ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Washington Hotline

Lynne E. Bradley

National Library Legislative Day 2003 is your opportunity to visit Capitol Hill to discuss legislation that is important to libraries.

Strong grassroots participation

The legislative day events provide an important opportunity for each participant to educate newly elected and returning Senators and Representatives about all the terrific programs at your library and on issues that are important to the larger library community. Your Congressional representatives want to know about how libraries and library programs impact the lives of their constituents—and who better to tell them about the continuing importance of libraries than a strong group of library advocates?

Who, when, and where?

National Library Legislative Day events will be held in Washington, D.C., May 11-13, 2003. Participants in Legislative Day events include librarians, trustees, friends of libraries, library school faculty and students, and other library advocates who speak to members of Congress about the significant contributions libraries make in their communities. Your grassroots support is crucial to the success of our legislative day events.

On May 11, there will be a preconference event sponsored by the Association of Library Trustees and Advocates, the District of Columbia Library Association, and ALA’s Washington Office. The event, entitled “Introduction to National Library Legislative Day: Why Your Participation is Important; What to Do and How to Do It,” is designed to provide tips for first time Legislative Day participants on how to make an impact during Hill visits and to help with the organization of presentations to your legislators. The session will be held at the Van Scoyoc Conference Room, 101 Constitution Ave., Suite 600 beginning at 3:00 p.m. Please RSVP to cbowman@alawash.org or mcostabile@alawash.org if you are planning to attend this session.

ACRL members are encouraged to attend the association’s Legislative Luncheon May 11, featuring Tom Susman, who will speak on the USA PATRIOT Act, and Claudette Tenant, from ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy.

May 12 is the briefing day at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. In addition to the briefing day event, there will be a free reception for all Legislative Day attendees on Monday evening, May 12, to launch the “Gates Portal Program.” The reception will be held in the Great Hall at the Library of Congress beginning at 6:30 p.m. Each legislative day participant will receive a personal invitation to this event, so register early with your state coordinator.

On May 13, National Library Legislative Day events will begin with a short briefing and send- off for participants, followed by visits to congressional offices. The ALA Washington Office will prepare background materials for participants to distribute during the congressional office visits. We urge you to develop handouts with state and local library stories and statistics to distribute. National Library Legislative Day will conclude with a wrap-up session for state coordinators to discuss the day’s experiences followed by the Congressional Reception, where you can mingle with legislators and staff members you met earlier in the day.

The registration fee for National Library Legislative Day is $15 per attendee. If you are interested in participating in this year’s events, please contact your state legislative day coordinator listed on our Web site at http://www.ala.org/Content/ NavigationMenu/Our_Association/Offices/ ALA_Washington/Events10/National_Library_ Legislative_Day/National_Library_Legislative_ Day.htm.

Full issue briefs will be up on the Web site by May 5.

If you need more information or have questions about legislative day, please e-mail Camille Bowman at cbowman@alawash.org or call (800) 941-8478. If you are unable to attend the events this year, but would like to make a contribution to help support legislative day, send a check to Peggy Flynn, NLLD Committee Treasurer, 4750 Chevy Chase Drive, Apt. 401, Chevy Chase, MD 20815-6416. Please make the check payable to “National Library Legislative Day.” ■

Lynne E. Bradley is Office of Government Relations director of ALA’S Washington Office, e-mail: leb@alawash.org