Pub crawls were odd things in Glenfield...

STORIES

There were no dragons in Glenfield. Allegidly. According to Willy the bartender at Landsend Pub, there had beenno dragons in Glenfield since the start of World War II, when Chester, Glenfield's last remaining dragon closed up his family estate on Willminton Lane and enlisted. The Army was happy to have a dragon, or so Willy the bartender says. They let him skip the physical when they saw just how far he could throw fire, which they probably shouldn't have done; when the dragon went on his first hike, he passed out from exhaustion, tumbled over a cliff and died.

Can I interest you in a rant about authoritarian school districts?

**update** somehow the wrong video got embedded. Seriously, I have no clue how that happened. Sorry! But, uh, the Batman fan film is awesome, if that's the post you saw first ;)



So, this school district suspended this kid indefinitely, just before graduation time, for posting things to his personal YouTube account...outside of school and outside of school hours. Way to be counter-productive, guys!

(Beware: curse words)

I'm totes legit professional-published. Totes.

BEHOLD. BEST PRACTICES FOR GOVERNMENT LIBRARIES. BE AMAZED. BE ENTHRALLED. BEA ARTHUR.

But, seriously. It's an article about getting the most from social networking with the least amount of time and effort (time and effort being commodities libraries never have enough of). Social networking is a great way to spread the word about who you are and what you're doing, so, once it goes live, check it out!

Where in the world have I been? -or- What you can do for your library.

I wonder that too, sometimes. I was off at an interview for a very cool job (pick me! pick me!) and at a science fiction convention. Now I have returned, and it's time to talk about what you can do for your library!

Sure, I talk about what librarians can do to advocate for ourselves and our profession, but there're things you can do as well!

This post is inspired by a comment from a friend that he supports libraries but hasn't stepped into one in years.

There're tons of excuses: libraries don't have what I like to read, I can afford to buy it on Amazon and not have to worry about late fees, I haven't been inside one in so long I don't know where to start...

LOOK, ROMAN TOILETS!

All easily solvable, my friends! For instance... don't know where to start? Ask a librarian. Be frank. Admit you haven't been in a library since your senior year of high school, AND your librarian was mean. Most of us are very nice, and extremely understanding of fallen-away library users. Tell the librarian what your interests are, so that he or she can direct you to the sections you'll find most useful. Wanna check out DVDs, games, and graphic novels? We can help. Most libraries have DVDs and graphic novels, and many have games available for checkout or low-cost rental. Want books about waste removal systems in antiquity? We can tell you what Dewey range will set your heart aflutter. We can show you how to use our online catalog and give tips for finding exactly what you want.

The second biggest excuse is that libraries don't have what fallen-away library users like to read. First... do you really know that for sure? Or are you basing this on the one library you walked into in 1991 that had a scifi section entirely littered with young adult fiction and TV tie-in novels? Did that comment hit too close to home? Yeah, I thought it did :)

Really check out your library. Wander the shelves. You may happen upon old favorites and new finds you didn't know existed, or forgot about ages ago. Don't see what you're looking for on the shelf? Try the catalog. It may be checked out, or on order. Really, REALLY don't see what you're looking for? I have two solutions:

1) Suggest the library purchase it. Libraries have tight budgets and may not be able to order everything patrons request, but are often very open to suggestions. Often when we do ordering, we do it based on what has checked out well in the past, and what we THINK will be a hit. Hearing directly from the patron's mouth that he or she would love to check out more George R. R. Martin books tells us EXACTLY what will check out.

2) If the library is unable to purchase the book, ask if the library participates in Inter-Library Loan. Yes, libraries borrow books from other libraries. WE LIVE IN THE FUTURE, MAN. Don't see Game of Thrones? If a library that participates in our ILL consortium does have it, we can usually borrow it at no cost to you. Some consortiums are county or state wide. Some exchange with other academic institutions, or can even borrow nation-wide. What're the odds that NO library will have the book you're looking for? Probably pretty slim.

Why bother with all of this stuff, anyways, you're asking me. You can afford these things on Amazon. The first  reason is that you don't always HAVE to buy everything off of Amazon. Nor do you always have to wait. A lot of these books are sitting on the shelf in your library. We also have other stuff you may not be able to find on Amazon: periodical subscriptions, old records and newspapers, database and journal access, story time, author visits, community events, opportunities for enrichment and learning that can't be found in the pages of a book, and above all...friendship. You'll meet so many people at your library, both patrons and staff. Way more than you'll meet by clicking "checkout" on your Amazon cart.

But there's another important reason:

BY CHECKING BOOKS OUT OF A LIBRARY, YOU ARE HELPING TO SAVE THAT LIBRARY. Even if you don't need the library, your act of checking out materials is SAVING LIBRARIES for people who DO need that library, sometimes desperately.

Why?

Libraries live and die by statistics. One of the most important being usage statistics. Every book, video or Playaway audio book you check out counts as a checkout for your library. Every time you walk in the door, a record is being kept of another patron walking in the building. Every time you sign up for a card, or renew your card, you're being counted as another person in your area that USES the library. Every question you ask at a reference desk is being counted by someone. Every time you make use of the photocopier, every time you bring a child to story time. Every time you do all of these simple things, which your tax or tuition money is already paying for, you are helping that library obtain more funding for people, facilities and materials. HOLY CRAP. YOU CAN COME TO THE LIBRARY, USE OUR STUFF FOR FREE, AND ACTUALLY BE HELPING US BY DOING IT. Like I said, we live in the future, man.

So, be a friend to your library! Come in, use our bathroom, leech our wifi and check out DVDs that exist soley for the purpose of rotting your brain cells. Check out a comic book. Photocopy something. Ask us about ancient toilet design. In fact, ask us pointless questions. No, really. Ask us pointless questions--the more, the better. In fact, walk away for a few minutes, then come back and ask us another, so we can count it as two reference interviews. We like it like that, because THAT IS HOW WE ROLL.

And maybe, if you want some help with research regarding a disease you've been diagnosed with, or are looking for old newspaper articles from that time when you were in the high school musical, or just want to know about sewage treatment in antiquity because it's been bugging you for a while, ASK US. We would be thrilled and honored to help!

SAVE YOUR LIBRARY. USE THEIR STUFF.

I have an awesome idea: lets cut funding for school libraries!

Stay with me on this! We complain that our students are not competing globally in important areas like math and science, and are falling behind in reading and literature. The only way to fix this is for the Department of Education to get rid of federal funding for school libraries! 

I mean, we're in tough times, right? There have to be cuts everywhere. And the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program gave money to under-funded schools, usually in poor and under-privileged areas, many serving minorities. Who needs those folks, right? Education isn't free, you know. And most schools derive their funding from property taxes. If you want your kid to be in a better school, with a better-stocked school library, you'll just better yourself, make more money and move to an area with higher property taxes and better schools. It's not the federal government's problem that your kid's school can't afford decent, or modern or remotely interesting books. NO ONE USES LIBRARIES ANY MORE ANYWAY, SINCE ALL INFORMATION IS NOW ON THE INTERNET. Also, we do not care if these are schools that can't afford computers for every student, or a descent internet connection. Make more money and move to a better area. THIS IS A MERITOCRACY, AFTER ALL.

Ok, back to reality. I truly do believe in giving kids the joy of discovery and the thirst for knowledge that will carry them through the requirements of an assignment into true enrichment and learning. School gave me the building blocks, skills and general background  I needed to learn, but libraries gave me the fire to keep learning outside of the classroom. I believe every kid deserves to go to school in a district that meets certain minimum standards for education and learning, so that they have the ability, if they're wise enough to utilize it, to grow into productive members of society.

I believe that is the purpose of both parenting, and education: to release into the world young adults capable of taking care of themselves. This, for me, includes being educated enough to get along in the world, and turning students into independent researchers. Who cares about independent researchers? Most adults aren't going to write academic papers for peer-reviewed journals.

But there're problems in every-day life that can be met by being a life-long learner with the ability to research. Are you looking for support for a health condition? Are you simply looking for information to see if your symptoms are something you can try home remedies for first (such as dry skin), or if you should get to a doctor's office ASAP? Have you or a loved-one been diagnosed with an illness that your doctor was unable to provide sufficient information about?  Knowing where to look for credible information can help you find the correct questions to be asking your doctor, the correct procedure for taking care of yourself or your loved one, or even which specialists are the best for your condition.

Got a home project that you vaguely remember helping dad with as a kid, seemed simple enough, and you don't have the money to pay someone to do? The Internet gave me instructions for removing the trap from my kitchen sink without damaging the rest of the piping. Heck, sometimes I need a refresher video for changing out the weirdly-designed windshield wiper blades for my car.

Knowing which books to go to for help (car manual, 2006, in my case--which my library carries), and how to tell how credible information is on the internet, and where to FIND the credible information are invaluable skills, since sometimes relying on the experience of friends and family isn't always enough.

Ok, how did we get from federal funding for school libraries to the fact that I have trouble changing my windshield wiper blades in just a few paragraphs?

Because a well-funded and well-stocked school library is one of the ways we combat America continuing to slip in competitiveness in the world arena. It's a way to help students learn how to fend for themselves in an age where we don't suffer from too little information, but not enough curated, verified information. It's a way to get a kid excited about independent learning. It's not enough to tell a kid that the answers are out there, and its their responsibility to find them, if we don't give them the answers close-at-hand during those early formative years.

They may not get computer time at home. If they're from a disadvantaged area, they may not have a  computer, or computer access. So Google isn't always at the fingertips of the students we're cutting this essential funding from. They may not have a  local public library that is accessible to a kid without transportation. These are what make the school library so beautiful--those resources are in the same building where kids spend most of their day. But an ill-stocked library without Internet access, and access to credible databases tells a kid that the answers are out there, but library doesn't have them for you. It tells kids that the library is a place where old books go to die and librarians are irrelevant faculty members holding on to a bygone era, instead of the information professionals that can help you become an independent learner.

We may tell kids explicitly over and over that learning and education are important, but ill-funded libraries (and schools) tell kids implicitly, through subtle or not-so-subtle snubbing that libraries, books, reading, independent learning and information independence are all unimportant.

I think the government wants education to improve. But I think they're going about it wrong in many ways. Defunding vulnerable libraries is not going to help ANYONE. It may balance a line in a budget this year, but usually once a program goes away for monitory reasons, it seldom comes back when times are better. That is another thing I worry about: all the the things we're stopping now, due to our current financial troubles, and the long-term impact it's going to have on our workforce, and socially, and on our tax revenues in the future.

Libraries don't lack vision, they lack CASH

And warm bodies, and support from other institutions, and...

Oh heck, just read some more followups regarding yesterday's post.

 Dan Zambonini makes a great point about how libraries have great ideas, we just lack the resources, a lot of the time, to make reality happen. So, we kindly thank the original blogger for his precious insights into how librarians are doing it ALL WRONG, but we're totally on top oft his thing.

Also, the nice folks at SBTB have linkage to what I've already posted here, and BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL NSFW T-SHIRTS.

Libraries: the place where you go for DVDs, books and pie.

I'm not usually at a loss for words. Especially on the area of libraries. I take great pride in having plenty to say on my favorite topic. But somehow, I ended up rather flabbergasted by a post made by Seth Godin on his blog. In fact, I was even having trouble summarizing Seth's view of libraries. I'm grateful that Censored Genius had a long and very rational (if curse-laden) post about the topic. And she's right about oh so many things. Including the importance of including pie in a well-rounded library collection. It helped me gather my thoughts regarding Mr. Godin's...misimpressions of libraries.

Goden seems to think that books are going away, and this inevitable. Which I couldn't disagree with more. There are SO MANY reasons why I think books are here to stay that I may not be able to summarize them neatly here. Second, he thinks the primary reason for libraries is becoming obsolete. But I think that I disagree with his view of the reason for libraries more than anything else, here. Libraries are not warehouses for books. Nor have they ever been. Librarians are not simply "the people who know where stuff is in libraries." Otherwise librarians would have gone out of style with the card catalog.

I also disagree that the purpose of librarians is changing, and librarians have to get with the times and become super internet searching gurus. That reduces the role of the librarian as someone whose single purpose is to teach people how to massage search engines and sift data for the best results.

 Just because information is more easily searchable than it has ever been does not mean that the primary function of librarians or libraries is changing. In fact, there is more information now than ever, which makes librarians more important than ever. Not as Net Gods and Godesses (which we are, but that's a separate issue), but as people capable of curating information, determining relevance and making educated decisions on what information is historically, culturally and locally important (important to local need/interest). Yes, a large part of what a librarian does is retrieval, and teaching people how to retrieve information. But we also curate information. Which is something Google doesn't do.

Google crawls websites, it finds them and knows they are there. It knows how to recall them, when someone searches for "insurgency" or "interdisciplinary action" or "hotdog eating contest." But it doesn't know how relevant those websites actually ARE. It doesn't search paid databases. It doesn't know which databases are the best to search for a history of hotdog eating contests. It just knows that "hotdog eating contest" is a phrase that exists frequently on a page, and other websites about eating hotdogs link to it. 

It doesn't know which books are the best for discussing the social implications of food eating contests. It doesn't know how to do a research interview to figure out what a library user is REALLY looking for, or to help the library user figure it out. The internet is not going to remove the need for that human element beyond turning us all into trainers.

The books aren't going away for a multitude of reasons. The technological divide: not everyone has an e-reader. Not everyone can afford one, not everyone has the knowledge to work one. Not everyone has the inclination to learn how to use one. Most folks can flip pages in a book and understand how it works since it is the medium we were brought up in. We have hundreds of years of practice.

There's planned obsolescence: tried opening a file created in Wordstar lately? Yeah. The hardware AND the software ages rapidly in a digital world. Faster than a library budget can reasonably keep up with. A ten year old e-book may be unreadable now, due to changing formats, and the sheer multitude of formats (every reader has a proprietary format). However, I can open a 400 year old book and start reading now. Without special software or hardware. Unless you count my ability to read as software, and a good lighting source as hardware.

There's the cost of implementation. Does a library purchase an e-reader for every user? Do those who cannot afford a reader get left out in the cold? Also, digital rights issues--there're publishers who want the rights to an e-publication to expire, and the library to have to repurchase. Others don't want there to be lending rights.

Lastly, there is the spatial relationships we have with books. Flipping back and forth on a computer screen between texts is WAY harder than have two opened in front of you to compare information, or to be able to thumb to various bookmarks. The blogger in question seems to think that books on paper are going away in 5 to 10 years, which I think is a gross underestimation... if it ever happens at all. However, if it does happen, those of us who know how to "work" a book will have a great advantage over those who do not, when the Technopocalyps happens, and the world is left with only analog technology.

Have I covered everything? Maybe. Maybe not. I'm still a little startled at the one-dimensional view of libraries, librarians and library services presented by Godin. Again, perhaps our own fault. No one has any idea what we do, how diverse our jobs are (some are extremely technically oriented, some not, etc), or the value of what we do. We really, desperately need to change this. 

Them-thar over-paid teachers and overfunded libraries are at it again!

Shocking bit of news--student performance is strongly related to how libraries and schools are funded, a new study says. I know, I was totally surprised. Especially since every time you turn around, even when the economy IS NOT in a slump, libraries and schools are criticized for their supposed lack of effectiveness, the outrageousness of their spending (a drop in the bucket of most state and federal budgets, keep in mind), and how grossly overpaid their staff is.

To hear it told, schools are just holding pens for rude, incorrigible students to hang out for eight hours while their parents are at work. They don't really learn much of anything. Well, other than how to make pipe bombs and that one shanks with a shiv, and not shivs with a shank. The educational system must be reenvisioned! And this starts with getting rid of "overpaid" teachers and expensive school libraries!

But this study is saying that as funding for schools increases, so does student performance. Hmm. Lets rethink our thoughts...

I'm a firm believer that if you're only willing to pay for a minimum wage person, that's exactly what you will get. Or any salary range, really. You will get a person who is either not capable of making more, due to lack of personality-fit, lack of skill and ability, or lack of talent for the job...or you will get a person who IS capable of making more, but is not experienced enough, or at a stage in their career where this is possible. People who CAN make more usually do go on to make more at a different position. And those that cannot, for whatever reason, stay. Is that who you want teaching your kids? The person who, for whatever reason, cannot move on to a higher paying job?

Sure there're the people who see it as a calling, or who have spouses with good jobs providing a certain amount of economic comfort and security. But if you are only willing to pay $22k a year, that's who you're going to get to teach in your schools--the poor teacher who see it as a calling, and is bedraggled, and on the verge of a burnout, and people who have nowhere else to go. Either they don't have the personality or the skills for more favorable circumstances. There's waaaaay too much crap dealt to teachers, from above at the administration and school board level, from the parents, and sometimes from students, to make a bad situation like a bad school with bad pay seem like a good idea for long.


So, lets get that whole paying teachers a competitive rate thing out of the way, and say we do that. And then lets say we have a well-stocked library with sufficient/educated staffing. This does several things for learning. The first is that it provides actual materials for learning. There's nothing worse than being told you need to do a report, and then trying to cobble together a topic based on what books are actually available in your library. It also provides materials for teachers to use in the classroom, either for their own knowledge and benefit, or to use directly in activities--videos, games, books with photos/paintings/illustrations, first-hand accounts of historic events, lesson planning materials. Stuff to really provide enrichment and make the learning easier and come alive in the classroom.

What else does a well-stocked library with educated staff do? It also provides the opportunity and resources to teach students how to do proper research. Not just finding a book on Ben Franklin for a report, or a Wikipedia article on Mesopotamia. But actually teaching them how to dig deeply into the web and online databases, how to judge the reliability of a source, and how to connect all the dots into a solid, satisfying research experience. An ill-stocked library that lacks database access, or has materials that are out of date or not of interest to any of the current students does none of this. Having qualified staff that are not spread too thin ensures there is always someone to help students, and that the school's media specialist can take the time to instruct students in all of those funny little things mentioned above.

Another thing that having a well-funded school and school library does is a little less obvious: it teaches kids that their school, their district, and the people who live in the district are serious about learning and knowledge. They care about learning enough to amass those sorts of materials, and put them at the hands of any student who wants to crack open a book or search a database. They've also worked with staff who gave them the tools they need in order to find information effectively. Because information is everywhere, but finding the RIGHT information isn't always easy. It can be daunting and discouraging. That can put students off even trying.

The last thing a well-funded (and we'll assume well-run) school and school library should do is provide children with a sense of curiosity and wonder about the world. It should provide them with a hunger for knowledge, the desire to know things outside the parameters of school assignments, and spark their imagination for knowledge of things other than what is right in front of them.

I would argue that this is the most important thing. Even under meager circumstances, having a sense of curiosity about the world, and the desire to find answers can lead to learning. It's more challenging, of course. And it may be more challenging in meager circumstances to inspire that in a child, when they don't have the implicit lesson that knowledge and information are important staring back at them on the book shelves. But without that, students will always strive for the bare minimum and they'll never be curious about the world outside of their syllabus and text books.

I think we're not going to have any of these things if we under-fund or eliminate school libraries. In addition to budget cuts for books, databases and equipment, I know some schools are getting rid of library media specialists and replacing them with a classroom teacher who does not have a class during any given period, or with aids only. I don't think it's going to turn out the way they think it's going to, without the right person to select the appropriate materials and to guide those young minds. School librarians do MUCH more than just teach kids how to use card catalogs.

It's the topic of another post for another time, but school libraries aren't going away. They're not going to be replaced by e-books. I have a feeling the schools trying to implement such silliness will find out in the long run that the grand experiment is not going to work because libraries aren't just about the words in the books they contain. It's about learning to find answers for yourself, learning what your community and culture value by what they chose to gather in one place and preserve, and having people on hand that can guide this whole process.

Save a mind, save a library.

Neil Gaiman got paid a bunch of money; politician upset. Video at 11.

I'm sure a lot of library-types have been following the drama associated with a library paying $45,000 to novelist/comic writer/screen writer Neil Gaiman for a speaking engagement last year, and the uproar it caused among some state politicians, including one who called the writer a "pencil-necked weasel." Mr. Gaiman has detailed (prolifically) the situation, the reason for the high fees, and the fall-out on his blog.

The short version:


Gaiman is a writer. He writes. He makes a lot of money from writing, and he enjoys writing. Every time he takes on a speaking engagement, it takes him away from his primary job of writing. Therefore, he has an agency that organizes his speaking engagements. He charges quite a hefty fee to weed out many of the requests. Consequently, this is roughly the same amount that Maya Angelou and...Snookie charge, just to give a clear indicator of how much a speaking engagement can cost. That said, Gaiman is a huge supporter of libraries, and therefore often reduces or eliminates his fee for libraries. The library in question did not ask for a reduced fee or attempt to negotiate, they simply paid it. All of this was done through his agency, and he did not have a hand personally in negotiations. The author states that he does not need the income from these engagements, and so the money was split between several charities and donated (less the agent's fees, etc).

Some time later, along comes a politician. Lets call him Representative Matt Dean, who says that Gaiman is on his most-hated list and that Gaiman has "stolen" tax money, and he is a pencil-necked weasel. Later, he says his mom made him apologize, and so he apologized for his wording, but suggested that Gaiman needs to learn how to be charitable. Yes, the same Neil Gaiman who donated his speaking fee and who assists with MANY charities, including library charities and Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

This seems to me like an obvious case of a politician pointing his ire in the wrong direction. I don't believe that it's the author's duty to decide (without being asked) which organizations he will lower his fee for. The library was willing to pay it, and did, without negotiation. Granted, the library later admitted it was a bit naieve, and didn't realize that those prices were not set in stone.

That said, I believe the politician in question, "Matt Dean," as we've called him, should address this issue with the people at the library who spent the money in the first place. He may also want to review the rules under which that particular tax revenue stream can be used, since it appeared that the library had a very limited amount of time in which to use the money, and a limited number of things that they were permitted to do with it. This fellow seems to be  barking up the wrong tree. Maybe it's easy and fun to drag an award-winning author through the mud for the sake of publicity and to incite public irritation and backlash, either at Gaiman, or the library system. now that I think about it, it's probably easier to stir up controversy than to attempt to solve the real problem.

Did the library mis-manage the funds? That is possible. Failing to negotiate is a first-time mistake that I doubt this library system will make ever again. However, they did get a top novelist whose works have been translated into hundreds of languages, who has a Newberry and other important literary awards. People know his characters and work the world over. He's written successfully in film, TV, comics and prose with everything from picture books to adult novels. If they wanted a guy to get people excited about reading, authors, literacy and libraries, Gaiman is a great writer to pick. He also spoke for an hour, took questions for an hour, and spent two hours meeting the audience. I'd say that, even despite the high price, the library system got a world-class author who gave them their money's worth.

National Library Legislative Day

Have you spoken to your elected representatives lately? It's very easy for them to forget that we exist, especially when it comes time to allot money for libraries and archives. If they forget we exist, or that people even go to "those old things," they certainly haven't set foot in a library since they were reading the Bobbsey Twins some time in the middle of the last century. Nor do they have any idea what in the world librarians do, why it's important, or what libraries need in order to be successful at their mission.

This isn't entirely your representative's fault. They're busy folks with a lot of people vying for their attention. Which is why complaining about how no one understands what we do isn't enough--we have to educate. Fortunately, the ALA backs a yearly reminder (and call to arms) to do just such a thing.


So what CAN you do to raise awareness about libraries?

• Introduce yourself and your institution. Does your representative know you're there, or what you do? 
• Invite your representatives (especially from local government) to visit/tour the library. Do they have a library card? Do they want to speak at the library, and connect with their constituents? 
• Remind them of your accomplishments. No one wants to support a "losing" or "obsolete" institution. Let them know how MUCH you are doing with what little you have. 
• Let them know of ONE specific area they can help you in. Just saying "we need three million dollars so we don't have to lay anyone off" may be very true, but it may be a little too big for your representative to make an immediate impact on. Being able to say "we need X amount of dollars to keep our senior book van operating until the end of the year" is much more manageable than solving the entire budgetary problem for your institution in a time when EVERYONE has had to cut back. 
• Let them know (briefly) your plans and hopes for the future, to help people and stay active and vibrant. Again, if you can include your representative in any of these plans, all the better. Flattery will get you everywhere. 
• Keep it short, sweet and to the point. They have a LOT of people looking for their five minutes. 
• Don't be a stranger. If you have opportunities to attend functions where your representatives will be present, take the time. Introduce yourself and remind them of what your pretty face looks like, who you are and who you represent. This isn't another opportunity to advocate, so much as reminding them of your presence and existence, networking, and using the opportunity to, perhaps, build a relationship with your representative. 
• Continue to remind them (and their staff) in paper form of your existence--a holiday card, a newsletter, a press release to show them what you're doing and how vital you are.
• Make sure you're friendly and communicative with their staff--they are busy and their staff do a lot of research and decision-making on their behalf. Irritating, dismissing, or refusing to deal with the staff is a surefire way to be sure your requests land on the bottom of the pile. 
• KEEP DOING GOOD WORK. Keep up the high quality work within your community. Keep promoting yourself and being present. How often do libraries make a big deal about a particular issue, then slink back into quiet complacency in a corner somewhere, once that issue or crisis has passed? Sometimes I believe we have this attitude where we don't want to be noticed. If they don't notice us, they can't give us more support. However, I think many institutions' gut reaction is to not be noticed so that nothing is taken away, and the library is not drawn into controversy, either. Even controversy can be a good thing--it gives us a platform and face-time with the public to explain what it is we do, and how we do it. It also provides an opportunity to address specific concerns, either by explaining why said concerns should not be of worry to anyone, or by taking the opportunity to address, review or fix the problem, if the situation warrants.
• Connect with other libraries and organizations to make your voice heard. More organizations behind a message can be a very good thing--it shows dedication, solidarity, and that the message or concern is a shared one, and not the product of one crazed librarian crying out in the wilderness.

Check out the ALA's web page for Legislative Day, to see if there are any ways for you to get involved today, throughout the rest of the year, and getting a jump start on next year. EFFECTIVE advocacy is a great tool. Make sure you use all of the tools available to you in order to be as effective as possible! The future of libraries depends on what we do today--a clear, unified message now will see us well into the future. 

Got a story about successful advocacy? Let us know! We love to learn from first-hand experience!