As Chair of the RMRT Legislation/Advocacy Committee, I am automatically a member of the ALA Advocacy Coordinating Council.
Here are my notes from that meeting.
Please let me know if you have any questions or are interested in joining the committee.
Thanks Ma’lis Wendt
Mwendt@nyc.rr.com
Report to the Retired Members Round Table
Ma’lis Wendt
Liaison to the Advocacy Coordinating Group
Sunday June 16, 2016
Gina Millsap, Chair, welcomed the group.
The Advocacy Coordinating Group’s charge at this meeting was to continue discussion of the ALA Advocacy Implementation Plan. The Office of Library Advocacy (OLA) is working with Chapter Relations to develop procedures on working with state and local organizations.
OLA is working with the Office of Intellectual Freedom on a Boot Camp to be offered in the fall.
Julie Todaro’s Presidential Initiative is “The Expert in the Library”.
Each unit in ALA is expected to develop an Advocacy Plan in conjunction with the ALA Advocacy Implementation Plan. Vivian Wynn’s RMRT program on Advocacy in Orlando was our first implementation activity and we need some discussion on next steps.
Some ideas from other units included the ALSC “Take Action” emails every Tuesday. OLA is working on a check list of competencies to be used with the Office of Accreditation information to accredited programs.
Jamie LaRue, the new Director of the Office of Intellectual Freedom, mentioned that the most successful advocacy work he had seen breaks it down into 4 simple messages that just gets repeated over and over again into membership and individuals are:
o Libraries transform lives.
o Libraries build communities and are a public good.
o Librarians win when they are advocates.
o Libraries are smart investments.
He suggested using the same four messages over a five year period of time.
Vivian Wynn noted that we are doing this work for everyone, and knowing the breadth of what we are trying to accomplish means that we are not just talking about one issue, there is not one single issue at hand. She suggested creating a flowchart of how things work and how to be an advocate.
Ma’lis Wendt mwendt@nyc.rr.com