Author Archives: TWegner

Help Support School Libraries By Signing White House Petition

Posted on January 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

As described in an earlier post, the Obama Administration has created a website that allows the public to petition the White House and receive answers. But to get a response, a petition needs to receive 25,000 signatures in 30 days.

Recently, Carl Harvey, a school librarian in Indiana, posted a petition asking that the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provide dedicated funding to support effective school library programs.

To read the full petition and to sign on click here.

Here’s what you need to know in order to sign the petition.

1.) You must have whitehouse.gov account to sign the petition but it is very easy to obtain one.

2.)Simply click the ‘Create An Account” button. You will be asked your name and email.

3.)Upon entering that information, you will receive an email from whitehouse.gov with a link back to the petition.

4.)Once you click that link, your account will be verified and you can sign the petition.

*Note: We have heard from some users that the petition site server can become overwhelmed at times and may not work properly. If this should happen to you, please do not give up but try it again at another time.

The petition needs 25,000 signatures by February 4, 2012 to receive a response so please sign today!

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Posted in Grassrooots & Advocacy, Washington Office News

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Education, Advocacy and Lobbying – Oh My!: What’s Allowed (and What’s Not) When Reaching out to Elected Officials [Webinar Video]

Posted on January 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

Politicians, lobbyists and advocates alike use the terms “education,” “advocacy” and “lobbying” interchangeably.   But what do they all mean?  When associated with a government agency or a non-profit it can be very confusing to know what’s allowed – and what will land you in hot water.  In this session we look at both the letter and the spirit of the law when it comes to lobbying and advocacy, as well as specific criteria you can use to assess your own situation.  Since local library supporters, whether staff, friends, trustee or board members, have the most influence in the legislative process, it’s important to know just how far you can go in connecting them with policymakers.  Believe it or not, you have more latitude than you think.  And, of course, as a private citizen no one can curtail your right to speak up and make a difference

Download the full version of this webinar by right-clicking here and selecting “Save link as…” You can also get the slide deck here (.pptx).

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Posted in Grassrooots & Advocacy, OGR, Washington Office News

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Congress Passes FY 2012 Budget

Posted on December 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

President Obama is expected to sign into law a $915 billion budget bill for FY 2012 sometime today.  This massive budget bill, that was passed by the House with a 296-121 vote on Friday and cleared the Senate on Saturday with a 67-32 vote, will be the year-long spending for the Military Construction-VA, Defense, Energy-Water, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Interior-Environment, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch and State-Foreign Operations.  A FY ’12 budget bill had previously been passed for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation last month.  This most recently passed FY’12 budget bill contains many library programs including money for school libraries, Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), and the Government Printing Office (GPO).

After Congress zeroed out funding to Improving Literacy Through School Libraries for FY 2011, both the Senate and House recognized in FY ’12 that they cut the primary source of federal funding to school libraries.  In the new federal budget, congress appropriated $28.6 million for literacy.  A minimum of half, or $14.3 million must go to low income school libraries while the rest of the money will go to national not-for-profits that work for childhood literacy.

This budget appropriates money for the Institutes of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) which includes $185 million for LSTA funding.  This is a 2.3 percent cut from the FY ’11 amount of $189 million.  Under LSTA; Grants to States was appropriated at $156.6 million, Native American Library Services was funded at $3.8 million, National Leadership for Libraries was funded at $11.9 million, and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian was received $12.5 million in FY ‘12.

Other library programs that received money in FY ’12 was GPO which was appropriated at $126.2 million; the Congressional Printing and Binding appropriated at $90.7 million; and Superintendent of Documents funded this year at $35 million.

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Posted in Funding, OGR, Public Libraries, School Libraries

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Join us for a free webinar on Dec. 6 about the differences between education, lobbying, and advocacy

Posted on November 22, 2011 | 5 Comments

Education, Advocacy and Lobbying – Oh My!: What’s Allowed (and What’s Not) When Reaching out to Elected Officials

Politicians, lobbyists and advocates alike use the terms “education,” “advocacy” and “lobbying” interchangeably.   But what do they all mean?  When associated with a government agency or a non-profit it can be very confusing to know what’s allowed – and what will land you in hot water.  In this session we’ll look at both the letter and the spirit of the law when it comes to lobbying and advocacy, as well as specific criteria you can use to assess your own situation.  Since local library supporters, whether staff, friends, trustee or board members, have the most influence in the legislative process, it’s important to know just how far you can go in connecting them with policymakers.  Believe it or not, you have more latitude than you think.  And, of course, as a private citizen no one can curtail your right to speak up and make a difference

Title: Education, Lobbying, and Advocacy- Oh My!: What’s Allowed (And What’s Not) When Reaching Out to Elected Officials

Date: Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements:

PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

 

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Posted in Grassrooots & Advocacy

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Ask your senators to vote “NO” on overturning net neutality order

Posted on November 7, 2011 | 1 Comment

This week (Nov. 7-11) the full U.S. Senate will vote on Senate Joint Resolution 6, a bill to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) order passed to adopt “net neutrality.”

Please call your Senators and ask them to vote “NO” on S.J. Res. 6.  You may reach your Senators by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.  Your call sends a loud and clear message that libraries depend on an open and nondiscriminatory Internet to provide our patrons, the public, unfettered access to information.

Additional talking points:

•    Voting no helps preserve the openness of the Internet which is essential to our nation’s educational achievement, freedom of speech and economic growth.
•    Without an open and neutral Internet, there is great risk that commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will give higher priority to some users (e.g. give entertainment priority over education).
•    ISPs may seek to impose additional fees on Internet users which could drastically impact libraries who require much greater bandwidth than households to serve their patrons, many at one time.

This anti-net neutrality resolution, if passed, would strike at the heart of libraries’ ability to ensure patrons have open, unfettered access to all types of information.

Additional information, including links to the letter the ALA sent to Senate leadership, is available here

To find out who you senator is, click here

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Posted in Grassrooots & Advocacy, Technology, the Internet, and Telecommunications

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