…for information on legislation and issues with impact on Maryland's libraries.
On Wednesday, the full Senate Appropriations Committee passed the Labor, Health & Human Services, Education FY 2012 Appropriations bill. The bill includes funding for school libraries and LSTA. See the District Dispatch posting for details.
Again, please thank Senator Mikulski, who voted for the bill, for her support of libraries in this bill. You can either call her office at 202-224-4654 or use Capwiz to send a message.
Good news! The Labor, Health & Human Services and Education Subcommittee voted on its FY 2012 appropriations bill. The bill passed and includes funding for school libraries and LSTA. See the District Dispatch posting for further details.
9/21/2011 UPDATE: Many thanks to everyone who contacted the Senator! Mikulski did vote for the bill. (Votes were along party lines.) Feel free to thank Senator Mikulski for her support via a phone call or using Capwiz!
On Tuesday, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee will vote on funding for the Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) and Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL) program. Apologies for the late request, but there is still time to contact Senator Mikulski, who serves on this subcommittee, and ask for her support. Personalize your message by telling how these funds help you and/or your library. For more information on how LSTA funds are used in Maryland, see this document.
Mikulski did sign a Dear Colleague Letter in support of LSTA and ILSTL funding for FY 2012 in June. (See the earlier Legislative Panel’s blog post.) However, this vote will be for specific funding amounts. See the message below from the American Library Association Washington Office for more details, including how to use Twitter to send a message to subcommittee members.
Thanks in advance for any advocacy efforts!
Continue reading ‘Action Alert! Contact Mikulski to increase LSTA & ILTSL funding’
The Senate’s Legislative Branch Appropriations bill that passed on Thursday has an increase in Government Printing Office (GPO) funding over what was included in the House committee’s bill, the District Dispatch reports. The Senate bill provides $116.8 million, while the House bill includes $108.1 million.
Many thanks to everyone who contacted the Senators to request this increase!
As expected, the American Jobs Act includes funds for K-12 education that is allocated for teacher jobs, including school librarians, and building renovation projects, including school libraries. It also allocates funds for community college building renovation projects, including libraries. Because of this allocated funding for libraries and librarians, the American Library Association (ALA) is encouraging people to contact their Senators and Representatives to ask for their support of the American Jobs Act. No Action Alert has been set up, but you can still use Capwiz to contact legislators. If you prefer to call your legislators, Capwiz also provides phone numbers.
The message below from the ALA Washington Office provides additional information, including a chart that indicates the estimated amount of funds that each state would receive for each area. Thank you in advance for any advocacy efforts.
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From the ALA Washington Office:
Continue reading ‘Contact Congress in support of American Jobs Act’
Judge Chin set the trial on the Google Books Settlement to begin in July 2012. Both parties are still in negotiations, but progress has been limited. For more information, please see the Publishers Weekly article.
The President’s American Jobs Act (AJA) has now been introduced in the Senate as S 1549. Although the text of the bill is not yet available, it is expected to include $30 billion in funds for K-12 education, with part of the money allocated to public school renovation projects and the other part to education jobs. Last week, the District Dispatch announced that the American Library Association confirmed that these funds could be used for other education professionals, including school librarians. For more information about this good news, see the District Dispatch posting.
As Congress works through the Appropriations bill, there are several programs that are at risk of being cut: the Government Printing Office (GPO), the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and the Federal Digital System (FDsys, which stores and archives all digital government documents).
Please contact your members of Congress and ask them to fund the GPO at the President’s FY 2012 recommendation. It is critical to stress the value and importance of these programs and resources in providing access to government information. If you have a story to demonstrate the value, please share that, as well.
For more background information on this issue, see the District Dispatch posting.
For talking points and to get contact information for you representatives in Congress, see the Capwiz Action Alert.
Thank you in advance for any advocacy efforts!
The video of this August 30th webinar entitled 10 Quick and Painless Steps to Effective Advocacy for Libraries is now available. Learn about 10 easy actions you can take, including writing personalized letters, building coalition, and using social media.
Legislative Panel of the Maryland Library Association 