These past few months as executive director have been a whirlwind learning experience—unlike anything else in my life—and I have enjoyed the heck out of it. One of the most powerful insights I’ve gained is a deeper understanding of our Association’s advocacy work: what it truly means to advocate for libraries, for librarianship, for all library workers, and for the right to read and access information equitably and freely across our nation.
Indeed, the American Library Association (ALA) exists because of a shared desire for a professional community and coordinated advocacy. In my early interactions across the many facets of the Association, I have seen firsthand the deep drive and commitment our members bring to this work. At events like the American Association of School Librarians National Conference in October, the Core Forum in November, and our Advocacy Academy workshop for chapters in December, and through ALA Connect and social media, I have seen members working together and fighting every day to protect what they do, their institutions, and the communities they serve.
By the time you read this, I expect we will have victories to celebrate—electoral wins, legislative successes, and fundraising milestones—along with a few unexpected triumphs along the way. But none of these achievements happens in a vacuum. They are the result of sustained, intentional advocacy. Our work is inseparable from our advocacy, and it is our professional responsibility to make advocacy a regular and powerful part of our daily lives.
At the chapter advocacy workshop, one comment in particular stayed with me. A member shared that she wanted to connect with chapter leaders in a neighboring state because her own state legislators often take their cues from that state, and she wanted to be prepared. I was grateful that we had created space for that exchange, and it underscored something essential: We must continually share knowledge, strategies, and lessons across ALA if we are to be effective advocates.
Many of you may have participated in our National Library Legislative Day fly-in this February in Washington, D.C. If you did, thank you! I am confident of its success and believe it should take place every year. Just as importantly, we must empower and encourage our state chapters and affiliates to organize similar efforts in their state capitals. Our past successes in D.C. on issues such as E-Rate and Institute of Museum and Library Services funding show that sustained advocacy in the halls of power must remain one of our guiding stars.
These efforts represent just a few of the ways we express our collective power and effect the change we want to see in our world. When those in positions of authority fail to recognize the power of our ideas, we must demonstrate the power of our unity. And we do that together, as one ALA.
Advocacy is not only something we do in moments of crisis or during legislative sessions. It is embedded in the everyday choices we make as library workers and leaders. Each conversation with a policymaker, community partner, or neighbor is an opportunity to affirm our values and demonstrate why libraries matter.
One of my heroes is the late civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, an architect of the 1963 March on Washington. He understood that lasting change is built through coalition, preparation, and collective action. That lesson is as relevant to our work today as it was then—and it is one I hope we continue to carry forward together.
