Category Archives: Advocacy

Advocacy

MN Library Legislative Week is coming! So many ways to participate!

Have you always wanted to participate in MN Library Legislative Day (or week) and just not known where to start?

Don’t worry, we can help! (And way to go for wanting to advocate for Minnesota libraries!!)

This year, Library Legislative Week is  February 25-March 1, 2019 and MN Library Legislative Day is February 26th

MLA and ITEM have this excellent site with TONS of Minnesota Library Advocacy info, including the 2019 Platform, advocacy videos, and even a Tool Kit for Legislative Day!

If reading all this information is a little overwhelming, we get it. Watch our website and social media for the release of a special Minnesota Library Advocacy Podcast Episode where we break down the four “asks” that we’re focusing on for this session.

If you can’t make it to St. Paul on the 26th but still want to participate in Legislative Day, come to our location in St. Cloud instead! We’re at 570 1st St. SE, right next to East Side Target.

We’ll have flashy new advocacy postcards, contact information for legislators, and sample text for you to use when contacting officials.

We’ll be available in our office from 9am – 6pm that day and hope you can stop in! We want to help make it easy for you to participate in MN Library Legislative Day and speak up for your library!

We need to be telling people (especially people who are in charge of making decisions about funding libraries) just how vital library services are to schools, universities, and entire communities!

If you’re planning on stopping in, let us know (not required) and we’ll be sure to have extra snacks on hand 🙂

Advocacy, Training

Training Tips: ALA’s Hateful Conduct in Libraries: Supporting Library Workers and Patrons

We talk about this idea often, because it’s such an important part of working in any library/archive or other job doing customer service all day: It’s HARD!

People have this rosy, totally unrealistic, idea of what library work means. They assume people who visit us are lovely and charming, asking library staff polite and interesting questions all day.

And sure – that happens.

Sometimes.

At least as often though, patrons are challenging in all sorts of ways we do not always expect. And sometimes that goes beyond mere bad customer behavior, and becomes scary.

That can take a lot of different forms, but today we are looking at the American Library Association’s (ALA) new Hateful Conduct in Libraries policy. There is a lot of supporting documentation to go with this, and we encourage you to read through it to help implement this in your own libraries. (CMLE is here to help members to work on policies in your library!)

Here is some of the information they provide as a guide.

“What prompted the need for this document?

After the 2016 elections, there was a spike in reported hate crimes in American libraries. Consequently, questions about hate speech, the First Amendment, and patron behavior in the library are escalating. The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services have prepared this resource to provide additional guidance for librarians struggling with issues of hate and intolerance.

This resource focuses on public libraries, academia, and schools. Although private institutions are not held to the legal requirements of the First Amendment, the principles of free expression and respect are encouraged. Unique aspects to consider for each setting are outlined in the “Special Considerations” section of the document.

“A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.”
— Article V, Library Bill of Rights

This statement from the Library Bill of Rights establishes equal access for all as a fundamental user right. However, it is important to recognize that historical inequities, microaggressions, power, and privilege (white privilege, gender privilege, able-bodied privilege, etc.) impact library spaces every day. This may play out as negative bias in policies, access, or direct interactions with people of color, immigrants, refugees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities. Creating an inclusive space requires ongoing education, discussions, and development for library staff and the communities served.

This guide can be used by libraries as they initiate conversations among staff members and within their communities. The guide is divided into three sections:

  1. Proactive Preparation (What strategic steps can I take to prepare in the event hateful conduct situations occur within the library?)
  2. Responding to an Incident (What do I do if hateful conduct is directed at me, a colleague, or a patron, and how do I follow-up?)
  3. Meeting Community Needs (How do I balance access to all viewpoints while also identifying and supporting historically marginalized perspectives?)

Each section begins with a list of questions received by the ALA related to hateful conduct and free speech, followed by statements to consider before, during, and after a hateful incident. Each section ends with suggestions on how to support library staff and patrons. This document should not be construed as legal advice but may provide insight as to when a library may need to seek legal advice or consult law enforcement. If legal advice or expert assistance is required, you or your library should seek the services of a competent legal professional. ”

 

The document goes on to talk about different areas you can look through as you work through these ideas:

Libraries are always supportive of free and open expression of ideas, and sharing of information – even when we personally disagree with it. But hate has no place in libraries. Work through some policy creation for your own library, to help ensure you are best able to provide great service to your community!

Advocacy

Participate in Minnesota Library Legislative Day AND Virtual Legislative Week!

We talk a lot about library advocacy at CMLE. That’s because it is super important! We need to be telling people (especially people who are in charge of making decisions about your library) just how vital library services are to schools, universities, and entire communities!

And good news: there is a day devoted to doing just that! On Tuesday, Feb. 26th you can go to the MN Capitol to speak with legislators and encourage them to support libraries!

Or, you can stay a bit closer to home and come to CMLE HQ in St. Cloud, where we will be hosting a Virtual Legislative Day! Our office will have snacks, sample texts for messages to send your representatives, and library advocacy postcards for you to send to stakeholders.

We’ll be available in our office from 9am – 6pm that day and hope you can stop in! We want to help make it easy for you to participate in MN Library Legislative Day and speak up for your library!

Watch this video for a quick intro to MN Library Legislative Day. Then make sure to visit the MN Library Advocacy Website! You can find more details about the day at the State Capitol with this post from MLA.

Advocacy

Advocacy Alchemy: What’s Your Mission Statement?

What’s your mission statement?

It’s January. It’s the traditional time when we all think about ways we can do new things, and do our usual things even better than before.

So. What do you do?

If you answer “library stuff” that is, of course, awesome. But it’s probably an incomplete way of looking at the work we are doing, and the work your department and organization are doing.

It’s my experience that library people tend to undervalue the amazing things they are providing to their communities. Let’s just knock that off right now.

Maybe your organization has a mission statement. Excellent. Good place to start.

If you are in a school media center, your school probably has a nifty mission statement. But does it cover you? Does it really speak to the work you are doing, and the value you are providing to your community? Probably not.

The same thing is true if you are in most special libraries, archives, academic libraries, etc. It is great to be part of your parent organization; to keep your special focus looking forward you will want to have your own mission statement to supplement theirs.

What do you do?

That’s a big question. We can start smaller.

What do you do all day? What do you WISH you did all day? What do your patrons want from you? What stuff do you have to share (staff skills, materials, programs, etc.)?

Start writing that stuff down.

Talk with other people, even if you are completely solo in your library. Ask what they think you do, or what their favorite thing is that you provide.

This can be a big, elaborate process; but it can also be just a small thing you ponder for an afternoon.

Don’t get overwhelmed here. You just want to have some direction and inspiration.

Mission statements should be short – think 30 or fewer words. Just hit the highlights of your department, your desk, or even just what you are providing. (It’s not required that mission statement be issued only by The Higher Ups to make them effective!)

Browse around the internet for some examples – they are really easy to find. Think about how they speak to what you know about different organizations and the work they do.

Google’s unofficial mission statement (and codified in their code of conduct) used to be “Don’t Be Evil.” They, uhhh….wiffed that one. So they changed it to reflect what they now value and offer to their customers: “Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

It’s short, easy to understand, and indeed reflects the work they are doing.

You also want to make it a little inspiring.

(We could segue off into vision statements, and some pedantic differences between these two ideas. For now – just forget it.)

What makes you special? What makes the work you are doing valuable?

Please. I’m begging you here. DO NOT SAY “ummmm….nothing?” I will absolutely break down sobbing over that.

I promise you: there are special, unique, and valuable things you are very definitely doing and providing to your community! I will cheerfully come over and help you work through some ideas if you aren’t sure what to say here. But I have literally never been in a library or archive that did not do SOMETHING awesome and unique and wonderful. (And for reference: I’ve been in hundreds of different types and sizes of libraries all over the country, and a few outside it. Literally NEVER.)

So, this week take a few minutes to think about what you do. What you would like to do. And how you can say that in a snappy, easy to understand way.

Write it down. Put it on your website. Share it in a newsletter. Print it out in festive colors and stick it to the walls all over the place.

You are important. Your library is important.

Be ready at any moment to tell people just how valuable you are!

A mission statement can help you to stay focused, stay positive, and stay ready to advocate like heck for your library!

Advocacy

Advocacy Alchemy: The profession needs an email from you!

Each week we suggest a strategy you can use to help support your library and the library profession. (Yes, I’m biased; but I love this profession, and think we are all very fortunate to be part of it!)

This week we have some bad news coming from Washington. Yes, I know – just what we all needed before the holidays. #BahHumbug Below is material from Everylibary.org.

As a person who lived in Paul Ryan’s district until I moved to Minnesota – I am so very sorry this guy is such a jerk. I swear I voted against him just as hard as I could. He has spent his entire career passing himself off as a smart guy – but has consistently worked to de-fund libraries whenever possible. I just hate this guy for that work. And sadly: he does not want to go away quietly and politely – he wants to have one more chance to destroy library funding.

Keep in mind: losing this source of money means libraries in Minnesota will lose approximately $3 million. This goes toward supporting a variety of things, including the inter-library loan funds so many libraries are using to share materials.

(Did I already mention that I hate this guy? I do. It’s hard not to take personally the actions of someone who was supposed to represent my interests – and devoted himself so thoroughly to wrecking libraries and the profession I love.)

Send an Email to Ask the House Of Representatives to Pass the Museum and Library Services Act

We can’t abandon our museums and libraries! Sign the petition: Send an Email to Ask the House Of Representatives to Pass the Museum and Library Services Act.

This critical bill for libraries and museums is stalled in the Lame Duck Congress. We need to tell Congress to get back to work.

The Museum and Library Services Act of 2018 is stalled in the House of Representatives. The Act is the foundation upon which all federal support for libraries, archives, and museums stands. It authorizes the Institute of Museum and Library Services, our national support system for the cultural, educational, historical, and community development mission that these institutions provide. It is critical that the Museum and Library Services Act be reauthorized. But Speaker Ryan and Majority Leader McCarthy are blocking it from even reaching the floor of the House in this Lame Duck session.

The Senate passed this non-controversial re-authorization unanimously last week. We cannot understand why the bill is being blocked now. Please email your member of the House of Representatives today to put pressure on the Speaker and Majority Leader and bring this bill to the floor.

Click here to go to the online petition at Everylibrary.org’s website; you can look up the contact info of your Representative and get a suggested message to send. (You can put in your own language if you want, or use theirs, whatever you prefer.)

Stop the Dangerous Politicization of the Office of Copyright

Sign the petition: Stop the Dangerous Politicization of the
Office of Copyright

We’re concerned about the current Senate Bill that would enact changes to the Copyright Office. Under this Senate Bill the Register of Copyrights (the position that overseas the Copyright Office). H.R. 1695 would politicize the office that controls copyrights by making the Register of Copyright a Presidential appointee. In its current role, the Copyright Office is staffed by professionals within the Library of Congress. They are responsible for providing information about copyright law to the government and, of course, they are responsible for the registration and recording of copyrightable works.

Moving copyright into an office that is subject to the president’s political agenda instead of its current non-political role under the care and management of the Library of Congress would subject that role to incredible political influence. It would mean that the role will be more susceptible to media and entertainment companies’ lobbyists, the same companies that want to increase their control over the way that the Internet works. It also means that there could be significant changes to the ways that Americans are allowed to work with books, movies, technology, music, and even your personal vehicles.

Many supporters of this bill are arguing falsely that H.R. 1695 is necessary in order to help “modernize” the Copyright Office. Under the leadership of Dr. Carla Hayden at the Library of Congress, the Copyright Office has already been modernizing. This work modernizing the office is long overdue. The lack of prior modernization was largely due to the political appointment of the previous Librarian of Congress who, as a Russian scholar, was appointed largely in response to the “Red Scare” and the Cold War instead of on the merits and abilities of librarianship. We believe that politicizing of the Register of Copyright would likewise have profound detrimental and lasting effects on the ability of that office to perform their duties.

The House of Representatives has already passed H.R. 1695 the “Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act”. So it’s up to the Senate to say No. Please tell your Senators not to turn the Register of Copyright into a political appointee.”

Celebrate holiday season in style!

Support Libraries and the work that we do!!