Florida Librarians "Work the Hill" As Part of ALA Advocacy Day!

Librarians from across Florida joined their colleagues in Washington D.C.

on June 29th for the American Library Association's Advocacy Day. After a rally on Capitol Hill, the librarains fanned out across the Hill to meet with legislators and their staff to thank them for their support of library issues and to ask them for more effort in the future.

The Florida contingent visited the offices of both Florida Senators and the offices of many House members. Florida librarians lobbied their legislators for an increase in Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funding, increased funding for, and explicit inclusion of school librarians in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and on the passage of the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA).

The next National Library Day will be held in Washington D.C. on May 9th and 10th, 2011. Everyone is welcome. See http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/ for details.

Many thanks to the Floridians who attended - especially Dr. Jonathan Miller from Rollins College who coordinated FLA's participation in DC!