Category Archives: Advocacy

Advocacy, CMLE, Communication

Get excited: CMLE Library Snapshot Day is next week!

Next Thursday, April 27th is CMLE Library Snapshot Day! CMLE is excited to share pictures of our members and the work they are doing in their libraries!

Wondering what Library Snapshot Day is all about? From ALA:
“Holding a library snapshot day is a simple way to prove that libraries provide invaluable services to our communities.”

On this day, we want all our libraries (and anyone else – we love all libraries!) to take a few photos during the day, to show the work you do. It does not need to be anything especially exciting, or fancy-looking; just show the work that library people are doing.

Then, we will upload all the photos to our web page for easy access and sharing with stakeholders, library fans, or anyone that needs a reminder how important libraries are to their communities! (We also have a YouTube channel and would love to post your videos!)

Use the hashtag #CMLEPhotos on your social media accounts, to share them around with everyone!

We will be in contact with some of you to set up a few minutes for us to pop in and visit your library so we can get a few more photos!

Read more about Library Snapshot Day on ALA’s site.

Advocacy, Tech

Small town libraries – let’s code!

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“Over the past few years I have been working with libraries on code clubs, and I’ve been impressed with the community response in small towns – kids see coding as a way to connect/influence a much bigger world, and it’s empowering.
So we launched a program where small libraries get our full offering (software, training, support) for free. Here’s the info about it, and I’d ask you to send this to folks you know at small libraries that may be interested: https://medium.com/coding-at-the-library/donald-trump-is-abandoning-small-town-kids-and-i-intend-to-do-something-about-it-d7e6646a5d14
Let me know if you have questions.

Kelly Smith kelly@prenda.co”

Advocacy, Books

Send Librarians to Congress – in book form!

Some advocacy to help our legislators know more about libraries!

Donate here!

“Help us send librarians to congress by taking part in the campaign to send a copy of the book, “This is What a Librarian Looks Like,” by Kyle Cassidy, to every member of Congress.

Federal funding for libraries would be eliminated in the proposed “Skinny Budget” from President Trump. Many of our elected representatives are unaware of the work that librarians do for millions of Americans every day. We need to show Congress that librarians are providing critical services for communities and teach Congress about the impact that librarians’ work has in our big cities and small towns. Librarians come from all walks of life, backgrounds, and society, but what they have in common is a passion for learning, innovation, and making sure that knowledge is available, free of charge, and accessible to everyone. Libraries are not just rooms filled with books; they provide computers, cameras, kayaks and fishing equipment, 3D printers, recording studios, video games, and even neckties for people who aren’t able to get access anywhere else. This is the message that members of Congress need desperately to hear and you can help us raise the money we need to reach them.

Tell congress about the work that librarians do in the United States by helping us raise money to send them Kyle Cassidy’s book, This is What A Librarian Looks Like by May 9th.

Through his book, Kyle Cassidy has made it his mission to remind us of how essential librarians and libraries are to our communities. His subjects are men and women of all ages, backgrounds, and personal style–from pink hair and leather jackets to button-downs and blazers. The nearly 220 librarians photographed also share their personal thoughts on what it means to be a librarian. What A Librarian Looks Like also includes original essays by some of our most beloved writers, journalists, and commentators including Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, Nancy Pearl, Cory Doctorow, Paula Poundstone, Amanda Palmer, Peter Sagal, Jeff VanderMeer, John Scalzi, Sara Farizan, Amy Dickinson, and others. Cassidy also profiles a handful of especially influential librarians and libraries.”

Advocacy, Check this out:, Services, Tech

Decision Makers: Libraries are Ready to Code

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From the District Dispatch:

Computing jobs represent the largest source of new jobs and are among the highest paying, yet hundreds of thousands of openings go unfilled. And such employment needs are projected to continue growing in the coming years. Libraries are part of the solution in preparing more of America’s youth for these jobs

Libraries are ideal venues to provide career opportunities for youth in the digital age, explains a newly-released brief from the American Library Association (ALA). In “Careers for America’s Youth in the Digital Age: <libraries / ready to code>,” libraries are found to increasingly offer programs in coding and computational thinking—the broader intellectual skills behind coding—and are poised to do much more.

The brief is being released at the #HouseOfCode demo, panel and reception event on Capitol Hill on April 3-4. Nearly 100 students from over 50 Congressional districts will participate to demo their winning apps from the 2016 Congressional App Challenge. ALA is a sponsor of this event and we will have an exhibitor table and strong representation including our coding policy extraordinaire Marijke Visser as well as Shawnda Hines and Emily Wagner of the ALA Washington Office. Continue reading Decision Makers: Libraries are Ready to Code →

Advocacy

Top 10 things to know (and do) about saving library funding

Fight For Libraries! Tell Congress to save library funding.

From the ALA District Dispatch:

The talk of Washington and the library community (when people aren’t talking about the President’s tweets, anyway) is the recent recommendation by the President to completely eliminate funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), including their library funding implementing the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Innovative Approaches to Literacy program within the Department of Education. Here are the top ten things that you need to know about saving IMLS and more than $210 million in annual federal library funding that will be going on all year.

10. Exactly how much money are we talking about?

LSTA received $183.4 million in FY 2016 while IAL received $27 million. These funding levels are essentially the same for FY 2017 as the year before because Congress failed to enact almost any of the twelve individual appropriations bills that fund specific parts of the federal government and is keeping the governments doors open under a series of temporary authorizations called Continuing Resolutions, or “CRs” in Beltway-speak. Under the terms of a CR, programs are funded at the previous year’s levels (though this year the CR includes a de minimus across the board cut of less than 0.5%). If Congress returns from its upcoming April recess on April 24 and figures out how to pass 11 of the 12 unfinished FY 2017 appropriations bills in less than a week, funding levels for FY 2018 could change. However, that narrow window for Congressional action makes another CR running through the end of the current fiscal year (September 30, 2017) vastly more likely. Continue reading Top 10 things to know (and do) about saving library funding →