Lewis & Clark Library System

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Advocacy and Legislation
Advocacy is a planned, persistent effort to raise the awareness of an issue or issues to a specific audience. Advocacy is an ongoing process with support and understanding built incrementally over time using a wide variety of marketing and public relations tools.

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.

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 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
Kurt Granberg
Gary Hannig
Jay Hoffman
Tom Holbrook
Dan Reitz
Ron Stephens
Jim Watson
Wyvetter Younge

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 Code

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 http://durbin.senate.gov/
Senator Barack Obama http://obama.senate.gov/
Senate Bills

Representative John Shimkus http://www.house.gov/shimkus/
Representative Jerry Costello http://www.house.gov/costello/
Representative Phil Hare http://hare.house.gov/
House Bills

LCLS members and Legislative Districts (to be linked)
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.

Center for Neighborhood Technology
Developed by the Center for Neighborhood Technology in the spring of 2000 and sponsored by a consortium of nonprofit organizations, LegINFO.org provides a synopsis of pending Illinois legislation in many areas, along with an analysis and "what's at stake." Users can also subscribe to an email list to be notified about important news and developments concerning Illinois legislation. While the focus is on Chicago and its suburbs, the analysis of pending legislation is still relevant to the whole state.

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 createdLibrary AdvocacyInfluencing Decision Makers. The publication may be downloaded at http://www.ila.org/advocacy/advocacy.htm

Library Advocates Handbook is a publication of the American Library Association, e-mail pio@ala.org for further information.

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. Charmruhnke@lcls.org

L e w i s & C l a r k L i b r a r y S y s t e m