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Ad Lib: Advocacy for Libraries

September 25, 2007

ALA’s Got SKILLs

I mentioned yesterday the SKILLs Act, and promised that more information would be forthcoming. Well, here’s that “more information.”

ALA’s Washington Office sent out an Action Alert yesterday, giving us the lowdown:

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor will soon be considering reauthorization of the NCLB. In order for the SKILLs Act to be included in NCLB – that is, to place a state-certified school library media specialist in every school – each member of the House must co-sponsor the SKILLS Act.

The House has postponed mark-up for sometime in October and there is still time to call your Representative. The name of your Representative must appear on this bill! If your Representative’s name does not appear as a co-sponsor, please call his/her office immediately and request that he/she support the SKILLs Act. If your Representative’s name DOES appear on this bill, contact his/her office and thank him/her for the continued support of school libraries and school library media specialists.

None of NSLS’s (or, in fact, any of Illinois’) Representatives are currently on the sponsor list, so there’s plenty of room for outreach. You can find your Rep’s contact info in our Legislative Directory. The ALA Action Alert has talking points and a breakdown of the particulars of the SKILLs Act, so you can arm yourself with information as you call.

posted by Alan at 11:21 am | Comments (0)

September 24, 2007

I’m Sure Princess Mia Supports Libraries, Too

You never know where you’ll find support for library causes.

Case in point, this blog posting that came to my attention. Author Meg Cabot (of The Princess Diaries and other books) writes about the SKILLs Act:

The single most important piece of legislation concerning school libraries comes before Congress in two weeks: Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries, the SKILLs Act. We need everyone who cares about young people, literacy, literature, and libraries to contact their congressional legislator’s office in Washington and tell their representative, respectfully, that they support the SKILLs Act, and they want their legislator to support and cosponsor it, too.
…
What this means is that all of our kids will not only have increased access to quality information and story, but will also have someone to teach them how to assess that information, so that they can become critical consumers of information. It means that kids of every color, from every background, will find the books they need in their own school libraries.

We haven’t talked much about the SKILLs Act here—though more information will be forthcoming—but it’s nice to see that library issues are getting attention in areas outside of the traditional library blogs.

It just goes to show, library advocacy can take all sorts of forms.

posted by Alan at 2:29 pm | Comments (0)

September 19, 2007

House Budget Hearing – Report

The first of the area’s House’s budget hearings was last night. Did you go?

NSLS’s Jill Lynch did, and she brings us back this report:

State Reps. Fred Crespo, Paul Froehlich, Sidney Mathias, Beth Coulson and Ruth Munson were part of the bipartisan panel present at the public meetings. They all strongly encouraged contacting your State Senator to ask them to override Gov. Blagojevich’s budget vetoes. If you are uncertain how to contact your local senator, please visit the website to determine your Senator.

Tips for Presenting Testimony at Town Hall Meetings:

• Present testimony as to how much money you would have received from SB 186, and how those funds are used, or would have provided in your library.
• Testimony should be approximately two minutes in length. Audio is recorded by the representatives, but you should also email a copy to your senator.

Many library supporters came to sign the veto override statement at last night’s meeting in Hoffman Estates. Two speakers presented testimony on behalf of Illinois libraries: Frances Rohem and Deborah Miller. Frances Rohem explained how IllinoisClicks provides reference services throughout the state for less than two cents per resident. Debbie Miller, presenting on behalf of the Schaumburg Township District Library Board, testified that, “…the Per Capita Grant to public libraries is far from a handout from Springfield. Rather it is a bootstrap program which requires libraries which get the grants to meet increasingly difficult standards. There has been no increase in these grants for twelve years…”

Over 35 organizations presented testimony on the effects of the budget vetoes, including institutions which serve the mentally and physically disabled, fire safety officers, and park and recreation districts. The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:15.

The call for contacting your Senators is one of the key takeaways from this meeting. Since the House is calling the meetings, you know they’re ready to listen to concerns from the voters regarding the governor’s budget. But the Senate’s position is less clear.

So do like Jill says: take a minute to head over to NSLS’s Legislative Directory, find out who your library’s Senator is, and then get in touch to let your position be known.

posted by Alan at 10:57 am | Comments (0)

September 13, 2007

Follow-ups and Clarifications

As I mentioned yesterday, ILA is calling on Illinois’ library supporters to attend the budget hearings scheduled by the House. I said that, once ILA got their call to action posted on their site, I would share it here. Well, they have, and I am.

Now, I want to clarify something: Yesterday, in talking about the budget vetoes, I drew specific attention to SB186, the bill that would increase funding available to public libraries. This is, of course, an important library issue, but it’s not the ONLY library issue that got hit by the governor’s veto. If you look at the ILA Update linked above, you’ll see that the budget cuts also continue the downward trend of system and State Library funding.

If you feel strongly about these issues but can’t make one of the House’s sessions (or if your Representative isn’t hosting a session), you can—and should—still commit to the tried and true method of contacting your legislator and letting them know how you feel. The House veto session is scheduled from October 2-12, so time is of the essence here; there’s less than a month to get your voice heard.

posted by Alan at 10:54 am | Comments (0)

September 12, 2007

Budgets and Hearings

Recently, the Illinois General Assembly passed SB 186, the Working Cash Funds bill a bill that calls for an increase in library operating funds. This was, obviously, a good things for libraries.

Unfortunately, Gov. Blagojevich vetoed it.

Now, the Illinois House of Representatives is hosting nineteen public hearings, and ILA is encouraging library voices to be heard at these hearing. NSLS director Sarah Long has put out a call to all NSLS members as well:

For the first time in twelve years, the Illinois General Assembly approved an increase in the funding for public library per capita grants. However, the governor vetoed the entire amount.

Regional library systems have not had an increase in funding since 1989. Funding for the Illinois State Library is equally dismal compounded by occasional cuts.

Three hearings are being held in our area. This is a rare opportunity for you to stand up and be counted and even to speak about the importance of library/system/state library funding:

Sept. 18, 2007 6:00 p.m. Hoffman Estates Village Hall
Sept. 19, 2007 6 p.m. McHenry College Conference Center
Sept. 25, 2007 4 p.m. Northbrook Village Hall

If you would like to speak, please contact in advance the persons listed below for each hearing.
To go and be registered as a supporter of a motion to override the governors veto, just show up. You don’t even have to stay the whole time. This is a great opportunity for the library community to show the power and strength and commitment of our community. Numbers count!

To speak at the Hoffman Estates hearing, contact Shirley May Byrnes at: smbyrnes@dupagels.lib.il.us
To speak at the McHenry College hearing, contact Karolyn Nance at: knance@frgml.lib.il.us
To speak at the Northbrook hearing, contact Tamiye Meehan at tmeehan@itpld.lib.il.us

ILA hasn’t yet posted on their site their call to action with the list of all nineteen hearing locations, but when they do we’ll get it up here. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to make plans to make it to these hearings. Even if you don’t have anything to say, an extra body in support of this issue could make all the difference!

posted by Alan at 1:51 pm | Comments (0)

September 6, 2007

Patriot Act NSLs Struck Down

It’s been a slow summer for legislative activity relating to libraries, but a bit of judicial activity might stir things up a bit.

The AP is reporting that a federal judge has struck down the provisions of the Patriot Act that allow investigators to retrieve business—and, more important to us, library—records without court approval.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said the government orders must be subject to meaningful judicial review and that the recently rewritten Patriot Act “offends the fundamental constitutional principles of checks and balances and separation of powers.”
…
The ACLU said it was improper to issue so-called national security letters, or NSLs — investigative tools used by the FBI to compel businesses to turn over customer information — without a judge’s order or grand jury subpoena. Examples of such businesses include Internet service providers, telephone companies and public libraries.

You’ll recall, of course, that the American Library Association has been leading a fight against this provision of the Patriot Act pretty much since the bill had passed. An earlier court decision removed the gag order on librarians served National Security Letters (NSLs), but the lack of court review over those NSLs, which would protect against abusive requests for library users’ confidential information, has still been an issue on ALA’s radar.

I can’t imagine this will be the final word—the government is almost surely going to appeal this decision—but it’s still a much-needed return to an issue that libraries have been fighting for years.

posted by Alan at 1:53 pm | Comments (0)