I attended a webinar presented by ALA’s Washington office yesterday. The presenter was advocacy “guru” Stephanie Vance, and she shared some excellent ways library staff can not only prepare for Library Legislative Day on May 13 and 14, but also prepare for other other advocacy efforts at any level of government.

I’ll outline here some of the highlights of the webinar. Vance covered five planning steps for National Legislative Day.

Step #1: create a one-pager about your library

• highlights your library’s programs and resources that you provide to their constituents
• library funding, especially if highlights a federal partnership
• outline how congress can help your library

Step #2: Brainstorm your personal story

• Come up with a personal story about your library to share with the legislators
• Outline benefits you’ve provided such as people you’ve helped, community meetings you’ve had, partnerships you’ve developed, etc.
• Who have you helped?
• Create a website that asks your patrons why they love the library and use the list of stories in your advocacy

Step #3: Learn about the issues

• Understand national issues that are most important to you, and learn as much as you can about them (copyright, funding, telecommunications, etc.)
• look at ALA issue papers from the Washington office
• It’s fine to say “I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you.”

Step #4: Learn about your legislators

• Who represents you and your library?
• Biographical information on legislators can be found at thomas.loc.gov
• Understanding biographical information can give you details that can give you something to talk about with your legislator and develop a relationship
• Connect the library to the legislator’s issues
• Find out who on staff deals with library issues
• Best to telephone or email your legislator. Mail, including postcards, is still getting irradiated so it’s not the most effective way to reach your legislator.

Step #5: Coordinate your message

• During Legislative Day, coordinate with others in your state to determine who will make which “ask”, which stories are most compelling, and who will coordinate follow-up.
• Follow-up is the most important thing to make sure elected officials listen to your message.

Some other points to consider …

If you feel restricted in your community in not being able to directly advocate, then get your Board and your Friends do the advocacy on your behalf.

One little thing that makes all the difference? Persistence.

Contact your local state coordinator to participate in Legislative Day.