The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF) and the American Library Association (ALA) Washington Office will lead "Virtual Library Advocacy Day," an opportunity for all library advocates to make their voices heard on a national level, on Tuesday, June 29, 2010.
Don't let the physical world limit your influence or damper your voice in Washington, DC. Share your love of libraries and all the benefits that libraries provide for our country's residents and visitors by participating - in a virtual way - to emphasize to our lawmakers the value of libraries in a democratic society.
Here are a few resources that can help you prepare what you'd like to say to our federal lawmakers:
1) To get a better idea of the current condition of South Carolina's libraries, read this document from the South Carolina State Library.
2) View a short video from the Library Advocacy Day website which highlights some of the current stressors upon library services caused by the Great Recession.
3) And, of course, regular readers of Connections know to look to the bottom left for the list of tags and find "Advocacy" to link to earlier posts I've made about how and why libraries are wonderful! [Ignore the "advocay" one. I can't figure out how to delete the misspelled tag.]
Q: What can you do from the comfort of your home or office?
A: Call and/or e-mail our elected officials on June 29 – or the week of June 28-July 2 - to tell them how much you love your library and why it is important to continue funding library related activities and services.
Q: How can you find the addresses of our federal representatives?
A: You can search the ALA's Legislative Action Center by ZIPcode OR go to the BCL's "Government Officials Who Serve You" webpage and click on "Federal Government" to search for a legislator by ZIPcode.
Just five minutes [count them -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes] of your time will help support and strengthen the efforts of the library supporters in Washington rallying on June 29.
“If citizens who care for libraries remain silent, it’s the same as saying they are okay with low budgets and closed libraries,” ALTAFF Executive Director Sally Gardner Reed says. “The only way for us to make a difference is to make our voices heard.”
Don't let your voice in support of libraries go unheard.
Exercise your civil rights to celebrate the 234th birthday of the United States of America. Please contact your federal representative tomorrow -- or at the latest by the end of the week -- to add your voice to those in support of libraries.
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