{"id":30676,"date":"2024-04-25T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=30676"},"modified":"2024-04-26T13:02:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T17:02:53","slug":"when-it-comes-to-advocacy-language-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2024\/04\/when-it-comes-to-advocacy-language-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"When it Comes to Advocacy, Language Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ALSC Public Awareness and Advocacy Committee is updating the ALSC \u201cEveryday Advocacy<\/a>\u201d webpage. The page includes resources on how ALSC members can advocate for themselves and for children on the importance of library services for our youngest patrons. A new addition will be information on working with legislators, an especially important group as we face a record number of book and program challenges, and states creating legislation that either supports or opposes intellectual freedom. As we communicate with our local, state, and federal legislators, we need to keep in mind that clarity of language matters. Legislators may not know the Library Acronym Alphabet, but we can meet them where they are. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Do you have a fun, engaging name for story time? Great! Your community loves Razzle Dazzle Rhyme Time! But your state legislator has no idea what Razzle Dazzle Rhyme Time is. To explain the importance of what you do and how it impacts child development, use clear language that is acronym and glitter free. Instead of Razzle Dazzle Rhyme Time, you can say you hold a story time that incorporates music and movement to enhance children\u2019s experience, develop language skills, and increase learning retention. Now the legislator knows exactly what you do and why it is beneficial to children in the community, even if they don’t know the super-fun program name.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, not all legislators will be familiar with jargon that is common in the library world. To make your message clear, try swapping out phrases like \u201cprograms on a shoestring budget\u201d for \u201cprograms that extend taxpayer dollars,\u201d or perhaps, \u201cprograms that can still be held on a diminishing budget.\u201d Depending on your legislator, consider saying \u201creducing access to materials\u201d or \u201climiting first amendment rights\u201d when introducing the subject of book challenges. Using language that legislators can relate to means your message will be easily understood. It will allow you to get straight to the meat of an issue rather than spending precious time explaining what a program or service is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, when deciding how to present your points to legislators, do a bit of digging first. What committees are they on? What were their campaign promises? Do they share personal interests or family life? Do your best to highlight what you do for the community that aligns with their goals. There should be common ground as libraries and legislators both strive to serve their communities to the best of their ability.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the topic, two words will always go a long way, especially with a group that is typically contacted for complaints rather than praise: thank you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post addresses ALSC competency I.5 Demonstrates respect for diversity and inclusion of cultural values, and continually develops cultural awareness and works to address implicit bias in order to provide inclusive and equitable service to diverse populations.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joanna Goldfarb is writing this post on behalf of the Public Awareness and Advocacy Committee.  She can be reached at <\/em>jgoldfarb@rcls.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ALSC Public Awareness and Advocacy Committee is updating the ALSC \u201cEveryday Advocacy\u201d webpage. The page includes resources on how ALSC members can advocate for themselves and for children on the importance of library services for our youngest patrons. A new addition will be information on working with legislators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[2043,1],"tags":[253,1873,2762,664,1801],"class_list":["post-30676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-awareness-and-advocacy-committee","category-uncategorized","tag-advocacy","tag-language","tag-legislators","tag-library-advocacy","tag-public-awareness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}