Editorial
School Library Media Activities Monthly/Volume XXV, Number 7/March 2009
Advocacy Links… Tools to Use
By Deborah Detenbeck Levitov
Advocacy is suddenly a top priority for every type of library. Economic hardship is making its mark at all levels, and concerns for library funding and staffing is on the rise. There are many excellent resources available to help library media specialists begin and maintain an advocacy plan—to take advantage of what is available.
To begin advocacy planning, understanding the definitions of "advocacy," "public relations," and "marketing" should be a top priority. They can be found on the AASL Web site under "Issues & Advocacy" in the main menu on the "Advocacy" link or directly at this URL: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslissues/aasladvocacy/definitions.cfm
Recently the AASL Advocacy Committee put together two toolkits that are available on the AASL Web site. They are the "School Library Media Program Health and Wellness Toolkit" and the "Crisis Toolkit." Both are excellent resources for all school library programs, healthy or in crisis.
The Health and Wellness Toolkit provides step-by-step advocacy planning tips to assist in building an ongoing action plan for advocacy. It can be found at: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslproftools/toolkits/toolkits.cfm
A helpful tool that compliments the Toolkit is the Advocacy Action Plan worksheet available at this link: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslproftools/toolkits/aasladvocacy.cfm
AASL also offers a School Library Advocacy Institute, available for affiliates at their locale. See: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aasleducation/aasllicensedinstitutes/advocacy.cfm
The Crisis Toolkit provides strategies for emergency measures—when circumstances arise that require quick advocacy/action to save programs: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslproftools/toolkits/crisis.cfm
The ALA President Elect, Camila Alire, has begun work on her presidential initiative that will be built around the theme "Libraries: The Heart of All Communities." She is emphasizing the need to train frontline library workers to be spokespersons and advocates for libraries.
It has been well established that, before any advocacy campaign can work, there must be people who are knowledgeable and skilled in delivering the library message. In the case of library media centers, in addition to the library media specialist, spokespersons may be the school library clerk, para-educator, student volunteer, parent volunteer, or tech-support staff.
Through her initiative Alire plans to provide tools to help these library workers become library advocates, capable of delivering well-crafted messages that convey the important role of libraries linked to literacy of all kinds (e.g., basic literacy, information literacy, reading, research, digital, and lifelong learning). This initiative will address an existing gap in the resources available to library media specialists and will be a helpful addition to the of advocacy resources available through AASL. More information will be available as the presidential initiative is rolled out.
Take advantage of the abundance of advocacy resources, set a goal to work on an advocacy plan, or revisit and revise an existing plan.