After celebrating the patriotic holidays of summer, the end of July is a perfect time to reflect on service and advocacy. Librarians can use what we are passionate about to make libraries and services richer and more diverse. The ALSC Public Awareness and Advocacy Committee members have many advocacy passions. If you haven’t discovered yours yet, check out some of ours below:
•Bilingual Services and Programming for Spanish Speakers— From bilingual storytimes to Spanish language collections to advocating for services, the place to learn about services to Spanish-speakers is REFORMA, one of ALA’s National Associations of Librarians of Color that anyone can join.
•Digital Literacy— The Public Library Association is a great resource for digital literacy and they have created DigitalLearn.org as a one stop shop for teaching digital literacy.
•Embedded Librarianship— Both academic and public libraries can benefit from embedded librarians, in online classes and in their communities. The Illinois Library Association talks about both here.
•Library Advocacy— Everyday Advocacy teaches you how to champion children’s services, you can help get Every Child Ready to Read, and spread the library love with I Love Libraries. Find more resources on ALA’s Advocacy page.
•Nature— Bring nature into your building and expand library services into the outside world through these ideas from Children & Nature Network on how the library can create a nature-rich community.
•Play— Ready to get children moving and learning through play at the library? The US Play Coalition talks about how to integrate learning and play at the library in this great article.
•STEM/STEAM— Combine public librarians and the MIT Media lab and you get PLIX, the Public Library Information Exchange. With activities, free workshops, and a forum, PLIX makes science programming easy and accessible.
After reading about our advocacy passions, what are yours? What are some of your best advocacy resources?
This post addresses ALSC competency V.3 Advocates on behalf of children and their families for the highest-quality library services.
Maria Vega, Youth Services Librarian Senior at Broward County Library in Coral Springs, Florida, is writing this post on behalf of the Public Awareness Committee. She can be reached at mvega@broward.org.
Image: ALSC Stock Photo