.  Marci Merola, ALA’s Director of the Office for Library Advocacy, will be facilitating a fun dinner- workshop for us.  The program, Advocacy on the Go!  is conveniently scheduled for after-work hours. Marci presented this training opportunity for trustees and advocates in other states and each time the workshop was well received. Here is the link to the L2 calendar for sign-up. https://www.librarylearning.info/events/?eventID=5435

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions at all.  Hope to see you on the 12th!  Donna Tieberg, Program Manager, 847-353-7160, dtieberg@nsls.info

posted by donna at 4:03 pm | Comments (0)

November 5, 2008

Referenda Results

Not the best of days for libraries…

ILA has sent out their latest ILA Update (not online yet, but when it is it’ll be at http://www.ila.org/about/press/2008/update18.html, so keep an eye out) with a recap of the various referenda that libraries put on the ballots this election day, and the results are disappointing to say the least. As ILA analytically puts it in the Update, “0 passed, 10 failed for a 0 percent success rate.”

Let’s take a look at what was shot down for NSLS libraries:

Barrington Public Library   Cook, Kane, Lake, McHenry   Failed   Bond   Shall the bonds of the Barrington Public Library District, Cook, Kane, Lake, and McHenry Counties, Illinois in the amount $34,300,000 be issued for the purpose of constructing an addition to the existing library building and related improvements, furnishing necessary equipment therefore and acquiring library materials such as books, periodicals, films, recordings, and electronic data storage and retrieval facilities in connection therewith?

Huntley Area Public Library District   Kane, McHenry   Failed   Tax   Shall the limiting rate under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law for Huntley Area Public Library District, McHenry and Kane Counties, Illinois, be increased by an additional amount equal to 0.075 percent above the limiting rate for levy year 2007 and be equal to 0.24886 percent of the equalized assessed value of the taxable property therein for levy years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011?

McHenry Public Library District   McHenry   Failed   Bond   Shall the bonds of the McHenry Public Library District, McHenry County, Illinois, in the amount of $32,000,000 be issued for the purpose of erecting a new building to be used as a library, furnishing necessary equipment therefore, acquiring library materials such as books, periodicals, films, recordings, and electronic data storage and retrieval facilities in connection therewith, erecting other improvements on the site thereof and demolishing the existing library building and related facilities?

The text of all ten failing referenda are available on the eventually-online ILA Update.

In hard economic times, it’s not surprising that people voted down sending additional money to governing agencies, but it’s still a bit of a let-down.

posted by Alan at 9:17 am | Comments (0)

September 25, 2008

Senate Overrides a Mixed Bag for Illinois Libraries

As you may know, the Illinois state Senate reconvened this week to vote on a couple of the governor’s vetoes — HB 4527 and SB 2321 — with mixed results for the library community. As ILA reports in ILA Update #13 (not yet on their website):

The Illinois Senate just overrode the governor’s amendatory veto of HB 4527 increasing the equalization and school grants formulas.  The senate override passed on a vote 55 to 0.  As the Illinois House of Representatives has already overridden the governor’s veto, this bill will now become law as originally passed in the form ILA supported. [emphasis in original]  Just to be clear, the governor’s suggested changes that would have mandated minimum operating hours for libraries will not become law.  Senator Watson (R-51, Greenville) gave an impassioned speech in favor of local library control and opposing the governor’s proposed operating hours mandate.

…

The Illinois Senate just defeated the motion to override the governor’s veto of [SB 2321] the county law library fee increase bill.  The override motion fell two votes short of the super majority needed to override.  The vote was 34 to override, 21 against the ride override.  This bill now appears dead for this year and would have to be resurrected next session.

Sponsored by Senator Donne E. Trotter (D-17, Chicago), the bill would have allowed county boards to authorize an increase in county law library fees (now, $13) of not more than (i) $18 in 2008, (ii) $19 in 2009, and (iii) $21 in 2010 and thereafter.

If either of these votes impacts your libraries for the better, or if you just want to be a voice of support to the library community, why not give your legislators a call to let them know that their vote is important to you. You can find out how your senator voted on SB 2321 at the ILGA site, and of course you can always get your legislators’ contact info from NSLS’s legislative directory.

posted by Alan at 9:18 am | Comments (0)

August 21, 2008

Blagojevich Goes 1-2 on Library Bills

Governor Blagojevich has been busy this week.

As ILA reports, he has signed the Internet Safety Education Curriculum Bill into law, but has vetoed two other library-related bills: a per capita equalization grant bill, and a bill supporting an increase in county law library fees.

On the first vetoed bill, ILA’s Bob Doyle writes:

In ILA’s estimation, the governor’s changes take away local control and greatly adds to the cost of providing local library service. While the ILA Public Policy Committee and the ILA Executive Board have not taken a formal position yet, ILA will most likely oppose the governor’s changes. The sponsor of the bill will likely ask for an override of the governor’s changes during the Fall 2008 Veto Session in November. ILA assumes that the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office will oppose the governor’s action, since this changes the intention of their legislation.

The House is expected to override the governor’s action; it is unclear what action the Senate may take; and if both chambers override the governor’s veto, then HB 4527 will become law as originally passed. If the Illinois General Assembly fails to override the governor veto, then both the original bill and the amendatorily vetoed bill will both fail.

And on the second, Bob just states that “ILA will work for an override of the governor’s veto during the Fall 2008 Veto Session in November.”

If you’re interested in hearing more about these bills, or want to get a sense of ILA’s next steps on them, you might want to stop by NSLS (or another system headquarters, if one is closer to you) on Monday, September 8 at noon for ILA’s Public Policy Committee meeting.

posted by Alan at 12:15 pm | Comments (0)

July 23, 2008

COPA Struck Down by 3rd Circuit Court

A bit of news on the internet access front today:

The Child Online Protection Act suffers from a slew of fatal flaws that render the law unconstitutional under the First Amendment, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

. . .

The unanimous three-judge panel found that COPA’s criminal penalties for allowing minors to access “harmful” material on the Internet is not the “least restrictive” means of protecting children because filtering software accomplishes the same goals.

This law has been fought by the ACLU for going on ten years now, and this is not the first time it’s been struck down by the courts. Federally-mandated steps to protect (or try to protect, anyhow) children on the internet is a topic that’s long been on the radar of library associations, so this decision is being touted as a victory in many library circles.

The Law.com article linked to above has a pretty detailed history of this legislation and the court cases surrounding it, and the ALA page I linked to can give you a good sense of where they stand on the various laws on this subject. Give them a look!

posted by Alan at 2:25 pm | Comments (0)

July 15, 2008

DLS Legislative Candidate Breakfast

Yesterday, July 14^th, I attended the DuPage Library System (DLS) Legislative Candidate Breakfast, a version of the recently-held NSLS candidate luncheons. Unlike the NSLS luncheons where our members met with one candidate, DLS opened this event to candidates running in their area, as well as system members.

Though all candidates were invited, only four attended:

Jason (Representative for Bill Foster—US.S 14^th Congressional District)

Mary Schneider (Democrat, running in Illinois 50^th House District)

Kay Hatcher (Republican, running in Illinois 96^th House District)

Since four of our libraries are in the 14^th and one in the 50^th, I decided to attend. 

Another reason I attended was to evaluate how effective this “town meeting” type format would be for future NSLS candidate meetings.

After greeting the attendees, DLS Director Shirley May Burns spent a few minutes educating the candidates on system libraries, from funding sources to services. Shirley May also spoke briefly on the difficulties regional library systems are experiencing from the “flat funding” situation.

Next there was an opportunity for the 25+ DLS members in attendance to talk about their library issues and concerns, as well as their interactions with systems.

Over and over the candidates heard about the importance of delivery and the continuing education opportunities provided by systems.

On the local level, addressing the tax cap situation and protecting the per capita/construction grants were at the top of the list.

I have to say, I liked this format.  It created a comfortable atmosphere for conversation and gave librarians plenty of opportunity to brief potential legislators. However, I left the meeting really not sure how the candidates felt about libraries, except that they use them, school libraries should have more books and certified librarians (which I liked to hear), and librarians are wonderful.  Regardless, the candidates certainly got an earful!

posted by Sharon at 10:21 am | Comments (0)