The Library Needs YOU!

Next week marks the beginning of National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) and Virtual Library Legislative Day (VLLD) and the library needs YOU! 

If you can’t make it to Washington, have no fear! There is still a place for you! Check out Africa Hands’ awesome post on how to get involved in VLLD, and explore the NLLD Issue Briefs and Schedule to get excited and informed.

After contacting your representative, flex your advocacy muscles even further by writing a letter to the editor of your local paper, articulating the value of libraries! While it may seem like a small act, a letter to the editor is a great way to reach other voters and future library advocates.

When writing a letter, here are a few tips from library advocacy experts to keep in mind:

• Know the readership/audience and frame your message accordingly. Is the readership primarily liberal or conservative? What highlighted issues, facts, and impact stories will most persuade them? (Thanks to Stephanie Vance for this great tip!)
• Reference how individual citizens will be affected, include a call to action, mention your members of Congress by name, use language that gets to the bottom line, and include a brief but powerful impact story. (Thanks to District Dispatch for a helpful post!)
• Take the advice of Jamie LaRue and make your impact story strong by including the following elements:
  • Real person
  • Problem
  • Library Intervention
  • Happy Ending
  • Phrase that pays
• Keep it short (200 words or less), include your message content in the body of the email, not as an attachment. If the letter gets published, do a celebratory advocacy dance, and send the published letter to your representative. (Thanks to District Dispatch for another informative post!)

So will you do it? Will you join library advocates across the country as we raise our voices to create a better future for children through libraries?

 

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Skye Corey, Youth Services Librarian at Meridian Library District (ID), is writing this post for the Public Awareness Committee. She can be reached at scorey@mld.org