Advocacy Resources

Print This Page Print This Page

The Kansas Legislature will again be considering issues that have significant potential affect on library service. These include:

  1. A reduction in the State Library of Kansas budget. This reduction would affect all State Library programs: state aid to libraries, the Interlibrary Loan Development Program, the Talking Books Service, and state Library operations.
  2. A new appropriation of $800,000 for licensing of online library databases.
  3. Major alterations or the elimination of the Kan-ed program, resulting in reduced access to Internet bandwidth for some libraries.
  4. House Bill 2353, eliminating the ability of libraries to prohibit possession of firearms in the library.

It is important that the library community actively contact legislators in support of strong library service throughout the legislative session. Email messages on nekls-l will keep you informed of legislative developments and ask for your help at key points in the legislative session.

Here are some advocacy-related resources that may help. The Advocacy Bookmark will easily fit into a jacket pocket and library advocates and supporters can use it as talking points when speaking with legislators. The “Libraries Mean Business” is the first of a series of quarterly posters, each with a different topic and statistics highlighting the many benefits of public libraries. You can print the posters to display in your library or hand out at Chamber meetings, etc.

Do you have a great advocacy resource to share? Leave them in the comments!

Kansas Resources

Resources from ALA (American Library Association)

Recent NEKLS.org posts on Advocacy:

About the Author

Heather Braum Heather Braum is the Technology Librarian at NEKLS. She can be reached by phone, by email (hbraum (at) nekls.org), or through several online chat services (look Heather up by her email address). Visit the Staff page to learn more about when to contact Heather.