Call To Action

A “call to action” (CTA) will be initiated by the PSLA Board or the Legislation Committee with the approval of the PSLA President asking members and library supporters to immediately act in support of pending state or federal legislation or a specific legislative “ask.”  For example, a CTA may require phone calls, emails, and legislator visits to ask for an increase in a state budget line item impacting libraries. Or, it may be to ask legislators to support a resolution or to hold a hearing on libraries. CTAs require immediate response and action since there is likely a short window of opportunity to effect a change or positive result.  

#SchoolLibrariesRopen: A Social Media Storm

We face a crisis! Stakeholders do NOT know about all the AMAZING things we are doing with students. Right now schools across Pennsylvania are providing education through multiple formats – Remote, Face to Face or Hybrid. Now, more than ever, it is critical to amplify and define our roles in effective teaching and learning and the impact school librarians have on students and the school community - whether online or in-person. All students deserve equitable school library opportunities. This message must reach all stakeholders so that they understand that schools without school libraries and certified school librarians will result in long-term educational inequities.  WE MUST PROMOTE WHAT SCHOOL LIBRARIES ARE DOING IN THE PANDEMIC.

Step up and lead on behalf of all students! The PSLA Advocacy Committee has created sharable “card” messages to be used in social media posts. The “cards” succinctly convey that all K-12 students benefit from an effective school library program and a certified school librarian. They also convey the message that school libraries with school librarians are OPEN during the pandemic and not only provide quality resources but also provide information literacy instruction to students. Card images are located in this Flickr album. You will find Social Media Storm: Suggested Posts you can use as well as blank cards for customized visuals.

Take action now! Sign! Tweet! Retweet! Post! Repost! 

Go to SaveSchoolLibrarians.org/pa and sign and share the “PSLA Open Letter to School Boards Across Pennsylvania” and share it with others if you did not do this during our June 22, 2020 Twitter Storm.

1. Use PSLA’s Hashtag Bank to select hashtags and handles of stakeholders to tag via social media.

2. Select a card on this Flickr gallery or create your own message with the blank templates. Need additional message ideas? Check out our Social Media Storm: Suggested Posts.

3. Use the hashtag #SchoolLibrariesRopen so we can monitor activity and impact across the state.

4. Copy and paste the URL SaveSchoolLibrarians.org/pa in your tweets, Facebook, Instagram posts. Consider making your Facebook posts public to ensure they are shared. 

5. Retweet and/or like the posts of others to amplify all messages with additional hashtags.

6. Remember: The best stories you can share are your own. Include your own media in your posts. So, be creative!

 National Library Legislative Day (NLLD)

National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) is a two-day educational event that brings hundreds of librarians, trustees, library supporters and patrons to Washington, D.C.

Attendees spend one-day learning effective advocacy tactics and being briefed about pressing federal legislative issues that are impacting libraries. On the second day, they join other attendees from their state to meet with their members of Congress and rally support for library issues and policies. Open to the public, the event also offers attendees the opportunity to attend a reception on Capitol Hill.

Federal Library Funding

Secure support for federal library funding by contacting your legislators in Washington. 

LSTA (Library Services & Technology Act) is important because …

• LSTA helps to fund Pennsylvania state library projects including the POWER Library electronic resources that all schools can access to address literacy and new academic standards.
• LSTA is the primary source of funding for libraries in the federal budget and helps to fund public library services as well.

IAL (Innovative Approaches to Literacy) is important because…

• A minimum of half of the money will be awarded to low-income school libraries to help update library resources.
• This competitive grant aims to improve childhood literacy among our most vulnerable and needy students.

Federal Advocacy Resources and How to Get Involved

The Washington Office offers a variety of information resources about current federal issues that impact libraries. Each resource contains much of the same information and you can choose to access one or more of them to suit your needs. A description of the resources follows below along with how best to utilize them.

The Pennsylvania Library Association

This is the public library association in PA, formed in 1901. Check out their advocacy webpages with a link called Capwiz. Capwiz is a service provided by the American Library Assn. that allows librarians, parents and other citizens to send a pre-formatted email to PA and US legislators. PaLA often updates the messages based on pending legislation that libraries need to have passed. 

PaLA Legislative Action Center (Capwiz)