Public Library Advocacy Starts With Us

 I start every single one of my general RA training programs with a quote from Duncan Smith:

Books are our brand. But books are not our business. Reading is our business.

I do this to remind everyone I train that while RA Service is specifically about helping leisure readers, and can often be disparaged by those who deal in more reality based parts of the library, "reading" is at the heart of everything we do at the library. This means, those of us who advise readers are key to THE LIBRARY and what it stands for. 

While at this time it is VERY clear that all of us who work in school or public libraries NEED to be involved in advocacy, I would like to remind you that advocacy for our libraries, library workers, and patrons should be happening all of the time. There is always something we can be discussing with our readers, and our legislators, who are also our readers and patrons. Advocacy is imperative to our work in RA.

I have been a Trustee since 2001, so I have been doing advocacy for years, but I have also presented at our state conference 2x encouraging library workers to run for school and library boards. I am responsible for at least 7 people who became a trustee or board member because I did those presentations (there could be more). Those are supporters of libraries and the freedom to read that are not making larger decisions about our public schools and libraries.

Yesterday I was part of a glitzier win, and while I am going to highlight it here, there is actually a quieter, smaller win that I am more excited to share. I am doing this as an example to remind all of you that you should never feel like you are just the desk person or only a book discussion leader, or whatever makes you feel like you are not high enough on the organization chart to work on larger issues. All of us, and especially those of us who work directly with our readers, providing them with titles to read in their free time, there to help them not only with needs but with their wants, making effort and space for their enjoyment, we are the ones who can help build support for our patrons and advocate especially for the most marginalized.

First the big glitzy news. Yesterday I was at the signing of landmark IL HB2789 at the Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago Public Library. Here is the official language:

Please join Governor JB Pritzker and Secretary Alexi Giannoulias for the landmark HB2789 bill signing on Monday, June 12 at 1:00 PM at the Harold Washington Library, 400 South State Street in the Thomas Hughes Children's Library on the second floor (please use the Plymouth Court Entrance).   HB2789, sponsored by Representative Anne Stava-Murray and Senator Laura M. Murphy is the first legislation in the country to allow the Secretary of State’s Office to deny state grants to public libraries that attempt to ban books.

This made IL the first state in the nation to ban book banning. 

Here is a picture with me, Secretary Giannoulias, ALA Executive Director Tracie Hall, RAILS Executive Director Monica Harris, and ILA Executive Director Cynthia Robinson, Head of CPL, Chris Brown, IL State Librarian Greg McCormick, and many others. 

It was a wonderful ceremony. And despite the political stumping vibes, it did fill my heart to be with everyone who believes so passionately in the fact that free people need to read freely.

But here is a quieter win. One that I went over to thank Secretary Giannoulias for immediately after this bigger ceremony. For the last 3 years I have been fighting for IL to provide state wide databases for all residents regardless of whether they are served by a library.

I should back up here for my non-IL readers. Unlike many states, we do NOT have county libraries. Every library in IL is serving a specific community and is paid for with the taxes from its residents. Some towns have made the decision NOT to have a library. Their taxes are lower, sure, but they residents have no library service.  Over 1 million people in our state are not served by a library. And they are not all in rural areas. Take my immediate area in Cook County, IL (the same county Chicago resides in). Surrounding my town small town of 16,000 people and in my high school district, we have one of the largest unserved populations in the state-- over 20,000 people. We offer the chance for those in our area who are unserved to buy a library card. We have to follow a state law about how to sell those and for what cost. It is NOT ideal. 

On top of the unserved, as you may have extrapolated from the above, library funding and financial support varies widely in IL since it is based on the tax rate in each community. Community's like mine can afford to give us more, but just 5 miles away, there are libraries that are struggling to offer basic services.

One of those services that every citizen of IL should have is access to basic databases to search for and obtain vetted information. As we all know, a general internet search where you can only access free resources are problematic at best and harmful at worst. Not only do those without library service not have access to searching databases easily, but there are many libraries in IL who have $0 to buy any databases.

Okay now back to the beginning, the last 3 years. I have made this my advocay issue. Statewide databases. And I have not shut up about it.

We are only 1 of 2 states that do not offer these in the US. I was on the committee that worked on the proposal and talking points you can find on this page. I met with my local legislators and explained that for only $5 million in statewide investment we could save the taxpayers of IL at least $28 million (but probably more). I explained that with the proliferation of "fake news," a democracy requires access to reliable information and it needs to be accessible online or in a library by every citizen. (All of the talking points are here.)

Republicans and Democrats alike agreed that this was a great idea, but no one was proposing a bill. On top of that for the first 1.5 years, I was also being told that larger groups did not have the bandwidth to help push this through, that other issues were more pressing. I respected that and even met with the former head of ILA to discuss it all and we agreed that they would not pursue it, but that I was not going to stop even though in the past the library community agreed to stand together and not try to push things outside of the official ILA legislative priorities. 

So I kept fighting. And I ran for the ILA Board because if I was on that board, I had in say in its legislative priorities. And, also  key to this story, both RAILS and ILA had a change of leadership at the top. And lo and behold....this year we all pushed for Statewide databases to be the #1 ILA legislative priority. 

However, there was one key change that we still needed, a new Secretary of State, one who had served on the CPL Board, one that cares about library deeply and that is Secretary Giannoulias. 

Library leaders were invited to meet with him before he took office and this  ask for $5 million for statewide databases was communicated to him. He heard loud and clear and said that we should not wait for legislators, and instead he would put it in his very first SoS budget (in IL the SoS is in charge of libraries and library grants). We all held our breath and waited. Giannoulias included it as promised. Then we needed to wait and see if the $5 million would be cut. It was not, and a few days ago the Governor signed the budget which made 3 years of work finally come true.

Back to yesterday. I made a beeline for the Secretary to thank him. This would literally not have happened without him taking the initiative tome it happen. He told me that they tried to cut that $5 million, multiple times, but he knew how important it was,. I talked to him about my community and it needs. I wanted him to know how grateful I was that he listened and stood by us. He could have cut $5 million to make others happy, but he  refused. And here's the thing, he hugged and thanked me. He understood that the work for that $5 million was just as important as the more glitzy legislation we were celebrating on this day. HE was thankful that we let him know about this need.

Again, he thank us for telling him what we needed. This is the key of my post today. not to  showcase myself but rather to show you that fighting for the small wins is just as important as the big ones. And sometimes "fighting" simply means communicating your needs to those with the power to help you get what you need.

I hope this story inspires you--  the person serving leisure readers-- to reach out to your local rep very soon. Invite them to your library. Get them in your space. Show them all of the good work you are doing. Tell them what you need to reach your goals. Ask them for support to do more. ILA has some wonderful resources if you need help getting started. 

But don't think advocacy is not for you. You are the ones working with patrons every day. Helping them navigate the world. Please make those connections with your local legislators this summer. Many of them will  be off. Invite them to a program, encourage them to participate in Summer Reading. Offer a photo opportunity. Secretary Giannoulias brought his kid to the library yesterday. Invite your legislators to bring their younger family members as well. But don't think it is not your place to reach out.

Thanks for indulging me today. Back with more targeted RA content tomorrow.