Category: Advocacy
ARPA Pulls Through for Library Funding and Broadband Assistance
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) featured stimulus checks, extended unemployment benefits, and funds COVID-19 vaccines. It also provides $200 million in funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). In addition to supporting the IMLS, ARPA also included additional provisions for broadband assistance, such as funds to be appropriated towards schools and libraries to support remote learning.
ALA’s Broadband Resolution and the FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit Program
In response to the exclusion of library broadband funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act (COVID-19 relief package passed in december), ALA has passed a “Resolution in Support of Broadband as a Human Right.” Now Congress has passed the American Rescue Plan Act which includes the Emergency Education Connectivity Fund. #LibrariesStrong
Free Speech: Illusion vs. Practice
This Supreme Court decision, DeRay Mckesson v. John Doe, is not just a win for the Black Lives Matter movement but for free speech and First Amendment rights across the board.
An Invitation to Danger: Perspectives on Intellectual Freedom and Information War
The first task of information warfare is to recognize when you’re in one, because you might not be fighting the information war, but the information war is fighting you. This essay revisits the wartime writing of Archibald MacLeish, poet-warrior, playwright-propagandist, and Librarian of Congress from 1939 through 1944. It explores whether we’re experiencing an information war now, and how the library community can respond.
Apostasy!
The Republican Right humiliated and punished all but its true believers, in a purge that left it less responsive to a changing world, and undercut broad support. Is the Left repeating the play?
“Fundamental to life”: Library Workers, Advocates Share Predictions, Freedom to Read Experiences Ahead of National Library Week
“The right to make my own choice is fundamental to life, and intellectual freedom with the right to choose what to read is necessary to maintain what I believe is inherent to all of us,” says Salt Lake County librarian Wanda Mae Huffaker. In anticipation of National Library Week 2020 and the State of America’s Libraries report announcing the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2019, we share book challenge experiences, 2019 top challenged title predictions, and our passion for the freedom to read.
Advocating for our patrons
Overall, going to legislative advocacy day was a really positive experience. I think it is important for librarians to speak up about the importance of libraries and the needs of our patrons. Many of our patrons – especially in school libraries – can’t speak up for themselves about what they need. In today’s fiscal climate, I think we need to speak up to make sure we can continue to serve our patrons’ needs.
You Matter! Make Sure You Count!
“In 2020, the census is going online. The idea is to help increase self-response, but as librarians we understand the special challenges this may create for some of our patrons.”
What Librarians Can Do to Get Out the Vote: An Interview with Ari Berman, Author, Give Us the Ballot
Half the states in the country have changed their voting laws to make it more difficult to vote, a very large number in a concentrated period.
Champion of Libraries and Democracy
Libraries have always been a forum for ideas, a place for people to come and speak. I think that this is where libraries can make a difference. The public not only wants a chance to hear the issues but also the opportunity to deliberate with their fellow citizens on what those issues mean.