Advocacy Archives | Page 2 of 41 | American Libraries Magazine

Dewey Decibel, episode 44: Advocacy: Anyone Can Do It

Dewey Decibel Podcast: Advocacy: Anyone Can Do It

November 22, 2019

First, American Libraries Senior Editor and Dewey Decibel host Phil Morehart speaks with Denis Cotter, chair of Loudon County (Va.) Public Library Board of Trustees, about how the board successfully lobbied the county board of supervisors for the elimination of fines at the library. Next, American Libraries Associate Editor Sallyann Price talks to John Windmueller, … Continue reading Dewey Decibel Podcast: Advocacy: Anyone Can Do It →

Special Report: Democracy in Action

November 1, 2019

And libraries are especially well suited to be “democracy coaches,” in the words of Amanda Smithfield, a librarian at Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School in Nashville, Tennessee. Open to everyone regardless of political leanings, they serve as voter registration hubs and polling places and provide meeting space for community groups and forums. Our special report … Continue reading Special Report: Democracy in Action →

Deborah Doyle talks with California State Sen. Mark McGuire about funding, programming, and new technology at Healdsburg Regional Library. (Photo: Ray Holley/Sonoma County Library)

Connecting with Congress

By Lara Ewen | November 1, 2019

“Building these relationships is one of the most important strategies for a successful advocacy program,” says Bradford Fitch, president and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that helps members of Congress and constituents communicate effectively with each other. “There’s a general wall of cynicism that’s been built up around government. But … Continue reading Connecting with Congress →

Linda Neunzig, Snohomish County (Wash.) agriculture coordinator, takes a question from the audience during a discussion titled “Disappearing Farmland: Population Growth and Food Supply Sustainability” at Monroe Library. The event was part of the Issues That Matter series hosted by Sno-Isle Libraries.

Discourse for Democracy

By Greg Landgraf | November 1, 2019

In a city of more than 23,000 residents, just 40 miles south of Cleveland, these forums have attracted dozens of attendees and receive significant local media coverage. They are recorded and later posted to the city’s website. Daniel Slife, the library’s director, moderates the forums, which were initiated by former Director Pamela Hickson-Stevenson. Slife always … Continue reading Discourse for Democracy →

Civic Involvement

By Diana Panuncial | November 1, 2019

These statistics are featured in American Libraries’ “Democracy in Action” special report (Nov./Dec. 2019). 53.9 million Number of citizens of voting age who reported not voting in the 2016 US presidential election. Source: US Census Bureau (2018) 15% Percentage of registered nonvoters who didn’t vote in 2016 because they were not interested or felt that … Continue reading Civic Involvement →

Advocacy Tips from ALA’s Policy Corps

November 1, 2019

As part of our special package on libraries and civic engagement, we asked a few members of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Policy Corps—library workers specially trained in advocacy and policy issues—to give us their tips and best practices for being effective library advocates. Here’s what they had to say about what works and what … Continue reading Advocacy Tips from ALA’s Policy Corps →

Nebraska City (Neb.) Mayor Bryan Bequette (left) and his wife and daughter celebrate after solving a puzzle in the Morton-James Public Library’s escape room.

Nontraditional Approaches to Reaching Local Leaders

By Carrie Smith | November 1, 2019

At Manitowoc (Wis.) Public Library (MPL), which hosts a free carnival every August, local representatives such as the mayor and aldermen hop into a dunk tank or serve as targets for the water-balloon catapult. Julia Lee, youth services manager at MPL, says getting local celebrities in the dunk tank helps break down barriers between residents … Continue reading Nontraditional Approaches to Reaching Local Leaders →

Boost Your Public Speaking Skills

By Anne Ford | November 1, 2019

“I was just so petrified,” remembers Travis, who is advisor for information literacy and library instructional assessment at California State University, Long Beach. “I had actually prepared; I knew everything I should have said. It was just the idea of speaking in public that terrified me.” Years later, Travis has more than conquered her stage … Continue reading Boost Your Public Speaking Skills →

Listening to Your Community

By Mary Ghikas | November 1, 2019

At the event, R. David Lankes, now director of University of South Carolina’s iSchool, facilitated discussions on the topic. Participants from all types of libraries were asked to take an imaginary walk around their community: observing, listening, seeking to understand the aspirations of the community for itself. During the discussion that followed, participants talked about how … Continue reading Listening to Your Community →

From left: ALA Past President Loida Garcia-Febo; PLA Executive Director Barb Macikas; ALA Past President Sari Feldman; Alan S. Inouye, ALA senior director of public policy and government relations; and Tim Cherubini, executive director of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, outside the offices of Macmillan Publishers on October 30, 2019. Photo: Daniel Root

Library Advocates Deliver Ebook Petition to Macmillan

By Stephanie Hlywak | October 30, 2019

“I traveled from the nation’s capital to New York City, the publishing capital, to stand for the vast number of readers who will be impacted by this discriminatory embargo,” said Alan S. Inouye, the American Library Association’s (ALA) senior director of public policy and government relations. He was joined by past ALA Presidents Loida Garcia-Febo … Continue reading Library Advocates Deliver Ebook Petition to Macmillan →

New ALA Report Cites Abusive Pricing, Denial and Delay of Sales to Libraries by Major Publishers

October 24, 2019

“By outright denying or delaying library access to digital content, dominant actors in digital markets endanger America’s competitiveness and our nation’s cultural heritage,” ALA President Wanda Brown said in an October 24 statement. “Everyone who reads, writes, performs, or sells creative works is harmed when libraries are unable to purchase and deliver content for all … Continue reading New ALA Report Cites Abusive Pricing, Denial and Delay of Sales to Libraries by Major Publishers →

August Is for Advocacy

By Emily Wagner | July 24, 2019

As you may have heard in the news, the Trump administration appears to be moving forward with a budget deal, after weeks of negotiations between congressional leaders and White House officials. The agreement currently includes increased or level funding for most domestic and defense programs. In May, the House included significant increases in their funding, … Continue reading August Is for Advocacy →

Latest Library Links

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The Library History Round Table announced that this year’s Justin Winsor Library History Essay Award winner is Julie Park for her paper “Infrastructure Story: The Los Angeles Central Library’s Architectural History.” Park is assistant curator and faculty fellow at the Special Collections Center, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library in New York. Her essay uses written contracts, board meeting minutes, floor plans and renovation reports to show “how, as infrastructure, the library’s architecture and its spatial priorities were deeply ‘relational’ [which] required adaptation to changing contingencies over time, despite features that seemed permanent and immovable.”
LHRT, June 30
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ProQuest announced the first winner of a scholarship presented in collaboration with the ALA Film and Media Roundtable and the Association of Moving Image Archivists. Valeria Estefanía Dávila Gronros, a master’s candidate at University of Alabama, was selected to receive the deg farrelly Scholarship from a group of online applicants by a panel of FMRT and AMIA members. The scholarship has two parts—a $1,000 education grant for tuition and books and another $1,000 cash award to be used for other education-related expenses like workshops and conference fees.
FMRT, June 30
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Denice Adkins, associate professor; Jenny Bossaller, associate professor; and Heather Moulaison Sandy, associate professor and director of graduate studies, all at the University of Missouri’s School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, are the recipients of the 2020 ALA Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table David Cohen/EMIERT Multicultural Award for their article “Exploring Reader-Generated Language to Describe Multicultural Literature.” The David Cohen/EMIERT Multicultural Award recognizes recent articles that include significant new research related to the understanding and promotion of multiculturalism in libraries in North America.
ODLOS, June 30
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The American Association of School Librarians has released equity, diversity, and inclusion resources created by the 2019–2020 Presidential Initiative Task Force. Advised by AASL President Mary Keeling, the committee hosted office hours, designed informative bookmarks, and presented a webinar on EDI in the school library. The resources can be found at www.ala.org/aasl/all/EDI.
AASL, June 30
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Mirela Roncevic writes: “With the COVID-19 crisis forcing a rapid shift to remote and distance learning around the world, the issue of the accessibility of digital resources becomes even more prominent. This year, however, marks a turning point in what is required of universities and colleges across the US on the matter of accessibility. All institutions of learning that receive federal aid are now legally required to make their digital learning materials accessible to students, including those with disabilities.”
No Shelf Required, June 24
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Starting July 8, AL Direct, the e-newsletter of American Libraries magazine, will change to a weekly schedule and showcase an updated design. The newsletter, which is currently mailed on Tuesdays and Fridays, will mail every Wednesday. AL Direct, created in January 2006, is sent to personal members of the American Library Association. It provides summaries and links to news, announcements, and other information of interest to library and information science professionals. The newsletter is supplemented daily by other news on the American Libraries website widget, Latest Library Links, and the AL news blog, The Scoop.
American Libraries, June 30
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Wendi Maloney writes: “People chatting in the sun beside a taco truck in Oakland, California. A woman peering warily over a surgical mask in a Newark, New Jersey, bus line. A sign reading ‘no gloves, no mask, no service’ taped on the entrance to a Royal Chicken and Biscuit restaurant in Newark. What do these images have in common? They’re all by Camilo José Vergara, noted for photographing urban communities where life is often hard. They are also among the very first items the library acquired documenting the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. And they will be far from the last: The library anticipates a collecting effort that exceeds its coverage of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”
Library of Congress Blog, June 24

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