Daniel Messer

5/3/2015
Lis 770
Lobbying for Libraries: How to Lobby Politicians and Their Constituents
Your legislators have an important job to do. Every day they make decisions that impact
everyone in Illinois. Your job is to develop a positive working relationship with them and be an
effective advocate for your library.1 The best ways to convince legislators to support the library
and libraries in general is to lobby them, their staff, and their constituents who just so happen to
be your patrons. This paper will introduce you to the best practices in lobbying your local elected
officials and convincing your patrons to lobby on your behalf. This paper will also list some of
the best groups for you to reach out to in your lobbying efforts. Where applicable I will share
some of my own experiences volunteering in both political campaigns and in district offices.
Some of you may be asking yourselves why do librarians need to lobby? Librarians need to
lobby at every level of government from the local level, where the majority of library funding
comes from to the State level, where some funding and most regulation comes from to the
national level, where almost no funding comes from but the most aggresses of regulations
originate.

1 Advocacy Toolkit, Illinois Library Association, last modified 2012, accessed April
27, 2015, http://www.ila.org/advocacy-files/ILA-advocacy-toolkit-013112.pdf.
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Direct Lobbing
The most important person to be lobbied is the person on the inside of whatever group or
organization you are lobbying.2 If you want something done at the federal level you lobby
Congress, if you want something done at the state level you lobby the general assembly, if you
want something at the local level you lobby at the local level. For the purposes of this paper
well assume youre lobbying at the state level. Please note that a lot of what can be done at the
state level can be done at the federal level and vice versa. Some can even be done at the county
or municipal level.
According to Eugene Hainer the Director of the Library Development at the State Library
in the Colorado Department of Education known as the library person in the Colorado House,
If you're not out talking to federal, state, and local office holders or candidates, you're
part of the problem. Send letters or e-mail asking for support of major bills involving
library funding. Attend meetings, debates, or other venues where elected officials gather
to meet constituents and repeat the library message whenever possible. Be visible.3
A few of the best ways for librarians to be visible and advocate for the library are to attend
political fund raisers. It is here that you can meet either the candidate or the incumbent, in
addition to other important figures. Another good way to be visible is to volunteer for political
campaigns or even by volunteering to preform research at an officials office. Political offices
2 Bernadine E. Abbott-Hoduski, Lobbying for Libraries and the Publics Access to
Government Information: An Insiders View (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003),
3.
3 Eugene Hainer, "Advocacy: School Librarians and Advocacy: Part of the Problem,
or Part of the Solution?," Knowledge Quest 33, no. 5 (May 2005): 27, accessed April
14, 2015.
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especially at the state level always have more work than they have people to do it. For this
reason even if you only have only a few free hours a week you should volunteer at one. To meet
the legislator and their staff and be sure to mention what good the library does for their
constituents. This also improves your chances of having your e-mails read by a person and your
phone calls picked up in the first few rings. If this relationship lasts long enough you might even
make it on to the legislators team of informal advisors.
If the legislator or their staff knows you, it will make it easier for you to setup a library
visit; though even if you dont know them a library visit is one of those things that make for a
great outreach event. These visits are invaluable to helping an elected official understand the
impact of proposed library policies and federal [or state] funding issues on libraries in their
district.4 A visit can take many forms from having them tour the public building, to tour the
back rooms, or even attending one of the library programs. For example if the senator has a focus
on education you could have them attend a summer reading event. One of the most important
things about the visit is to not be disappointed if the legislator sends one of their staff. Instead
look at it as an opportunity to convince one of the people that the legislator relies upon to take up
your cause. There is a very good reason that the legislators staff are included in the same ethical
rules that bind the legislator. By this I mean of course the rules concerning gifts. On Capitol Hill
[in Springfield as well], having a good relationship with a staff person can make or break the
cause.5 From what Ive seen as a volunteer the main reason that a staff member would be sent
instead is because the official cant make, must likely because of preparation for an important

4 Library Visit Packet For ALA Members, American Library Association, last
modified April 22, 2015, accessed April 27, 2015,
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/advleg/advocacyun
iversity/advclearinghouse/ALA%20Congressional%20Tour%20Toolkit.pdf.
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vote or a sudden illness. Furthermore, at least in the Illinois Senate the senator gets to pick their
own district staff and for this reason they are trusted by their Senator often assisting in personal
matters. Its also not uncommon for staff members to have the spare key to the legislators
apartment in Springfield. Think of it this way anyone that the legislator would send in their place
in an official capacity would have to be a trusted confidant. The Illinois Library Association has
even stated that, building a relationship with your legislators staff is just as important as
building a relationship with your legislator, as they rely heavily on their staff when they are
making decisions.6
The most important thing by far when lobbying an elected official is to actually contact
them and tell them what you need. If you dont contact your representative how can you tell
them to support the library. Further, if they if you know them and dont tell them about all the
good the library does, how will they know. Finally, at its core lobbying is about contact; its just
contacting an elected official to tell them what you need from them.
What You Can Do
Lobbying is defined as to try to get something you want by talking to the people who make
decisions,7 and while the elected officials make the decisions ultimately, they are responsible to
5 The Top Ten Things Elected Officials and Their Staff Hate to Hear, American
Library Association Washington Office, , last modified April 22, 2015, accessed April
27, 2015,
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/advleg/advocacyun
iversity/advclearinghouse/Top%20Ten%20Things%20Elected%20Officials%20Hate
%20to%20Hear.pdf.
6 Illinois Library Association, Advocacy Toolkit.
7 Merriam-Webster, s.v. lobby, accessed April 28, 2015, http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/lobbying.
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their constituents. Organizing citizen support for a policy, regulation, bill or funding is the most
crucial part of lobbying.8 The main reason for this is that any politician that wants to be
reelected needs to respond to the will of their constituents. What do you think is more likely to
sway an elected official; a few phone calls/visits from librarians or a barrage of e-mails/phone
calls from concerned citizens? The answer is obvious the voter support/outrage filling up the
inbox. Thats not to say that the librarians calling in as experts on the topic at of libraries wont
sway a few politicians but there is a reason that even a corporation as big as Exelon-Mobile runs
ads targeted at voters telling them to call their legislators. The reason for this is quite simple in
our system the power ultimately rests with the people. The most straightforward way to get the
support of politicians is to encourage their constituents to write or call with stories and
statements in support of the library.9 Now that we have seen the importance of reaching out to
the concerned citizens, the question then becomes how do we reach them short of a
lecture/petition at the reference desk which is not only in bad taste but probably illegal in your
area.
Local public policy decision-making and the role of the library in that process may vary from
community to community due to local and state laws and the local personalities involved in the
process.10 Generally speaking state and municipal employees are not allowed to lobby while
they are on the clock. So that means that any lobbying whether it is directed at an elected official
8 Abbott-Hoduski, 190.
9 Lauren Comito, Aliqae Geraci, and Christian Zabriskie, Grassroots Library
Advocacy (Chicago: American Library Association, 2012), 29.
10 Charles R. McClure, Sari Feldman, and Joe Ryan, Politics and Advocacy: The Role
of Networking in Selling the Library to Your Community, Public Library Quarterly 25,
no. 1/2 (2006): 138, accessed April 14, 2015, doi:10.1300/J118v25n01_10.
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or to his/her constituents will have to be on your personal time and dime. While this might not
seem to be attractive at first glance with how busy and under paid your average librarian is; you
just have to think of it as investing in your future and the future of the profession. Not to mention
how it enjoyable some of these events can be. A good place to start is with parades, most
politicians have problems finding enough people to walk for them in parades. So this can be a
good place to volunteer your services. Not to mention the politician will be there at least for
district level offices and the lower the office the more grateful the politician will be and the
greater their influence on the library will be. And come on, why wouldnt you want to walk in a
parade at least once in your life.

Proxies
If your board of trustees feels that it is inappropriate to have a political petition at the desk or if
the legislation prohibits it, then thats that.11 It than becomes up to you as a librarian to figure
out how to lobby library users on the issues that face your library. There are several groups that
can serve as proxies for your library and library issues when lobbying the public and even
elected officials. The first and easiest of these groups are your friends, coworkers, and family if
you cant make your case to them than you need to work on your message. Another key group to
reach out to is your librarys friends group. This group will be made up of your librarys most
devoted users and some of the more active12 members in your community. Also depending upon
what your friends groups non-profit filling status is, it might even be able to bankroll your
11 Comito, 3.
12 Active meaning that they participate in organizations that are aimed at
promoting the good of society.
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librarys lobbying activities. If your librarys friends group is a 501(c) (4) than it can use
donations made to it to lobby; there is a tradeoff however, in that donations to the organization
are no longer tax exempt, so that book sale now needs to collect sales tax.13 If your friends group
is a 501(c) (4) you could use some of the organizations funds to lobby both the public officials
and the general public. Though when working with an independent or semi-independent group
like the Friends of the Library it is important that they understand the librarys message and
brand.
One of the most powerful and important groups that you need to both lobby and get to lobby for
the library is that librarys own Board of Trustees. Members of a library board whether elected or
appointed tend to be prominent residents of your librarys community and active patrons of your
library. If the board is elected than that means that your board members are either wealthy
enough and/or popular enough to win an election. If on the other hand your board is appointed
than they know or are allies of the people who do the appointing. In either case they probably are
the kind of people who can call an elected official and receive a call back quickly, or even have
an elected officials personal number. They are great to have helping to lobby for the library and
its causes, so you should give them a chance to participate in your campaign, and thank them
profusely for anything they can do or offer.14 Also, lets face it; it never hurts to have the legal
face of the library lobbying on its behalf.

13 Comito, 8.
14 Comito, 29.
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Using the media is one way of educating the public, legislators, and policymakers about your
issue. It is the easiest way to reach a lot of people.15 People are still interested in the world
around them and whats going on in their community. It for the before reasons that libraries need
to reach out to local media outlets in the effort to inform their users of the librarys message.
Even in this age of media consolidation, regional papers still have reporters assigned to more
distant parts of their service areas. Also, if you have bloggers in your community, who blog
about local issues reach out to them and offer to educate them as to the importance of the library
and what the proposed legislation would do to the library. Remember press coverage gets your
group known and gives it more clout with the policymakers of your community.16 I can tell you
right now that newspapers are still important to politicians. Considering that an endorsement
from a major paper is one of the most coveted endorsements in politics. Also in the Senators
office we pay for digital subscriptions to most of the major area papers out of the Senators or
top staffs own pockets. We even get copies of more niche publications sent to us by the
publisher or a constituent that thinks we should read it. Also, concerned constituents often bring
in articles that support their argument. Just remember you have the responsibility of reaching
out to the community through the press in its many forms and convincing reporters of public
libraries [or any other type of libraries] essential value in a language that is understandable to
them and accessible to the writer.17 In other words tell the press about your issues and concerns
without using jargon.

15 Abbott-Hoduski, 175.
16 Abbott-Hoduski, 175.
17 Comito, 15.
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Unions are another key group that you need to get to lobby on behalf of the library. If the
librarians at your library belong to a union than the union should be ready and able to fight
against anything that would hurt you or your library. You need the staff union on board just as
badly as you need the library administration.18 The reason for this is quite simple the union like
the friends group can use its money to directly influence policy makers. In addition your librarys
union is probably part of a larger one that it could reach out to for assistance. Even if your
librarians arent union you still need to reach out to the local unions. It takes time to build a
relationship with a union but, if your library is willing to invest the time to build a relationship
with a union then your library can gain a valuable ally in its efforts to lobby elected officials. A
few great ways to build a relationship include; inviting members of the union to library
workshops that would benefit them, ask them to recommend resources for the librarys
collection, and invite them to sponsor fund-raisers.19 You could also potentially offer a union the
opportunity to sponsor a collection. The main purpose of a union is to improve the lives of its
members and the library is an important part of any effort to better ones self. Once the
relationship has been established the library can begin asking unions to help get out the vote for
library levies, lobby for funding for libraries and support unfettered and equitable access to
information for citizens through libraries.20 Whichever of these activities you are asking the
unions help with just make sure to tie it back to the needs of the unions members and explain it
to them in terms that they can understand. Oh, and be ready to return the favor when they ask
you for help.
18 Ibid, 31.
19 Abbott-Hoduski, 152.
20 Abbott-Hoduski, 152.
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The last of the groups that can help you lobby on behalf of your library and libraries in general
are professional association like the American Library Association at the national level and your
state association at the state level. Lets assume youre in Illinois and as such are represented by
the Illinois Library Association. Just remember even if youre not in Illinois your State Library
Association will have many of the same resources and the ILA Advocacy Toolkit will most likely
still be of use to you.
The American Library Association exists To provide leadership for the development,
promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of
librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.21 In fulfilling
its mission the ALA directly lobbies at the Federal level in support of all libraries. In its role of
providing leadership it offers a host of tools to assist you in planning your librarys own
lobbying. Some of the most useful tools that I found include the ALA Congressional Tour Toolkit
(PDF) which lays out the steps for arranging a library visit, some visit ideas, and sample letters
to send to your Congressman/woman.22 Another useful tool is a PDF entitled The Top Ten Things
Elected Officials and Their Staff Hate to Hear which list ten things you should never say to
elected officials and their staff; which range from common sense like dont bring 300 pages if
you want it to be read, to little things like being asked to meet in the hallway is not always rude
sometime the office just cant accommodate your group cause you brought too many people.23

21 Mission & Priorities, American Library Association, last modified February 2,

2015, accessed May 2, 2015, http://www.ala.org/aboutala/missionpriorities.
22 These same ideas and letters can be used at the state level.
23 The Top Ten Things Elected Officials and Their Staff Hate to Hear.
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The Illinois Library Association is the voice for Illinois libraries and the millions who depend
on them.24 In fulfilling its role as the voice of Illinois libraries the ILA in addition to directly
lobbying the Illinois General Assembly, also provides resources to assist Illinois libraries in
being their own voice. The first of these tools is the ILA advocacy toolkit which consists of
practical advice for every aspect of library advocacy including lobbying. The ILA website also
has an action center that highlights current bills before the Illinois General Assembly and
Congress. The action center summarizes and states the ILAs position on the bills and lists key
bills that need to be opposed like the 99th General Assemblys HB 2689 which is an internet
filtering bill. The purpose of both ALA and the various State Library associations includes
lobbying on behalf of libraries and supporting each libraries own lobbying efforts.
Conclusion
This paper only scratched the surface of library lobbying but the Bottom line [is], do not be a
bystander, be a leader or at least a participant, in efforts to advocate for libraries. If the library
community is not willing to spend the time and money necessary, then we cannot expect the
public to do it for us.25 As I have pointed out in the above paper there are numerous ways for
you to lobby in support of your library and libraries in general. You just need to find them and
remember there are better funded organizations out there that can help you if you just explain
how you help them. I wish you luck in your effort on behalf of libraries.

24 The Illinois Library Association, Illinois Library Association, last modified 2015,
accessed May 2, 2015, http://www.ila.org/.
25 Michael Borges, "Library Advocacy Starts at Home," The Bottom Line 18, no. 3 (2005):
111, accessed April 14, 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/08880450510613551.

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Work Cited
Abbott-Hoduski, Bernadine E. Lobbying for Libraries and the Publics Access to Government
Information: An Insiders View. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003.
12

American Library Association. Library Visit Packet: For ALA Members. American Library
Association. Last modified April 22, 2015. Accessed April 26, 2015.
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/files/advleg/advocacyuniversity/advclearinghouse/ALA
%20Congressional%20Tour%20Toolkit.pdf.
American Library Association. The Top Ten Things Elected Officials and Their Staff Hate to
Hear. American Library Association. Last modified April 22, 2015. Accessed April 26,
2015.
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/files/advleg/advocacyuniversity/advclearinghouse/Top
%20Ten%20Things%20Elected%20Officials%20Hate%20to%20Hear.pdf.
American Library Association. Working with Elected Officials (Lobbying). American Library
Association. Last modified April 22, 2015. Accessed April 26, 2015.
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advocacy-university/working-elected-officials-lobbying.
Borges, Michael. "Library Advocacy Starts at Home", The Bottom Line 18, no. 3 (2005): 110
111. Accessed April 14, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/08880450510613551.
Comito, Lauren, Aliqae Geraci, and Christian Zabriskie. Grassroots Library Advocacy.
Chicago: American Library Association, 2012.
Hainer, Eugene. "Advocacy: School Librarians and Advocacy: Part of the Problem, or Part of the
Solution?." Knowledge Quest 33, no. 5 (May 2005): 27-29. Accessed April 14, 2015.
Illinois Library Association. Advocacy Toolkit. Illinois Library Association. Last modified
2012. Accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.ila.org/advocacy-files/ILA-advocacy-toolkit013112.pdf.

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Jaeger, Paul T., Ursula Gorham, Lindsay C. Sarin, and John Carlo Bertot. Libraries, Policy,
and Politics in a Democracy: Four Historical Epochs. Library Quarterly: Information,
Community, Policy 83, no. 2 (2013): 166181. Accessed April 14, 2015.
McClure, Charles R., Sari Feldman, and Joe Ryan. Politics and Advocacy: The Role of
Networking in Selling the Library to Your Community. Public Library Quarterly 25,
no. 1/2 (2006): 137-154. Accessed April 14, 2015. doi:10.1300/J118v25n01_10.
Price Saffold, Vivian, and Elizabeth S. Olson. "Georgia Archives Advocacy: Organization,
Communication, Education." Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists
31, no. 1 (September 2013): 28-30. Accessed April 14, 2015.
http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/provenance/vol31/iss1/8.

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