by Sara Ring
Quick Summary
I had the opportunity to attend the Advocacy/Intellectual Freedom preconference at the Minnesota Library Association Annual Conference in Duluth, Minnesota, on September 28th. This was a day-long event, presented by Jamie LaRue, Director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom and Marci Merola, Director of the ALA Office for Library Advocacy. The presenters covered "why library advocacy," learned about telling the library story in a compelling way, discussed how to build a library network of advocates, and other elements of an advocacy plan. The last part of the day focused on Intellectual Freedom, core ALA documents that we can refer to, what policies every library should have, emerging issues in intellectual freedom, and resources available to us from the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom.
I had the opportunity to attend the Advocacy/Intellectual Freedom preconference at the Minnesota Library Association Annual Conference in Duluth, Minnesota, on September 28th. This was a day-long event, presented by Jamie LaRue, Director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom and Marci Merola, Director of the ALA Office for Library Advocacy.
The day began with a discussion about "why library advocacy?" In a time where we’ve seen declining library funding and the disappearance of school librarians, we need to speak with a unified voice about the value of libraries. We are trusted in our communities (see the OCLC Perceptions of Libraries report), and can be leaders for community change. One thing that has changed in libraries is that it’s no longer the job of the community to make the library great, it’s the job of the library to make the community great. The presenters also discussed the ALA Libraries Transform public awareness campaign, and the toolkit and other resources available to help libraries spread the messasge that Libraries Transform. I wrote about this campaign last summer, or you can visit the website to learn more.
Telling the Library Story
Facts alone don’t necessarily change minds, but telling a powerful story, including a fact, and adding a tagline can go a long ways towards changing minds. We spent some time discussing the process of telling the library story. The process? Find an advocate, give the speech, let them practice it with you, book it five times in your community. We discussed “The Four Messages:” Libraries transform lives, Libraries transform communities, Librarians are passionate advocates for literacy and lifelong learning, and Libraries are a smart investment.
We were also given some examples of using a specific structure for telling the library story:
- Give me a real person
- Give me the problem
- Give me a library intervention
- Give me a happy ending
- Give me a phrase that pays
Here’s just one story that Jamie LaRue shared from his former position as Director at Colorado Public Libraries, using the structure listed above:
The person: When Caiden was three years old, he started to stutter. Caiden’s father was a jerk. He would stutter with Caiden, laughing at him. Eventually, Caiden’s mother kicked him out.
The problem: By the time Caiden was 5, he stuttered badly.
The library intervention: As he started first grade, he was learning to read. One day, his mother brought him to the library to check out some books. That day, Caiden saw one of the library programs: letting kids read to dogs. On that day another girl was reading to a greyhound. Caiden was fascinated. When she left, Caiden took her place. When he would stutter, he would look at the dog Max, who only looked at him with eternal patience. Caiden started reading to the dog again, and came back many times after that to read to him.
Happy ending: When Caiden started 4th grade, he got cast as the lead in a school play. Caiden doesn’t stutter anymore. The director of the library got an email from the mother: “Thank you for saving the life of my son.”
Message: Libraries change lives.
The person telling the library story doesn’t have to be you, but you can give them the message to go out and talk about the value of your library. Depending on where you work or live, a library advocate could be a library trustee, friends of libraries, library users, other community leaders, librarians, library staff, and library school students, and a whole untapped category of potential advocates. Each of us then practiced the structure outlined above and told our own library story to each other.
Other parts of the day helped us think about how to build out our library network to recognize and find advocates, and we discussed other elements of an advocacy plan. The last section of the day focused on Intellectual Freedom, core ALA documents that we can refer to, what policies every library should have, emerging issues in intellectual freedom, and resources available to us from the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom.
We wrapped up by listing out our next action steps. In my other role as ALA Chapter Councilor for the Minnesota Library Association and a member of the board, I look forward to contributing to future discussions on library advocacy in the Minnesota library community.
