Tuesday Library Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill

Librarians stormed the Capitol by the busload wearing Red Shirts that said VOTE FOR LIBRARIES on the front. Librarians groups from nearby states drove in just for the day carrying beautiful signs featuring characters from picture books. A favorite sign was: If you can read this, thank a librarian. We all gathered around our state sign. Connie Williams, our Past President of CSLA was holding the sign, and thankfully had staked out a place in the shade to the left of the stage. I brought Marie Slim's buttons and passed them out to everyone from California, and to people who were holding Save School Libraries signs. It was terrific to meet by state, because I got to meet all the people from California (maybe 20 people?). There were a bunch of speeches, and a reading by Lauren Myracle. We then dispersed to bring our message to our representatives on Capitol Hill.

I was able to attend this fabulous event thanks to a travel stipend awarded from the Friends of YALSA. The organization that went into this event was incredible. I think the t-shirts were a key to making this event stand out. While walking to the offices of my legislators in the House and Senate buildings, I got the thumbs up from many people as well as actually getting stopped and asked where they could get my shirt, which says “Vote for Libraries” on the front. These t-shirts were provided by Gale Cengage Learning and say “Power to the User” on the back. If you didn’t get a chance to go to Advocacy Day in Washington D. C., you can still participate in District Days (August 9-September 12, 2010). Read more on the YALSA blog at: http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2010/05/21/district-days-101-writing-to-your-legislator/