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Ad Lib: Advocacy for LibrariesJuly 15, 2008 DLS Legislative Candidate BreakfastYesterday, July 14th, 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 14th Congressional District) Mary Schneider (Democrat, running in Illinois 50th House District) Kay Hatcher (Republican, running in Illinois 96th House District)
Since four of our libraries are in the 14th and one in the 50th, 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) No Comments »RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment
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