20th Congressional District Forum October 28

Meet the candidates Paul Tonko (Democrat, Independence , Working Families) and Jim Fischer (Republican, Conservative) on Tuesday, October 28 from 7 to 8:30 pm at Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School, on 100 Elbel Court, in Albany.

Candidate Night Sponsors: The Albany Branch of the NAACP, League of Women Voters of Albany County, George Biddle Kelly Education Foundation, Capital Area Urban League, Council of Albany Neighborhood Associations, Capital Area Council of Churches, and The Reform Jewish Voice of New York State

2010 National Advocacy Day

To all New York Librarians, Library Trustees, Library Workers and Library Friends

There is still time to register for National Library Advocacy Day. At this point we have about 60 people registered.

For one year only, Library Advocacy Day will replace National Library Legislative Day (NLLD). On June 29, 2010, library advocates from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. will meet at Upper Senate Park on the U.S. Capitol grounds. The event, which will begin at 11:00am, will feature guest speakers, photo ops, and a chance to cheer on libraries! After the rally, participants will meet with their elected officials and their staffs.

Here is the link to register for this important national event.

The Washington Office is still finalizing the legislative agenda. In the meantime, issues that will be included are:

LSTA - thank legislators for this important grant program and let them how important it is to us
ESEA - President Obama's replacement of the No Child Left Behind program - we will be pushing to include a State Certified Librarian in each school
E-Rate - letting legislator know how important this program is for libraries and asking them to look at streamlining the application process
Open Internet (Net Neutrality) - the importance of an open Internet

A list of other legislation the Washington Office is watching can be found here.

You can access the ALA Legislative Scorecard, which provides the voting record for all legislators on Bills that address issues important to libraries, at the links below (these links will provide access to PDF files):
House Of Representatives
Senate

House version of Educator Jobs Bill includes funding for librarians

FROM ALA:

Thank you to everyone who called their members of Congress about the Educator Jobs Bill.

The May 22 draft of the House Supplemental Appropriations bill includes an Education Jobs Fund which specifically appropriates $23,000,000,000 to alleviate shortfalls and prevent impending layoffs of teachers, counselors, librarians, and other school personnel in order to preserve 300,000 jobs in elementary and secondary schools.

This is great news for us. Please call your representative and encourage them to vote for this supplemental appropriation.

Emily Sheketoff
Executive Director, ALA Washington Office

Librarians Honored on the Floor of the U.S. Senate

On Monday March 22, three Library of Congress librarians, including former SLA President and 2009 SLA Hall of Fame Recipient Donna Scheeder, were honored.

Education is Best Way for Congress to Address Cyberbullying

If Congress wishes to address cyberbullying through federal legislation, it should focus on education-based approaches instead of criminalization, argue Berin Szoka and Adam Thierer in Cyberbullying Legislation: Why Education is Preferable to Regulation, released this week by The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Criminalizing what is mostly minor-on-minor behavior will not likely solve the age-old problem of kids mistreating each other, a problem that has traditionally been dealt through counseling and rehabilitation at the local level.

Senator Introduces Bill That Would Allow American Newspapers to Operate as Non-Profits

U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) introduced legislation that would allow newspapers to become non-profit organizations in an effort to help the faltering industry survive.

In recent months, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Rocky Mountain News, the Baltimore Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others, have either ceased daily publication or announced that they may have to stop publishing. A number of other publications, including newspapers owned by the Tribune Company, owners of The Baltimore Sun, have filed for bankruptcy or have had to institute severe cutbacks that have impacted news coverage.

The Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as non-profits, if they choose, under 501(c)(3) status for educational purposes, similar to public broadcasting. Under this arrangement, newspapers would not be allowed to make political endorsements, but would be allowed to freely report on all issues, including political campaigns. Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt and contributions to support coverage or operations could be tax deductible.

The measure is targeted to preserve local newspapers serving communities and not large newspaper conglomerates. Because newspaper profits have been falling in recent years, no substantial loss of federal revenue is expected.

The Economic Stimulus Bill: How It Could Affect You

Here's a description from About.com which is both comprehensive and comprehensible.

Funding for Libraries

From ALA Office:

On Tuesday, October 24th the Senate passed the FY 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which contains funding for several library-related programs. The House passed a bill in July. Conferees will meet to reconcile the differences in the bills.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED: The Senate passed bill contains $171,500,000 for the Grants to State Library Agencies program within the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Please contact your Senators and Representative and tell them to support the Senate passed funding level.

Funding for Selected Programs

FY 2008 House/FY 2008 Senate

Library State Grants

$167,500,000/$171,500,000

Native American Library Services

$3,638,000/$3,817,000

National Leadership Grants for Libraries

$12,375,000/$12,375,000

Recruitment of Librarians for the 21st Century

$23,760,000/$23,760,000

Administration total for IMLS

$12,021,000/$12,917,000

Talking points:

Please bring the total for the LSTA state program from House-passed funding level of $167.5 million to Senate passed funding level of $171.5 million to allow full implementation of a 2003 law to provide a more equitable distribution of state formula grants. In 2003, all of the states and Congress agreed that the base should be doubled to help even the playing field for the small states while ensuring that large states don't face an undue burden to achieve that. Currently, all funding increases to the state program go to the base, and not to population increases for the large states.