Advocacy Coordinating Group
Advocacy Coordinating Group
2013 ALA Annual Conference
Sunday, June 30, 2013
10:30 AM to Noon
Hyatt Regency McCormick Place – Field Room
In attendance: Patricia Tumulty, Chair, Committee on Library Advocacy (COLA) and Advocacy Coordinating Group (ACG); Gina Millsap, Incoming Chair, Committee on Library Advocacy (COLA) and Advocacy Coordinating Group; Matt Wayman, Reference and User Service Association (RUSA), Aimee Fifarek, Library Information Technology Association (LITA); Lian Ruan, Association for College and Reference Librarians (ACRL); Jan Sanders, Pasadena Public Library; Judi Repman, American Association of School Librarians (AASL); Dr. Teri Switzer, University of Colorado; Kristin Strohmeyer, Library Instruction Roundtable (LIRT); Eleanor Cook, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS)
Staff Liaisons: Marci Merola, Director, ALA Office for Library Advocacy; Joaquin Falcon, Communications Specialist, ALA Office for Library Advocacy
Regrets: Jill Abood
Welcome & Approval of Minutes from ALA 2013 Midwinter Meetings
Patricia Tumulty, Chair, COLA, welcomed the group. Minutes were approved.
Updates on COLA Projects
· Marci Merola provided updates from the OLA office beginning with President Elect Barbara Stripling’s Declaration to the Right to Libraries campaign and the Declaration as a strong public statement of the value of libraries for individuals, communities, and the nation. Through this, libraries of all types will have the opportunity in the next year to hold signing ceremonies where community members, organizations, and officials can visibly sign in support of their right to have libraries of all types in their communities. The current plan is for the signed scrolls to be presented at a national summit to be held in the spring of 2014.
· Through OLA and the School Library Task Force, ALA gave away school library-focused posters at conference. The School Library Task Force worked with the Office for Library Advocacy and Past AASL President Nancy Everhart on a school library poster, “100 things your kids will miss if they don’t have a school librarian.” 4,000 posters were located in the ALA Membership Pavilion for free distribution and will possibly be reprinted for the AASL Conference.
· OLA participated in a range of state and local conferences in 2013, including the Louisiana Library Association in Baton Rouge on March 6-7, the Utah Library Association in Provo on May 1st, the Rhode Island Library Association in Newport on June 1, as well as guest lecturing multiple times at the Dominican University School for Library and Information Science. Judith Gibbons also presented on behalf of OLA in Cleveland on April 23 during the Ohionet conference.
· Gina Millsap reported that she is serving as part of Barbara Stripling’s School Library “Think Tank,” The task force is building on work of the 2012-2013 School Library Task Force: the challenge is to weave all the concepts together. They have a list of key questions to answer, with their first meeting having taken place at Annual. The group discussed deliverables and will be trying to create a seamless approach for children’s learning, as well as reaffirming that “Librarians are essential for children’s learning” in forthcoming messaging.
· Marci provided updated the group on ongoing support to libraries in crisis. OLA provided outreach on 24 occasions, including 12 letters from ALA President Maureen Sullivan and appropriate division presidents, and letters to ten schools, including the state legislature in Louisiana. She also briefed the group about the Kentucky class action lawsuit and situation.
· Pat Tumulty commented that the Advocacy Coordinating Group has been a model used in working with the School Library Task Force, which crossed ALA divisional lines in regard to cooperation, and thanked all the divisions that worked together, saying that it has made a significant difference. She acknowledged and thanked all that have participated in the monthly ACG conference calls, and those who have helped to find speakers for the Advocacy Corner Sessions at the 2013 Annual Conference. She mentioned that some of these presentations could be turned into webinars or other advocacy developments in the future.
· Pat acknowledged the improvements to the ALA website, including a revamped Advocacy University and changes to the Advocacy landing pages on www.ala.org, now “Advocacy, Legislation and Issues.” Marci added that Advocacy University now includes all materials that were previously in the Advocacy Clearinghouse. The intended goal is a robust area of our website where members can find advocacy tools and resources. The Advocacy Clearinghouse now redirects viewers to Advocacy University, but over time this navigation item will be eliminated.
Advocacy University is grouped by both topic and by particular library group it links to both free and paid resources, as well as advocacy publications from ALA Editions. The taxonomy in place comes from the standard ALA website taxonomy. In trying to differentiate Advocacy University from other parts of the Advocacy, Legislation and Issues section, the rule of thumb has been that, true to the “university” name, items located here are tools, tutorials, webinars, resources, etc. that will enable people to advocate or take action. The website only recently went live, so inevitably, there will be some kinks to work out. It is meant to be an all-inclusive site, a one-stop shop for finding any of ALA’s current advocacy tools and resources.
Advocacy Initiatives from the Group
· Judi Repman spoke about the AASL task force work in process. They are primed to see how AASL membership can help to get the word out in regard to advocacy. It was also noted that AASL President Julie Walker is stepping down. A national search for a replacement is underway.
· Matt Wayman reported that he did not have an update, and that RUSA is still developing their advocacy activities. Marci said that plans were in the works to do a webinar on Frontline Advocacy with OLA and RUSA. Date to be determined.
· Eleanor Cook reported that ALCTS is working slowly and decided not to participate in Advocacy Corner activities this year. She will take Advocacy Corner flyer and schedule back to the committee as a “fire starter”, and use it to discuss which issues they want to tackle in the future. Cook said RDA is still the number-one priority. The ALCTS website now has an advocacy link, and she wants to add “advocacy” as a tab on the website landing page.
· Kristin Strohmeyer reported that the LIRT executive board voted to become a member of the Freedom to Read Foundation.
· Aimee Fifarek of LITA spoke about Libraryedge.org, an online, upstate grassroots website headed by Urban Library Council. They have created technology standard benchmarks; work with programming and digital literacy, as well as activities at the executive and administrative levels. This initiative is a way of helping the library communities communicate with funders and other stakeholders, especially with in regard to budgets. A soft launch is currently in-process with libraries in seven states, and will go live in January. The site administrators are asking test users take an assessment now. The Public Library Association (PLA) is also involved, creating the training component of the project. Gina Millsap mentioned the Learning Forum, made up of library directors that could help deploy the school library message in combination with the website. She recognizes the political implications, but thinks there is an advocacy possibility there, and suggested reaching out to the Urban Library Council to discuss the matter further.
· Teri Switzer reported that the Grassroots Committee met Saturday, June 29 and Sunday, June 30, and its biggest priority is the Mobile Commons promotion and signing up more subscribers. They also discussed a survey issued by Stephanie Vance at the Midwinter Meetings and had asked their members to complete it; Marci mentioned that it is most likely located on the District Dispatch site run by the ALA Washington Office. The Committee started the discussion about recruiting advocates in individual states to push advocacy. Switzer told a story about a woman named “Jane” in California, who is passionate about libraries, and taken it on herself to call legislators all over the country, writing “Dear Colleague” letters, and personally delivering them to legislative offices. It was suggested that these efforts could be conducted on a state by state basis by contacting retired librarians for a grassroots effort. Teri said she will have more information about Jane by the 2014 Midwinter Meetings in Philadelphia. It was also reported that Nicole Davies, of the Arapahoe Public Library will be next Grassroots Subcommittee Chair and that the group conducts monthly conference calls.
· Jan Sanders reported that PLA spent time discussing the upcoming Advocacy Corner sessions during their meeting on Saturday, June 29
· Lian Ruan of ACRL reported that the group will be discussing the “Value of Academic Libraries,” and will be providing an update in regard to the discussion.
· Pat mentioned that OLA has conducted four webinars this year, and asked for potential topics for upcoming sessions. Marci said she would like to develop a privatization webinar, as well as working to turn Pat Tumulty’s “Ports in the Storm” presentation into a webinar for the autumn. Pat Tumulty recommended an “Advocacy 101” webinar intended for library school students, especially as it is not part of traditional curricula.
· Eleanor mentioned developing a generic “elevator speech” webinar, a “101” style session. The group agreed this could be a good idea, especially for library directors and leaders, and suggested that collecting favorite elevator speeches from experienced advocates could be a good next step.
· Lian asked for ethnic affiliates to be included in the Advocacy Coordinating Group.
· Latasha Baker talked about the Annual Conference in Las Vegas, as well as the continued push for diversity and getting a diverse group of librarians into the profession.
· Aimee Fifarek noted a public library luncheon will be held in April. 70 attendees have registered. Luis Herrera will be speaking
Meeting was adjourned.