Category Archives: Advocacy

Advocacy

Middle and High School Libraries: Inspire Special Event Grant

From the AASL:

Overview

Through the generous donation of Marina “Marney” Welmers, an AASL member and retired middle school librarian, AASL is pleased to offer the Inspire Special Event Grant. The grant opportunity supports a special event so that an existing public middle or high school library can create new or enhance its extracurricular activities in order to increase student academic achievement at their school. The goal is to provide direct assistance funding to middle or high school libraries for special short-term projects or events that would create new or enhance educational activities in order to engage students with and in the library and to promote reading, books, literacy and authors.

The fund is $10,000 per annum. The direct assistance is capped at $2,000 per grant.

Eligibility

  • The applicant must be a publicly funded middle or high school, grades 5-12, and have an existing campus library. Each library, regardless of the variety of constituents it may serve, is limited to submission of one application.
  • The grant is awarded to individual schools, not to districts; all schools in a given district are welcome to apply if they meet the criteria, but each school must submit an application that is specific to their needs.
  • Private, parochial, independent, and home schools are not eligible. Charter schools can apply if they are publicly funded.
  • The public middle or high school library must be located in the United States, with one staff position being held by a certified school librarian.
  • If the school does not have a certified school librarian on campus staff, the applicant can still apply if there is a certified school librarian available at the district or regional level who will work with the school on the selection of materials to be purchased. Regional level may include service centers or equivalent, university faculty, or staff of neighboring school districts.
  • The school and/or the certified school librarian do not have to be a member of ALA, AASL, or any other ALA division to apply; however, the jury may take membership into consideration when determining grant awards.
  • Schools that have 85% or more of its student population qualified for Free Reduced Lunch (FRL) program should include this information in their application to receive additional consideration by the Jury.
  • The Jury may take the school’s geographic location into consideration when determining grant awards.
  • Funds can be used to fund author visits, special events, contests, Book Clubs, Summer Reading programs, displays, etc. that engage middle or high school students with and in the library.
  • Institutions represented by Inspire Special Event Jury can be eligible to apply, but committee members must recuse themselves from the discussion and voting or decline if they have a conflict of interest.
  • The school library must be a first-time recipient of the Inspire Special Event Grant.  All previous recipients are ineligible to apply.

Application

The application includes a two-page narrative that allows the applicant to describe their need and how they will use the funds. The following documentation is required with the two-page narrative: a project plan that includes a timeline, the number of students the grant will reach, a list of key staff involved in the grant plus a short biography of each, and an itemized budget.

Applicant Responsibility

The recipient must agree to deliver a final report within twelve months of receipt of the grant money. If photographs or images are part of the report, the school must include digital copies (300 dpi images or higher) of all release-signed photographs. These reports can be posted, with permission of the recipient, to the AASL website, and to any other ALA website/webpage or ALA publication as requested by ALA.

Criteria

The Inspire Special Event Fund Jury will evaluate the applicant based on the following criteria:

  • The quality of the benefits this grant will bring to the community.
  • A project plan that includes a timeline, budget, and clarity of purpose.
  • Rankings based on a rubric that correlates with the ratings sheet

Questions

Shannon Carter email icon
AASL Program Coordinator

Advocacy, CMLE

Successful Advocacy Postcard Party!

As you can see, our table was packed! We had members coming and going, and it was a great way to introduce people from different types of libraries to each other!

Thank you to the many members who braved the cold on Tuesday, December 19th to join us at the Local Blend to write out some postcards to legislators, telling them all about the incredible impact libraries have on their communities!

We had a blast! Between seeing both new and familiar faces and the yummy warm beverages (and of course, exciting library conversation) we were able to write out nearly 75 postcards! Our goal was to encourage our legislators to support funding for libraries, and also to support net neutrality (for more on net neutrality and why it’s important for libraries, check out this article).

Of course, we are already thinking ahead to our next postcard party, which will likely take place in the spring. In the meantime, if you’d like to send some postcards of your own, along with some library facts or just a positive story about something that happened at your library, stop in to CMLE HQ to pick up a postcard or two. We’ll even mail it for you! 🙂

 

Advocacy, Communication

Net neutrality is sinking fast: Now what do we do?

Network neutrality symbol

Well, as you know – we had a pretty devastating setback on net neutrality. The FCC repealed it a couple of weeks ago. We have been talking about this here on the blog, and on our social media, because this issue is very important for libraries.

(You can scroll down to the end for action steps; or take the scenic route through the whole story!)

What Is Happening????

Net neutrality means that you can go online, on any device using any internet vendor (Verizon, Spectrum, etc) and you get just the same speed as anyone else. You can go to whatever site you want, use whatever browser you want, and do whatever you want when you are there. Your mom might restrict use; but Verizon or Spectrum can’t.

Now that’s gone.

Here is a small example of what that could mean.  I have a Verizon phone, and like many people I’m on it all the time doing tons of things.  Verizon owns Yahoo, so it would now be perfectly allowable for Verizon to only allow me to go to Yahoo. If I want to use Google (because I have Gmail), Verizon could just say “Nope! No Google for you!”

More likely, they would create a special “Google Package” or something: for the low, low price of Whatever They Want dollars a month, I can access my Gmail and search for fun library stuff on Google. For a slightly higher price, I could probably also watch YouTube videos – as they are owned by Google and obviously would not be just accessible through Verizon’s standard service.

Maybe I want to access Google Classroom tools, because I need them for work. Clearly, just getting there is out of the question through a Verizon connection without some extra payments. Hopefully schools will work out a payment plan to allow students and teachers to use it at work, but you will have to figure out your own payment plan if you want to use it at home.

(Keep going past the break. The story gets so much worse for a while – but then your positive action steps wrap it up!)

Continue reading Net neutrality is sinking fast: Now what do we do? →

Advocacy, CMLE

Join us Tuesday: Postcard Party and Library Chatting!

We are looking forward to chatting with you about libraries and other fun stuff! And we will give you postcards and library facts to use to send postcards to your stakeholders.

The goal behind our Postcard Parties is to share the value of libraries with legislators and other library stakeholders who may not hear enough about the incredible work that takes place in libraries. It’s up to us to let them know how important libraries are!

We are looking forward to our advocacy Postcard Party coming up on Tuesday, December 19th from 3-5pm at the Local Blend coffee shop in St. Joseph! We’ll chat, have snacks, and write out postcards to library stakeholders!

We want to make this as pain-free for you as possible, so CMLE will supply the postcards, library facts, addresses for state and federal legislators (feel free to bring your own addresses for your library’s stakeholders), and sample text of what to write on your postcard. Plus, we’ll mail all the postcards at the end!

Hope to see you there! RSVP below:

Advocacy, Communication

If you like your internet access, now is the time to say so!

We are very interested in library advocacy here at CMLE HQ, and we know that not everyone feels comfortable speaking up to their stakeholders, legislators, or community members about the great work you do in libraries.

But: this is important.

The FCC is getting ready to vote on whether to end net neutrality.

Let’s say that in the tone it deserves: OMG!! ON DEC. 14, SOME PEOPLE YOU NEVER ELECTED ARE GOING TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR ACCESS TO THE INTERNET!!!!! IT’S DEFINITELY TIME TO FREAK OUT ABOUT THIS!!!!!!

Yeah, that’s right. Some guy who used to work for Verizon is now going to get to decide whether you have to pay Verizon to access the internet. Let that sink in for a moment – then absolutely return to freaking the heck out!

Network neutrality symbol

You’ve heard these words before – they are all over the news and social media. It sounds like one of those complicated issues that would be okay to just nod and say “Oh, yeah, sure – that stuff” and go on with your day.

THIS IS NOT THAT ISSUE.

In a very brief nutshell, net neutrality means that we can access the Internet any way we want. We can zip around and look at stuff we like. We can choose what sites we look at, and what we do there. While speed is not always perfect, at least it does chug along pretty quickly. Remember accessing the Internet back in the 90s? When an image would load a pixel or a line at a time on your screen?? I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK TO THE DARK AGES!!!

Ending net neutrality means that Verizon or AT&T or Spectrum (or a similar company) now owns your access to the Internet.

I have a Verizon phone. It’s fine. I use it to look at Google several dozen times a day. But!! Verizon owns Yahoo. If Verizon owns my access to the Internet, they can easily (oh, so easily) announce that everyone on Verizon’s cell coverage is now using Yahoo.

  • You want Google? Neat. That costs extra.
  • And of course, Google also owns YouTube; so you want to watch a YouTube video? That costs extra.
  • Does your school use Google Classroom or Google Docs? You aren’t getting to that on a Verizon connection!
  • Maybe your school works out a deal with Google (who doesn’t currently provide Internet service) to provide Internet service to you at work. Great. But are you at home and need to do some work? Not on a Spectrum connection – without an extra fee.

This is just one teeny example of what will happen if companies suddenly own your ability to access the Internet.

Take a moment to think how much further this will go – and then absolutely freak out. Because it’s worse than whatever you are thinking.

Remember life 20 years ago? We didn’t have constant Internet access. But life has changed! How many of us bank online – and may have to pay AT&T to get access to our money or to pay our bills? How many of us download books to listen to in the car? How many people stream really fun podcasts? Who depends on Amazon to deliver great stuff to you? Or Spotify to bring great music to you? How many of you email your family? Update your Facebook page with photos of kids and pets so your friends can keep up? Anyone play games on your phone? Have Google reading you turn by turn directions when you drive someplace new? Get access to the latest research for academic papers? Read your news online? Anyone using Duolingo to learn a new language? Anyone slightly addicted to the 24/7 live stream of the Kitten Academy?? (it’s not just me, right??) Maybe you want to watch Netflix or Hulu – but Spectrum owns your access to the Internet, and they have no economic interest in you leaving their cable channels. You might be able to get to Netflix, but it may t a k e a r e a l l y l o o o o o n g t i m e t o g e t s o m e t h i n g.

Think about the work you do every day. What do patrons do in your library? How much of it involves being able to access the internet?

This is not fantasy. This is already happening in other countries. Today. Now.

You need net neutrality for yourself.

You need net neutrality for your library.

You need net neutrality for your community.

But, you ask:
WHAT CAN I, A HUMBLE LIBRARY EMPLOYEE, DO TO STOP THIS DEBACLE????

It’s shockingly simple.

You go tell the FCC how much this will damage you, your library, your patrons, and your community. Or, just pick one of those things. The important thing is to GO SAY SOMETHING!!

Where do you do this shocking simple thing??

WEBSITE: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express

Open that link on a computer, not a mobile device.

I’m there! Now what???

  • They ask for a proceedings number. This is: 17-108.
  • Type your name. (All government forms ask for this; hopefully it keeps down the spam bots.)
  • Type your address (I used my work address. I had to look it up, and that was the toughest part of the whole process)

I’m in the groove! What do I say??

Speak from your heart. Identify yourself as a library employee, if you want to. Tell them about a patron who used the internet today to find a wonderful book, to access their veteran’s benefits, to talk with their grand-kids who live across the country. Tell them about the training you do to help people use the Internet. Tell them how much you love accessing any site that makes you happy.

Remember to ask for the specific thing you want: Free and fast access to the Internet!!

ACK!!! I got scared!! It sounded hard!!! I didn’t do anything!! NOW WHAT??

Deep breath in; deep breath out.

Just go back and follow the directions. Share your voice. Be heard! Speak for your community.

What is at stake here???

Verizon, AT&T, Spectrum – these companies depend on us getting scared, or assuming someone else will handle it so that everything turns out okay.

They have lots of high priced lobbyists who cheerfully offer to write regulations that make them rich. It’s their jobs. Neat in some situations; but here that just means one thing: “Give us money or you get nothing. Enjoy your blocked and throttled Internet libraries!! You guys don’t have big budgets to pay us, so good luck with whatever scraps we throw to you!”

(I’m paraphrasing. But that is the message, if not the exact wording.)

You don’t have high priced lobbyists. You just have us. We just have you.

No pressure here, but…the fate of library service as you know it depends on a free access to the Internet.

So, yeah. It’s kind of a big deal.

If you contact legislators and stakeholders all the time: excellent. Tell them about your feelings on net neutrality.

If you have never contacted a legislator, or never wanted to raise your voice, or to get involved – this is not the time to be shy or neutral. We need you. You need the Internet. (How else are you going to read these fun blog posts? Or download our Books and Beverages book group podcast???)

Why are you still here????

GO TELL THE FCC HOW MUCH YOU NEED ACCESS TO THE INTERNET!!

(Then, forward this post to every single person you know!!!)

THANK YOU FOR SAVING THE INTERNET!!!!!

Award yourself one Official Superhero point for helping to save the Internet for us all!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/info_grrl/8926992700