Category Archives: Advocacy

Advocacy, Books

Day Thirty Eight of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

As a profession, we are always pushing back against censorship of books. This project, though not done by librarian, is a very interesting visual display of books that have been banned around the world!

“The Parthenon was built in Athens at the instigation of Pericles, under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias, between 447 and 38 BCE. The structure is ten meters high by seventy meters long and thirty meters wide. The temple was conceived to house a colossal gold statue of Athena, as well as the Delian League’s treasury and the city’s silver reserves—in the event of a Persian attack, these precious metals could be melted down and made into new coins to finance war. Transformed into a Christian church in the Middle Ages, then into a mosque during the Renaissance, the deconsecrated Parthenon of the modern period became a symbol of democracy and of Western cultural supremacy.
Marta Minujín, born in Buenos Aires in 1943, seized this aesthetic and political archetype of democracy for her own situation: corrupted by a “national Catholic” dictatorship that reigned in Argentina up until 1983, she put the democratic ideal back into circulation at the moment when the military junta fell. Her artistic project was part of her series “La caída de los mitos universals” or “The Fall of Universal Myths,” which appropriated monumental icons to replicate them, break them up into pieces, and redistribute them into the public realm. In a certain way, the artist gives back to these symbols—reified and confiscated by institutionalization or capitalization—their status as offerings. For El Partenón de libros (The Parthenon of Books, 1983), 25,000 books, taken from cellars where they had been locked up by the military, covered a scale replica of the Greek edifice; built out of metal tubes and elevated to one side, this Parthenon was placed in a public square in the southern part of Buenos Aires.
Minujín’s monuments to democracy and to education through art revive the ceremonies of archaic societies—contrary to the banning of books by the junta’s army and different from the privatization of public property that, through speculating on the debt of the state, encourages the suppression of public-sector services and creates social shortages. In her mass-participation projects, Minujín rediscovers the initial value of a collective treasure; she melts shared capital back down into cultural currency without remainder. She lays down the verticality of public edifices that embody confiscated cultural knowledge and a hidebound heritage. She dilapidates the fortune these myths represent. By literally tilting these symbols, Minujín not only gives new meaning to these monuments, she offers them a new sensuality.
—Pierre Bal-Blanc

More videos on contemporary art, design, architecture:
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Advocacy, Programs, Resources

Library Advocacy Efforts Gain Steam

Advocacy Logo
At CMLE we are all about advocacy of all types for libraries!! Keep talking to people about the work you do, and the value you bring to your community! People will be pleased and impressed by it all. Check out our advocacy resources, and you can always check in with us to talk about advocacy ideas!

(From Publisher’s Weekly, by Shannon Maughan)

A look at some ongoing federal, state, and local campaigns

The past decade has seen a distinct expansion of library advocacy across the country, largely in response to budget cuts. As a result, librarians at all levels have been organizing and raising their voices to demonstrate the value of their positions and their libraries in the community. In light of continued tightening of funding, including steep cuts proposed by a new president, the battle cry of librarians has become even louder. We checked in on a few of the most recent efforts.

Appropriations Push

May was a particularly busy month on the library advocacy front. To kick things off, on May 1–2 a record number of librarians—more than 500—took part in the American Library Association’s National Library Legislative Day (and double that number participated online). During their time in D.C., librarians discussed issues and legislation affecting them with ALA’s Washington Office and met with representatives on Capitol Hill. Copyright, net neutrality, and privacy were among other topics on the table. An early bright spot of the event was the May 1 announcement of the federal budget for fiscal year 2017 (ending September 30), which increased federal library funding by $1 million.

But the bigger budget debate at the event was President Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2018 budget, announced March 16, in which he called for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the grant-making agency that serves as the primary source for federal funding to libraries. Ahead of the 2018 budget, the ALA had already drafted its annual “Dear Appropriator” letters urging Congress for full funding of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) at $186.6 million and Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) at $27 million. In light of the newly proposed threat to funding, advocacy efforts shifted into a higher gear. Continue reading Library Advocacy Efforts Gain Steam →

Advocacy, Communication, Programs

Day Thirty Five of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

Librarian Rhapsody- Shoalhaven Library Staff

I just love to see library people doing fun, creative, and interesting things!!

Check out this excellent library in Australia as they deliver an annual report in a truly unique style: song!

If anyone in CMLE wants to try a unique annual report, check in with us here at HQ!! We aren’t going to sing (really: you’re welcome for that!), but we will always be available to help you plan out some fun work to show off your achievements!

 

Advocacy, Communication

Day Thirty Four of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

 

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Hopefully everyone is able to celebrate today, and to spend some time enjoying yourselves!!

Libraries are the most patriotic organizations out there, and we serve as important cornerstones of democracy.

  • Our fundamental mission, regardless of library type, is to serve our communities.
  • We provide access to information on any topic, expert assistance in distinguishing good information from bad, and we do this at no direct cost to our patrons.
  • We allow all patrons to access and find information they would never have without us.
  • We remind our community members that we all have much more in common than any differences we may see in each other. We all want good things for our communities, for our families, and for ourselves; the library provides materials, programs, and services of all types to make these goals a reality.

Libraries are amazing.

Libraries are civilization, knowledge, understanding.

Libraries are democracy in action, every single day.

If you work in one, you probably do not take enough time to really notice the immense value of the services you provide every day.

  • You can, and do, literally change lives.
  • You support your community in a way that literally no one else can ever provide to them.
  • You, whatever you do to help support the mission of the library, help to make your community a better and stronger place.
  • Every day you come to work, you advance freedom, knowledge, education, and happiness – the foundations of this country!

Our code of ethics from the American Library Association codifies this:

  1. We provide the highest level of service to all library users through appropriate and usefully organized resources; equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests.
  2. We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources.
  3. We protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.
  4. We respect intellectual property rights and advocate balance between the interests of information users and rights holders.
  5. We treat co-workers and other colleagues with respect, fairness, and good faith, and advocate conditions of employment that safeguard the rights and welfare of all employees of our institutions.
  6. We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions.
  7. We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to their information resources.
  8. We strive for excellence in the profession by maintaining and enhancing our own knowledge and skills, by encouraging the professional development of co-workers, and by fostering the aspirations of potential members of the profession.

 

 

No matter what else is happening in the community, the nation, and the world around you, I hope you take a few minutes today to reflect on the work you do and on how truly meaningful it is toward making this a place we can all be proud to call home!

Information. Understanding. Sharing. Community. It is all another way of talking about the library – and in my mind, that makes us the most patriotic organizations you can find!

(Go light a sparkler and think great thoughts about your library!)