Last month, a cohort of ALSC members wrapped up the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge. I was particularly interested in the 8-week Everyday Advocacy Challenge because it presented an opportunity to advocate while working in a non-library setting. What helped me feel comfortable was having information I eagerly wanted to share with others no matter the setting, and the #EAChallenge presented several opportunities for information-sharing.
In week 3, we were prompted to send an email to a local school or community-based organization presumably about our library’s services. Admittedly, this was challenging since I don’t work in a library, so I tabled this challenge for a later date. However, upon reflection I realize that I visit my library almost weekly, and I subscribe to and read the library’s newsletter. I have access to local library-related information to discuss with schools or organizations, though it might not be as readily available as if I worked directly with patrons. I’ll be ready next time.
Week 4 challenged us to write or call our elected officials to talk about our work in libraries. Some participants said, and I agree, that this challenge is much easier when there is a specific issue to discuss. So, I went straight to the District Dispatch website to learn about a current issue that ALA is supporting. I read about the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and tailored my letter to that bill.
For the fifth week, our prompt was to talk up the EA challenge with a colleague. Sometimes my face-to-face interaction with library colleagues is limited but this did not stop me from talking up the challenge. I found it easy to talk about the challenge when friends asked what I’d been working on lately. I used this question as an opening to discuss the challenge. It helped to have examples of the advocacy work others are doing and current legislative work, so previous challenges came in handy.
Perhaps my favorite challenge was the last one, in which we were urged to read the October issue of Everyday Advocacy Matters. I had recently received the newsletter via email and glanced at it, but the challenge prompted me to go back for a closer read. I’m glad I did because the Everyday Advocacy Spotlight affirmed my thoughts about the challenge as a whole. The first tenet of Everyday Advocacy is Be Informed. Throughout the 8-week challenge having information about library issues helped me find my sweet spot – lifting the weight that I sometimes experience when thinking about advocacy work. Of course, advocacy work involves more than information-sharing but it is a desire to share information about issues important to me that drives me to champion, promote, or push for particular services and issue.
I hope others use the Everyday Advocacy Challenge and weekly Take Action Tuesday prompts to find an advocacy sweet spot. I especially hope others approach the challenge and prompts as an opportunity to be a library advocate no matter your workplace setting.
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Africa Hands, MLIS, serves on the Advocacy and Legislation Committee and was a member of the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort convening from September 1-October 20, 2015. She’s on Twitter @africahands.