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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)

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