Earlier this month at CMLE HQ we celebrated Virtual Library Legislative Day on Tuesday, March 6th. That was the same day that many librarians also attended Legislative Day at the MN Capitol! Virtual Library Legislative Week was happening at the same time, so our advocating for libraries didn’t stop after one day! (Didn’t get a chance to contact your legislator? No problem – scroll down the page for more info on how to do so today!)
To celebrate Virtual Library Legislative Day, CMLE HQ had snacks, postcards, names and addresses of legislators, and sample text for our members to use, and we had fun seeing the flurry of activity online from excited library advocates! We were extra impressed by those able to make it to the Capitol, and loved seeing their experiences documented on social media.
Didn’t get a chance to advocate on Legislative Day or during Virtual Legislative Week? Don’t worry, it’s always a good time to advocate for libraries!! Thanks to the awesome information on the Minnesota Library Advocacy website, you can (and should) take a few minutes to contact your legislators. Find your MN legislators here.
Then use these resources to let them know which bill numbers to support! This is very important and makes it easier for your legislators to take action! Keep in mind that the bills with “HF” are for the House of Representatives and “SF” is for the Senate. Just in case, here is the list of bills from the website:
Bill numbers
RLBSS & Multi-type Funding Bill
HF 1382 Rep. Bud Nornes (R, 8A) [Bill details]
SF 1033 Sen. Gary Dahms (R, 16 ) [Bill details]
Bonding
HF 1484 Rep. Jeff Howe, (R, 13A) [Bill details]
SF 2218 Sen. Bill Ingebrigtson) (R, 8) [Bill details]
School Librarians Grant Pool
HF 2698 Rep Mary Kunesh-Podein (DFL, 41B) [Bill details]
Need some help with what to say when you contact your legislator? Check out these letter/email writing templates and tips, or if you want to make a phone call, read through this page that has a call script template and other tips for making calls to your legislators.
You can do it! Your Minnesota libraries need you!