Lobbying for Libraries in D.C.: What’s Hot and the Obama Difference

First, I want to say that Emily Sheketoff is one smart lady. We could not have a better advocate for libraries in Washington.

Here are the key nuggets of information I heard.

1. Libraries are the first responders for people needing information.
2. Advocacy is education. I know some of you think advocacy and lobbying are the same, they are not. Think of advocacy as educating the elected official about libraries.
3. When you are an advocate, you are putting a face on a public policy issue.
4. Statistics are nice but not as good as a story. As an example you can say “The library is the only place in your community for 50% of the people to have access to the internet.” But when you tell them, “Residents of my community have to wait two hours to access the library computers.” That is a story that has impact.
5. Prepare before talking to the legislators or their staff. Have key point you want to tell them. Be specific in what you want them to do. Give them specifics if they cut a program this is what people lose. If the library goes away services go away.
6. Always thank them for what they do to support libraries, for their time to talk with you , and tell them you are watching them.

My advice to you is to not be afraid of being an advocate for your library. If you and your board or administrators don’t do it no one else will!!

From the ILA Exhibits (part 2)

There was a small glass room sitting in an exhibit booth as I walked by and I had to stop. Was it something for cell phone use, a time out room? I did not know so asked. The glass room was a representative sample of a product called Genius Architectural Walls. These are glass or panel walls that can be set up with no construction, taken down, moved or reconfigured.

They will not be the answer to every building problem but it is an interesting concept to provide office space or meeting room space that has the potential for reconfiguration with out construction costs.

To view a photo gallery of Genius wall applications visit this website.

From the ILA Exhibits

I spent some time in the exhibit hall. One stop was at the Renaissance Learning booth. You may know this company as Accelerated Reading (AR). Now I am not a big fan of AR, but many of our schools do use it and we had one new librarian that needed training so I stopped to see what they had online. There is training available www.renlearn.com click on the training center, then professional Development.

Now I should note that the program itself is not a bad program but my concern is that the program is not being used as it was designed. This is an incentive program, not a reading curriculum. As an incentive program it is not appropriate to limit students to narrow areas of reading levels or to require earning so many points that the students are burnt out on reading.

If you are at a school where staff has not been trained in the proper use of AR or AR is being used inappropriately, I suggest that you go to the training center on the website and see where training is being offered. Good Luck.

Transformation in South African Libraries

Another session I attended at the ILA Conference was titled “If It Doesn’t Hurt, It’s not Real Transformation”: Rebuilding South African Library Services in the Aftermath of Apartheid.” The speaker was Peter J. Lor, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, former director of South Africa’s State Library.

The work to rebuild library service in South Africa was a long process and continues today. It was interesting to hear how the librarians came together to form new library associations and new library services. There were two points he made that I want to share. The first was that to do this work together they had to have inclusiveness, consultation with others, patience, a building trust, and understanding personal chemistry. The second; process is important to the outcome. This means that if you do not spend time having a good process the outcome may be flawed or much less effective.

Wow another post where transformation is talked about.

Library Cooperation in Illinois

Library cooperation, at least in Illinois is something many librarians take for granted. At the ILA conference there was a presentation titled “The Changing Face of Illinois Library cooperation.” The speakers talked about the cooperation that is facilitated through consortia and library systems. The past couple of years have seen changes in these organizations some from the economy and others by because of changes in rules of operation.

David Carlson, SIU-C stated that Cooperation as a shared value does not come naturally and is not without work and communication. Successful cooperation required leadership and some risk taking.

In the next few months you will be hearing more about cooperation in Illinois. November 9th ILA is holding a “Summit on the Future of Illinois Library Cooperation.” I don’t know what the outcomes of the summit will or if the outcomes will transform library cooperation in Illinois. I will let you know.

Transformative Experience@your library

Omar Wasow, the keynote speaker at the ILA Opening General Session could have used the title of this post as the title of his presentation. I expected Mr. Wasow, a digital native, would talk about the uses of technology in the library and what will come in the future. Instead He spoke of the library as a gathering place, library as a public park for your brain, library space as the heart of community, and library as a transformative place for those who use them.

What struck me was that this message was very similar to the message I had heard last summer at the OCLC Symposium from speaker Joseph Michelli; I blogged about that presentation on July 10th.

A few years ago I was at a presentation given by Steven Abrams and someone asked how he picked out from all the information he scans the things to really watch. He said when he hears something three times in a short period of time, that’s when he takes a deeper look at it. I have taken that to heart and when finding myself hearing something two or three times I take note of it. The transformative experience and libraries is one of those topics.

Mr. Wasow made one statement that I want you all to think about. I’ll paraphrase; Librarians should celebrate the reading experience (a transformative experience), and not be so concerned with materials management.

Now, look at your library and its services. Does it provide a place where people can think, have an opportunity for self-directed learning, and transform themselves?

Spanish Resource from the Government

This past week I received in the mail some posters in Spanish announcing GobiernoUSA.gov. This is the official government website where the Hispanic public “can get all the information they need about immigration, employment, health, education, and other government services and benefits.” This website is free and in Spanish. If people have questions about the site they can contact Marangely Rodriguez at (202) 501-1794 or marangely.rodriguez@gsa.gov.

For your English speaking patrons needing government information send them to USA.gov. Here they can learn about social security benefits, government jobs, and federal, state, and local government information.