ACRL Chapters Blog

The ACRL Chapters Council serves as a conduit for information and communication between ACRL National and the local ACRL Chapters.  Over the past 4 years, the ACRL Chapters Council has petitioned ACRL National for additional funding to support the local chapters. These requests have not been successful. During the 2012 Midwinter Meeting in Dallas, ACRL President Joyce Ogburn and Executive Director Mary Ellen Davis suggested that the Chapters Council present ideas for alternative methods of funding or support that ACRL National could provide to the local chapters in addition to or perhaps even in lieu of the current $1.00 per member  currently provided.

The ACRL Chapters Council is currently running a survey open to all members of local ACRL Chapters in order to both gauge your satisfaction with the current funding situation for your chapter and to provide feedback and suggestions on ways that both ACRL National and the ACRL Chapters Council can provide better support and/or funding for your local chapter.

All members belonging to one of ACRL’s local chapters are encouraged to fill out the survey. The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. The survey will remain open until May 15, 2012.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/chapterscouncil

For questions about the survey please contact Rickey Best, Chair of the ACRL Chapters Council at rbest@aum.edu.

This year’s National Library Legislative Day, sponsored by the American Library Association, is scheduled to take place April 23-24 at the Liaison Hotel in Washington, D.C. Click here (http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/nlld) for more information, registration, etc.

Isn’t this an event dominated by public librarians? Why should academic librarians care? In answer to the first question, yes, most participants tend to come from the public library world. The short answer to the second question is that it is in our interest as academic librarians to let our legislators hear our voices. A longer answer is provided below.

There are several good reasons why legislators need to hear from us in the academic library world. For one thing, many of our interests overlap with the public library constituency. However, there is a shocking level of ignorance found in at least some of our Representatives and Senators about how their actions can have either favorable or deleterious effects on higher education in general and library services in particular. A lot of legislators, federal or on the state or more local level, really do not understand that slashing education-related budget appropriations hurts academic and school libraries which in turn hurts the quality of education of our students which, ultimately, hurts our society and makes us less competitive on a global level. I don’t want to sound too reductive and equate the value of higher education solely with professional or vocational success but sometimes the practical, monetary and social implications of library-related budget cuts need to be spelled out in such a way for the legislator to understand the consequences of his or her vote.

Many of you might think, “I’m no lobbyist. I have no aptitude or desire to approach my Congressperson and, basically, ask for money.” The good news is that, no, you are not expected to do actual lobbying. No political connections or great rhetorical skills are needed. Typically, your encounter with the Congressperson, or more likely, his/her office staff member, is brief – perhaps around 10 minutes or so – and, in my own experience, it has been of a cordial nature. Legislators are busy people but they do pay attention to their constituents, especially if contact is made in person as can be done during National Library Legislative Day.

What this day is about is advocacy, not lobbying. This means briefly and clearly explaining to the legislator (or his/her office staff member) why certain bills or appropriations are important to academic librarians and also to the social and economic well-being of the legislators’ home state. You are definitely NOT expected to provide favors, take the legislator out golfing, etc.! You do not need to know all the minutiae of a particular bill although it certainly would not hurt to indicate that you at least have a good understanding of a bill’s implications for the academic library world and thus to the social and economic well-being of the legislator’s home state. If your legislator is already on board and supportive, this would certainly be a good occasion to thank him/her in order to encourage continued support.

Participants in National Library Legislative Day are briefed and provided with some basic orientation by ALA Washington Office staff, so you want to be prepared to address perhaps no more than two or three at most basic points when you visit the legislators’ offices. Having one or more specific anecdotes to relate to the legislator concerning the effects of funding (or lack of it) can also be helpful. The ALA Washington Office has some very helpful ways of keeping you informed about federal legislation and how it relates to libraries. Take a look at the ALA Advocacy & Legislation page at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg and also the ALA Legislative Action Center at http://capwiz.com/ala/home/ for very helpful information and tools you can use anytime, not just in connection to NLLD, to contact legislators to express your concern or support as the case may be. Finally, I strongly encourage you to sign up for an e-mail subscription to the District Dispatch at http://capwiz.com/ala/mlm/signup/ . This is a great way to stay informed.

 

So far, I have directly participated in only one National Library Legislative Day but it was a very rewarding experience. In May 2008 I was part of a tiny delegation of librarians from the state of Alabama. I was the only academic librarian. We visited the Washington offices of all seven Representatives and two Senators from Alabama that day. Each meeting was a rather pleasant, almost conversational experience. The three of us in the Alabama delegation each spoke for about five minutes on a single separate issue. Generally, the legislator or his/her staff member listened, so there weren’t many questions to answer. I concisely explained why legislation pertaining to the National Agricultural Library was important to higher education, especially in Alabama. Coming from a large land-grant state university with a major College of Agriculture and with connections to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Extension Service, I was able to concretely demonstrate to the legislators why maintaining full funding for the NAL was a very good idea.

Even in this age of fiscal strain and the posturing of some legislators against the evils of Big Government, getting through directly to such a legislator or his/her office staff with your advocacy on behalf of academic libraries is important and worthwhile. Contacting legislators by letter, telephone call, or e-mail message is worthy and helpful, but an in-person visit is even more effective.
I hope you will consider taking part in National Library Legislative Day on April 23-24, 2012.

Tim Dodge
Auburn University

ACRL Chapters Council Legislative Network Representative

Want to get more involved with ACRL? Consider running for a position on the ACRL Chapters Council Executive Board. Nominations are now open for the position of Vice-Chair (this position is a 3 year term starting with year 1 as Vice-Chair, year 2 as Chair, and year 3 as Past-Chair) and Secretary (a one year term). Responsibilities for each of the positions are outlined below. As the current Vice-Chair and past Secretary of the Chapters Council I can tell you that serving in these positions provides the opportunity to learn much more about ACRL and to meet and work with a lot of fun people. Please send your nominations (self nominations are encouraged) to Danielle Whren Johnson at dwhren@loyola.edu.

 

Chair

This is a three-year commitment. This officer serves as vice-chair, chair, and past chair in successive oneyear

terms. During the chair’s term of office as Chair, the responsibilities include:

• · Preparing an annual report for ACRL, due May 15.
• · Attend and preside over Annual and Midwinter Chapters Council Meetings.
• · Submit election results from Chapters Council officer elections to ACRL staff.
• · With the Chapters Council officers, prepare the meeting agendas.
• · Appoint ad-hoc committee chairs including the editor for Chapter Topics, List Administrator,

Legislative Network Representative, and Presidential Candidates Forum Committee Chair. These

appointments should be made following Annual (June/July.)

• · With vice-chair, attends ACRL Leader Development and Strategic Planning session at Annual and

Midwinter.

• · Serves as ex-officio on the ACRL Research Coordinating Committee.
• · Serves as ex-officio on the ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award Nominations

Committee.

• · Works with the Chair of Leadership Recruitment and Nominations Committee in planning the

ACRL Presidential Candidates Forum. Activities may include creating and editing the list of

questions each candidate will answer and time keeping during the question and answer session.

• · Contact a vendor to provide funding for the ACRL Presidential Candidates Forum luncheon.

Works with ACRL to coordinate the donation.

• · Invite candidates running for ACRL President-Elect and ACRL Director-At-Large to speak at the

Midwinter Meeting of Chapters Council.

Vice-Chair

The vice-chair is elected at the Annual conference. During the vice-chair’s term of office duties (official

and unofficial) include:

• · Attending Annual and Midwinter Chapters Council Meeting.
• · Attend ACRL Leader Development and Strategic Planning session at Annual and Midwinter.
• · Organizing elections for Vice-Chair and Secretary at Annual.

o At Midwinter announce a call for nominations

o After Midwinter (Jan./Feb) send out announcement to the Chapters Council listserv

requesting nominations, including self-nominations. Deadline date of mid-March.

o Collect bios, photos, and position statements to send to Chapter Topics Editor. Deadline is

usually in early May.

o Run the election at Annual; tally the paper votes; and announce results.

• · Contact a vendor to sponsor refreshments for the Chapters Council Meeting. In 2008 and 2009,

EBSCO funded the breakfast at each Annual Conference. Work with ACRL to coordinate the

donation.

• · Writing a follow-up thank you to the vendor after Annual and Midwinter for sponsorship.
• · Organize a Dine-Around for the Chapters Council delegates at Annual and Midwinter. This is an

informal dinner. Announcement of details sent to Chapters Council listserv and Chapter Topics.

• · Organizes, on an as-needed basis, workshops at Midwinter to help council members address areas

of leadership concern that ACRL requires from each chapter. For example, a workshop was held

that assisted council members to complete the ACRL annual report, which is required of each

chapter .

Past Chair

• · Attends Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting.
• · Serves as ex-officio on the ACRL Membership Committee.
• · Serves as a member of the ACRL Leadership Recruitment and Nominations Committee. Because

this a two-year appointment, every other past chair serves on this committee.

Secretary

• · This office is a one-year commitment.
• · Secretary is responsible for taking roll and recording the minutes at Midwinter and Annual.
• · Minutes are submitted for approval to the Council at the subsequent meeting for approval and then

to the editor of Chapter Topics for publication.

• · Draft and final minutes from conferences are submitted to the ACRL Program Coordinator for

posting on the Chapters Council web page.