[ISLMA-Share] Fwd: Thank you for our first big win!

[Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association]

Here is a follow up from the message sent yesterday.

Lou Ann Jacobs
ISLMA Legislation Chair
louajcbs at gmail.com


Having trouble viewing this e-mail? View as a web page.
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDY2MDA0JnA9MSZ1PTEwMDc0MDc2NTAmbGk9NDI2NjAwNjQ/index.html>
[image: ALA Membership]

Hello ALA members and other library advocates everywhere, and thank you for
all your efforts over the past two weeks to dramatically increase the
number of Members of the House of Representatives this year signing our
"Dear Appropriator" letters of support for IAL and LSTA. Last year, our
signer totals stood at 124 and 88 for those programs, respectively.
I could not be more pleased to tell you that all of us—working as a team
led by Emily Sheketoff and especially Adam Eisgrau and the ALA Office of
Government Relations -- have convinced 146 Members of the House to support
IAL funding in FY 2018 and (drumroll, please) 144 Members to back LSTA.
(See whether and how your Representative supported IAL and/or LSTA with our
sortable online tracker
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDY2MDA0JnA9MSZ1PTEwMDc0MDc2NTAmbGk9NDI2NjAwNjU/index.html>
tool and let me state in advance that I am sorry the tracker is not easily
accessible non-visually.)
Those totals, which are for the first time bipartisan on both letters,
represent a nearly 18% increase in support for IAL and a phenomenal 64%
increase for LSTA over last year! Put another way, effectively one-third of
the entire US House of Representatives has told the House Appropriations
Committee in writing that they support BOTH IAL funding at $27 million and
LSTA appropriations of $186.6 million in FY 2018!
As I said during one of our many telephone briefing calls (Board, Council,
Chapters, Affiliates, etc.) in which you may have participated, and will be
reprising in a webinar for everyone to be held very soon, this is just the
beginning of a year-long fight to actually secure these vital funds at the
end of the current appropriations cycle.  But make no mistake, this was an
important—and large—first hump to get over by mobilizing our community and
others as never before and you did it. CONGRATULATIONS!!
In a very little while, OGR and ALA leadership will be back to us with next
steps on what we all can and must do during the coming Congressional recess
next week and the one following. They'll also be guiding us through the
“Dear Appropriator” letter advocacy process again when the Senate kicks off
its letter-signing season—which will close on May 25—very soon. Fight for
Libraries!
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDY2MDA0JnA9MSZ1PTEwMDc0MDc2NTAmbGk9NDI2NjAwNjY/index.html>
and OGR will be there to help all through the process, as I know you will
be. (And, now that we all know how easy it is to contact people, we expect
even more advocacy support!)
But, for a day or two anyway, enjoy this collective victory and, please,
share it with your colleagues and communities in a way that helps them
understand that we are powerful when we unite—and have much, much more
vital work to do together.
Once you’ve caught your breath, use ALA’s Legislative Action Center
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDY2MDA0JnA9MSZ1PTEwMDc0MDc2NTAmbGk9NDI2NjAwNjc/index.html>
before the Senate process begins in earnest to say “thank you” to your
local Member of the House if he or she signed one (or both) of our LSTA and
IAL “Dear Appropriator” letters. You’ll find everything you need again at
the Action Center, including links to identify the Members to thank quickly
and easily.
Thank you all again, very much! And thanks to Board, ALA staff, ALA media,
and especially the Washington Office for our first big win of the FY 2018
appropriations cycle. Great job!
[image: Julie Todaro signature]

Dr. Julie Todaro
2016-2017 President
American Library Association
 [image: Facebook]
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDY2MDA0JnA9MSZ1PTEwMDc0MDc2NTAmbGk9NDI2NjAwNjg/index.html>[image:
LinkedIn]
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDY2MDA0JnA9MSZ1PTEwMDc0MDc2NTAmbGk9NDI2NjAwNjk/index.html>[image:
Twitter]
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDY2MDA0JnA9MSZ1PTEwMDc0MDc2NTAmbGk9NDI2NjAwNzA/index.html>[image:
AddThis]
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDY2MDA0JnA9MSZ1PTEwMDc0MDc2NTAmbGk9NDI2NjAwNzE/index.html>


If you no longer wish to receive ALA Membership emails, please click here
<http://ala.informz.net/ala/optout.asp?uid=1007407650&mi=6466004&fid=2402>.
To unsubscribe from all American Library Association communications, click
here
<http://ala.informz.net/ala/default.asp?action=u&email=LJacobs363@aol.com&mi=6466004&fid=1872>
.
American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611
www.ala.org
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDY2MDA0JnA9MSZ1PTEwMDc0MDc2NTAmbGk9NDI2NjAwNzI/index.html>.


[image: Informz for iMIS]
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDY2MDA0JnA9MSZ1PTEwMDc0MDc2NTAmbGk9NDI2NjAwNzM/index.html>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.railslibraries.info/pipermail/aisle/attachments/20170406/c40d0f6a/attachment-0002.html>