Home  Federal Advocacy Resources
Federal Advocacy Resources and How to Get Involved
Last Updated: July 10, 2007
Introduction
The Washington Office offers a variety of information resources about current federal issues that impact libraries. Each resource contains muchly the same information and you can choose to access one or more of them to suit your needs. A description of the resources follows below along with how best to utilize them.
This guide was drafted by ALA's Committee on Legislation's Grassroots Subcommittee and ad hoc group (April 6, 2007).
- This guide can also be downloaded as a Word or PDF file.
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Resources
District Dispatch Blog & Podcast
blogs.ala.org/districtdispatch.php
View press releases, ALAWONs, and virtually all vital information from the Washington Office. The District Dispatch is also an archive for past press releases and ALAWONS. Do you prefer to listen to updates about federal issues, policy and advocacy on your ipod, in your car or at your desk? Then check out the podcast series produced by the Washington Office.
ALA Washington Office Newsline (ALAWON)
www.ala.org/ala/washoff/washnews/news.htm
Receive action alerts and updates about federal issues in your email inbox by subscribing to ALAWON: the American Library Association Washington Office Newsline. The news alerts give you an overview of the issue and contain links back to the Washington Office webpages where you can get background information or the history of an issue.
Legislative Action Center
www.capwiz.com/ala/home
A short version of each ALAWON is reprinted here in the form of “TAKE ACTION” alerts. Simply click on the alert of your choice and view the text of the alert. Then, using the email form provided on the website, send an email about the alert to your Members of Congress. You can copy the text of the alert into your email, but be sure to type in a personalized story or description about how the legislation you are writing about impacts your library.
ALA Office of Government Relations
www.ala.org/ogr
Are you interested in viewing information solely related to federal legislation? The Office of Government Relations homepage contains a menu that links you to information about each federal issue that impacts libraries.
ALA Office for Information Technology Policy
www.ala.org/oitp
Are you interested in the underlying information technology policy implications and research that is related to federal legislative issues? The Office for Information Technology and Policy homepage contains links to import studies and analysis about libraries.
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Now that I have current information, what do I do with it?
Step 1: Getting Started
Start being an advocate today by sending your Members of Congress an email from ALA’s Legislative Action Center (LAC). The LAC is a central location where you can review updates about federal issues and then immediately email Congress to urge them to support libraries. This is an easy way for new and veteran advocates to get involved immediately.
OR…
You can call, email, or fax your Member of Congress’s office. ANY method you use to contact Congress is fine as long as you are speaking out for libraries -- however, DO NOT send Congress a letter using “snail mail.” The new mail review process will prevent letters sent using the postal service from reaching the office in a timely manner.
Step 2: National Library Legislative Day
Now that you are reviewing updates about federal information using one or more of the sources above, and making contact with Congress using the Legislative Action Center or other method of your choice, why not go the extra mile for libraries and participate in National Library Legislative Day. This annual event held in Washington, DC, is a time for library advocates to meet with their Senators and Representatives to tell them about the great things happening at their library. Do budget or schedule constraints prevent you from making the trip to DC? Then organize a Virtual Library Legislative Day from your home state.
Rep. Mark Kirk (left) with Danny Chapman
during National Library Legislative Day 2007
Step 3: Participate in FLLAN
Now that you are engaged in continuous communication with Congress as issues arise and during National and Virtual Library Legislative Day, it is time to take your advocacy for libraries to the next level by participating in the Federal Library Legislative & Advocacy Network (FLLAN). FLLAN is a rapid-response grassroots network made up of individuals and groups who have made a commitment to actively and immediately respond to calls for action related to federal issues. FLLAN advocates have also made the commitment to forward calls to action to other advocates who can help by contacting Congress.
FLLAN is a flexible network made up of other networks and of individual advocates. For example, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) grassroots network is part of the FLLAN network, but individual academic librarians, who may or may not be part of the ACRL grassroots network, also participate in FLLAN.
There is no one “right” way to participate in the FLLAN network -- as long as your group’s network (or as long as you as an individual) can commit to responding to contacting your Senators and Representatives when needed, you will be an effective part of the FLLAN network of advocates. Two suggested ways to get involved with FLLAN are:
- Look up the name of your state’s FLLAN contact in the online directory.
Ask the FLLAN contact for your state to email FLLAN updates to you. If your state’s contact forwards the alert to listservs, ask to what listserv you should subscribe to receive the updates. If you find that you are not receiving updates check back with the contact for your state or send an email to Rosalind Reynolds with the Washington Office and provisions will be made to send you the updates.
- Some ALA divisions have grassroots networks that draw action alerts from the FLLAN network to share with their members. For example, ACRL has a grassroot network that reprints some of the FLLAN alerts in the emails they send to the members of their division networks. So, for example, if you are an academic librarian, one way to be part of the FLLAN network is to contact your divison and ask how to be part of their network for federal issues.
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