Thanks, in no small part, to all of your calls and emails, the House of Representatives passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which will reauthorize the ESEA if approved. As mentioned in his blog post about the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) last month, ALSC President Andrew Medlar gave us the heads-up that this second call to action would be critical to ensure that a reauthorization includes these hard-fought school library provisions. Now is the time for the final push! The Senate is expected to vote early next week and it is critical that both of your US Senators hear from you. Ask them to, “vote YES on the ESSA Conference Report” and take a moment to let them know how librarians and school libraries positively impact children’s lives and communities. Visit ALA’s Action Center to locate your Senators and stay up to date on this historic vote….
Tag: Everyday Advocacy
Fight for School Libraries! #ESEA
Calling all Everyday Advocates! The fight for school libraries is real, and it needs you to make a difference. Congress is poised to act definitively on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) very soon. According ALA’s Washington Office, we could know as early as next week if watershed language for school libraries, included in the Senate’s Every Child Achieves Act (S. 1177), makes it into this federal education bill. This means there is important work for all of us to do! The last time Congress passed an education bill they left out school libraries and our kids’ futures can’t afford for that to happen again. As soon as the Washington Office learns what is in the new compromise bill language, they will be posting an alert to the Legislative Action Center with instructions for how you can help (including talking points you can use to call, email, and Tweet…
Advocacy? Me?
At a recent state library association conference, I attended a great session on Everyday Advocacy. What’s that, you ask? I wondered the same thing myself before the presentation, and just 45 minutes later, I left feeling a little more knowledgeable, and a little more confident. Everyday Advocacy is the idea that we are all advocates for our profession, our libraries, and ourselves each and every day. It’s also an ALSC initiative working to equip us with the tools we need to be everyday advocates. As we build relationships, strengthen our communities, and connect with families, sometimes it’s hard to know how to talk about those things in ways that get attention. How can we empower ourselves, our colleagues, and our staff to feel prepared to engage in advocacy? One of the big take-aways from the session I attended was crafting your elevator speech. We’re all probably familiar with the idea of an…
With Information Comes Advocacy
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…
Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 1 Reflections
The inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) kicked off on Tuesday, September 1, with this Take Action Tuesday prompt: Spend 15 minutes talking with your supervisor about your advocacy role within your library or organization. Never ones to shy away from a tall order, we asked our intrepid cohort members to summarize their Week 1 experiences in six words or less. Here’s what a few of our 18 volunteers had to say: “Comfort zone has been taken down.” “Affirming yet eye-opening.” “Confirmed what I knew, added detail.” “A step in the right direction.” “Good to compare our perspectives.” “Supportive; free lunch!” “Conversation that had us both thinking.” “Thinking outside the box.” For Kendra Jones, the EAC Week 1 challenge was “thought-organizing” since her supervisor was on vacation. For JoAnna Schofield, the Week 1 challenge left her with “expectations met based on manager philosophy.” Read on for more of Kendra’s reflections on preparing…
Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Meet the Inaugural Cohort!
Who’s ready to take the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC)? Eighteen bold and daring Everyday Advocates are—and we hope you are, too! From September 1 through October 20, our cohort of intrepid volunteers has agreed to do the following: Commit to completing eight consecutive Take Action Tuesday challenges on a back-to-school theme; Collaborate with their EAC cohort members over the eight-week period, sharing successes and troubleshooting issues via e-mail and online documents; Write posts for the ALSC blog about their EAC experiences; and Nominate colleagues to participate in the next EAC. As the first-ever EAC gets underway today, we’d like to introduce each of our cohort members and their reasons for taking the eight-week challenge. Watch for their sure-to-inspire blog posts beginning next Tuesday, September 8! Sue Abrahamson, Librarian and Supervisor, Waupaca (Wisc.) Area Public Library “I want to participate in the challenge so that I take action rather than just thinking about taking action; to…
How to Claim Your Advocacy Button
At the 2015 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago, ALSC announced the launch of the advocacy button campaign. Tied to the Everyday Advocacy initiative, the button campaign is designed to help youth service librarians articulate the value of their profession. The buttons, emblazoned with the slogan “Creating a Better Future for Children through Libraries,” will be available at the 2015 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco and various state/local conferences. Attached to each button is a tip sheet, created by the ALSC Advocacy and Legislation Committee, that includes talking points to help articulate the value of youth library service. A virtual button will be available soon. ALSC is also inviting prospective advocates to claim their own button. By submitting a question, an elevator speech, or a news item for the Everyday Advocacy Matters e-newsletter, participants can get a button mailed to them. This is only available for individual buttons. ALSC does…
It’s All in the Cards: School-Public Library Collaboration
Remember the credit card ad campaign that asked TV viewers, “What’s in your wallet?” It had a bunch of Viking-types doing all sorts of bold and daring stuff, empowered by a piece of plastic that put the world at their fingertips. Oh, the adventure! Oh, the intrigue! Oh, I can do you one better: Imagine those Vikings are the kids and teens we see every day at our libraries. When we shout out, “What’s in your wallet?” to their sea of smiling faces, and each and every one of them proudly exclaims, “My library card!” Awesome, right? Now that’s an ad I’d watch the Super Bowl to see. As public library professionals, we know we’re handing kids the world when we hand them library cards. The best part? Our school library colleagues know that, too. That makes September the perfect time to collaborate with the schools in your community. It’s…