On May 2-3, 2016, National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) will bring hundreds of librarians, trustees, library supporters, and patrons to Washington, DC, to meet with their members of Congress and rally support for library issues and policies.

This year, we are offering library advocates unable to attend in person the chance to participate through Virtual Library Legislative Day (VLLD)!

We’re teaming up with the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA) to help expand our efforts and take advantage of the momentum started by the NLLD delegations. HPA chapter members are pledging their time to make calls, send emails, tweet, and otherwise raise awareness about library issues during the week of May 2nd. To date, they have received pledges for nearly 500 actions from their members!

We think we can do our wizarding friends even better.

As of this morning, we already have just over 200 advocates registered to join us for VLLD, but we need more if we are going to keep up with HPA! Over the next few weeks, please take a second to register and then ask everyone in your circles — members, followers, patrons, fellow library staffers, and listservs — to join us!

We’ll follow up by sending out talking points and other handy resources you can use to advocate easily and effectively. We’ll also be including a link to a webstream of the National Library Legislative Day program, live from Washington on the morning of May 2nd. You’ll get to hear our keynote speaker, former Congressman Rush Holt, and listen in on this year’s issue briefing.

There’s also a handy resource toolkit, put together by the Harry Potter Alliance, for librarians who may want to get younger advocates involved. You can also find out more by visiting the United for Libraries and the Harry Potter Alliance webpages or by subscribing to the Action Center.

Please feel free to contact Lisa Lindle, Grassroots Communications Specialist for ALA Washington, if you have any questions.

Author: Lisa Lindle

Categories: Association News, News