Knowledge of advocacy and legislative issues are of vital importance to the library community. By being vocal advocates of libraries, we can influence the future of libraries. The following information and Internet links were designed to help librarians, trustees, and residents become strong library advocates by monitoring legislative issues relating to libraries.

To stay up on the latest national issues, the American Library Association, Washington Office, has a blog called District Dispatch. You can add it to your RSS reader as well.

CapWiz

The Legislative Action Center of the Illinois Library Association. Includes information on federal, state, and local elected officials; federal agencies; state and national legislative issues; federal agencies; and more. Look up your elected officials and email them with just one click. The video below offers a quick overview of how to use CapWiz:

The Illinois General Assembly
Includes links to current Illinois legislation and laws (Illinois Compiled Statutes), rules and regulations, and the Illinois Senate and House of Representatives.

Illinois Legislators serving the LCLS area

Representatives:
Daniel Beiser
Rich Brauer
Betsy Hannig
Jay Hoffman
Tom Holbrook
Dan Reitz
Ron Stephens
Jim Watson

Senators:
Larry Bomke
James Clayborne
Deanne Demuzio
Bill Haine
John Jones
David Luechtefeld
Frank Watson

Illinois House of Representatives
House Bills
House Schedule
House Committees

Illinois Senate
Senate Bills
Senate Schedule
Senate Committees

LCLS members and Legislative Districts (under construction)
Illinois Compiled Statutes
Illinois Administrative Rules

The United States Congress
Includes links to current Federal legislation and Code, rules and regulations, and the Senate and House of Representatives.

Federal Legislators serving the LCLS area
Senator Richard Durban
Senator Roland Burris
Senate Bills

Representative John Shimkus
Representative Jerry Costello
Representative Phil Hare
House Bills

LCLS members and Legislative Districts
United States Code

Organizations Monitoring Illinois Legislation
CapWiz
The Legislative Action Center of the Illinois Library Association. Includes information on federal, state, and local elected officials; federal agencies; state and national legislative issues; federal agencies; and more. Look up your elected officials and email them with just one click.

Illinois Library Association
The association provides an in-depth information on advocacy, co-sponsors the annual Library Advocacy Day, employs a library lobbyist, and co-sponsors CapWiz.

Illinois Municipal League
A daily overview of pending legislation is posted during the legislative sessions. Some sections are available only to Municipal League members. This site is especially good on taxing issues.

League of Women Voters Illinois
The League is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influences public policy through education and advocacy. The Illinois Site has links to the National site.

Organizations Monitoring Federal Legislation

American Library Associations Washington Office
The Office supplies information about federal legislation as it relates to libraries of all types. Additionally, information is distributed through the ALA Washington Office Newsline (ALAWON) a free, irregular email publication of the American Library Association Washington Office.

Thomas
Developed by the staff at the Library of Congress to make federal legislative information freely available, the Thomas site includes bill summaries, status, and texts; public laws; information from the Congressional Record, including roll call votes; House and Senate committee information, including home pages, schedules, and hearings. In addition, there are links to the House and Senate websites as well as the directories for members of Congress.

Resources for Advocacy Training
The Illinois Library Association and American Library Association created Library Advocacy: Influencing Decision Makers. The publication may be downloaded.

Library Advocates Handbook is a publication of the American Library Association.

Library Advocacy NOW! LAN Workbook A wonderful 50-page workbook created by the Canadian Library Association to train librarians for advocacy work.

An Advocacy Toolkit created by the School Libraries Association of New York State

Contact the Library System for possible presenters/trainers on advocacy issues. amandamckay@lcls.org

Tags: Advocacy, Capwiz, Legislators

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 4:39 pm and is filed under Advocacy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. # # You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. # #