Lobbying and Advocating for Georgia’s School Libraries
1. Recognize that lobbying is your responsibility and find
opportunities to speak to your legislators face-to-face.
Obtaining funding and directing policy by being an active part of the legislative
process is an important professional duty. No media specialist should simply
assume that GLMA “leaders” or our hired lobbyist can effectively
be his/her voice to our legislators. This work is too important to be left to
other people. Each and every GLMA member should be actively advocating for the
issues that will benefit the students who use their libraries and technology
resources. Even those of us who are shy!
2. Library Legislation Day
The Georgia Library
Association annually hosts Library Legislative Day every year
in January or February. This event is held at the Capitol in
Atlanta and has proven to be an expedient means of speaking to
many legislators in a short time frame. Check the GLMA website
for registration information. Attending Library Day will not
be an intimidating experience. Other GLMA members will surround
you, which is comforting.
Invite your legislators to attend Library Day by calling their
office. It will only take a few minutes and you will probably
find that all you need to do is to leave a message with their
secretary.
Prepare for Library Legislation Day by thinking of library
story or an anecdote from your media center to relate to your
legislators. The story should illustrate what you need to meet
the needs of the students and be directed toward a realistic
legislative goal.
3. Learn something about the legislative
process – and
how to contact your legislators
Find out who represents your district in the House and Senator. Visit www.congress.org.
You will need your zip code and the four digits that follow which you can find
on any piece of junk mail or magazine at home and at school. At this website,
you can find out who represents you in the House and Senate and their contact
information – phone, e-mail, and mailing address. You can also go to
http://www.sos.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/Locator.asp (This will tell you what Senate
and House district you are in only.) These lists are a year old, but will be
helpful once you have your district number for the Georgia Senate and House:
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/senate/senatelist.htm
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/house/05district.htm
The legislators will be interested in hearing from you as a
constituent. You should also contact the legislators that represent
the district in which your school is located (if different from
your home district), as these legislators will also be interested
in hearing what the schools in their districts need.
The legislative process mystifies most of us, even after being politically
engaged for many years. A very good overview of the legislative budget process
can be found at the GLMA website. It is written by our lobbyist in a way
that we can understand it! And if you have a question, please let a member
of the GLMA legislative committee know it.
4. Understand the GLMA platform and know the talking points.
Each year, GLMA writes a legislative platform that includes planks of interest
to school libraries. The document itself is only one page long and can be found
on the GLMA website legislative section.
5. Be effective when visiting with your legislator.
One guide suggests that when talking to legislators to remember the ABC’s
- Accuracy, Brevity, and Courtesy. Address them in email as “Dear Rep.
Johnson” or “Dear Sen. Johnson”. Stick to the platform. Be
clear about what you want the legislator to do. ( Vote for SB 101, for example.)
Always frame the request by demonstrating the benefit to those you serve, not
the benefit to you. Listen as well as talk. Answer questions.
6. Be a rational, pleasant human being.
There are a few do’s and don’ts to lobbying.… Thank your
legislator for past support when possible. Avoid party politics. As the Humane
Society reminds us, “Animals have friends on both sides of the aisle.” Do
tell personal library anecdotes related to the issue for which you are lobbying.
Don’t threaten retaliation, especially in the voting booth. It’s
fine to disagree – but don’t be disagreeable. Make your case firmly.
Send a thank you after your visit and at the end of the legislative session
to thank the legislators that helped us. The legislators usually only hear
from their constituents when they want something. They will remember you and
that courtesy which can only help us as we continue to lobby in the future.
7. Write, call and e-mail – effectively.
Face to face conversations with your legislators are excellent
ways to put your message across, but writing, calling and emailing
on specific bills or issues are also important. Most importantly:
- Tell a story or give an example to illustrate the issue
to your legislator so he can understand how it affects the
schools in his district. The legislators are most interested
in how our issues connect to the area that they represent.
Frame your story in terms of how it relates to the students’ needs
and achievement rather than just what you want.
- Learn about a legislator’s personal interests. You
can capture the interest of your legislator by tying in to
their interests. For example, if they care most about health
care, you might give an example of how the health and science
classes need resources to study genetic disorders in biology
or sexually transmitted diseases in health. Legislators are
usually interested in the issues that they will have to debate
or vote on in the legislature such as illegal immigration,
abortion, smoking bans, etc. You get the picture – government,
civics or social issues… so you may want to relate an
anecdote of how the students need current resources to research
social issues for their social studies classes if appropriate.
- Limit your email or letter to one issue so your message
is clear. The legislators will have to look at hundreds of
pieces of legislation from January to March and you want them
to remember your message by making it clear and easy for them.
- Call your media center a “school library” as
the phrase media center may not be clear to some legislators.
This means you should also phrase your position as a school
librarian to make it clear what you do.
- Watch your e-mail for requests for calls for action from
GMLA. Then act!
- Be persistent. Persistence is the most effective advocacy
tool on the planet. Our legislators deal with hundreds of pieces
of legislation and will need to be reminded of our issues,
the background of our issues, and what we want them to do to
help.
8. Work on developing a relationship with your representatives.
The people who have the most success in influencing legislators are ones who
have long-standing relationships. Few things are achieved in a single legislative
session. Cultivate a friendly, trust-worthy reputation that will serve you and
your patrons well into the future. Become your representative’s reliable
source of information on school library and technology issues.