Fifty years after ALA’s first National Library Legislative Day (NLLD), approximately 200 library advocates from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., for 254 visits with members of Congress and their staff. Hosted by ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Office (PPAO) on February 25–26, the event helped kick-start the campaign to secure federal funding for library services in the 2027 federal budget.
Tamara King, executive director of Richland (S.C.) Library, had a clear answer when one of my colleagues asked why she had flown into town for the event. “It’s like asking why we advocate for our rights, or why we advocate for basic human dignity, or why we advocate for kids to go to school.” That is to say: Library advocacy is integral for King and for other attendees.
Although ALA’s in-person advocacy event on Capitol Hill has taken on a few different forms over the past several decades, its purpose has remained the same. NLLD combines advocacy education, training, and in-person meetings with congressional offices into two days of powerful action for our libraries.
This year, the timing could not have been better. The same day that our library advocates were pounding the pavement on the Hill, we learned that the US House of Representatives would be kicking off its federal budget process only days later.
A day of training and networking
Meeting congressional staff on Capitol Hill, let alone lawmakers themselves, can be a daunting proposition. My own first NLLD was in 2014, and I remember the feeling acutely. That’s why PPAO has designed the event to combine training, networking, and meeting management to make this experience as smooth as possible. In fact, our advocates often say that seeing their lawmakers’ D.C. offices in person goes a long way toward demystifying the Capitol, and it inspires them to continue their advocacy action once they return home.
One of the things that most moved me at this year’s event—aside from it being my first as PPAO’s associate executive director—was how many people in the room were visiting Capitol Hill for congressional meetings for the first time.
Annie Lewis, director of libraries at Multnomah County (Ore.) Library and a first-time attendee, shared that NLLD has been “so critical to provide training, materials, and support, and all the coordination and logistics for these meetings. It’s made it really easy for me to focus on what I know best, which is libraries in my state.”
NLLD began with a day of stories, training, and networking. I was gratified to see so many advocates making important connections with one another as we all prepared for the following day’s meetings in congressional offices.
The central point of the briefing day was to teach attendees how to use their own experiences to demonstrate libraries’ value to members of Congress in charge of federal funding. Those tools carried our advocates straight into their face-to-face meetings the next morning. Many advocates reported answering representatives’ insightful questions about the services that libraries provide beyond books, and one attendee bonded with their congressman over his daughter’s interest in libraries. Advocates made an impact on every office they visited.
“[NLLD] was an invaluable opportunity for librarians from all types of libraries to show the important ways libraries serve the entire community through all the phases of their lives,” said Amanda Kordeliski, director of libraries and instructional technology at Norman (Okla.) Public Schools and president of the American Association of School Librarians. “It’s great to see policymakers put those pieces together and understand the vital importance of libraries.”
What comes next
We didn’t know that the House of Representatives would announce the timeline for the first stage of their federal budget process on the same day our advocates were on Capitol Hill, but it certainly helped to drive home NLLD’s importance.
With that momentum we turn to ALA’s annual campaign in support of federal funding for library services in the coming fiscal year (FY2027), beginning October 1.
This process begins with members of both the House and the Senate drafting “Dear Appropriator” letters to each chamber’s Appropriations Committees in support of funding for library services. The House has set a hard deadline of March 20 to finalize signatures, which gives our library champions a short window to gain supporters.
It’s critical that lawmakers hear that their constituents support these programs. Everything you do to urge your House Representative to sign Dear Appropriator letters will build the foundation for federal funding for library services in FY2027.
Act now and urge your House Representative to support federal library funds.
ALA thanks Sno-Isle Libraries in Island and Snohomish Counties, Washington, and Ingram Library Services, who sponsored the 2026 National Library Legislative Day.
