As we all know saving libraries isn’t a sexy news story , help your colleagues in the USA, by any means necessary
Record-Setting Senate Support Needed to Save Federal Library Funding!
If you have visited this page in the last few weeks, you know the President has proposed wiping out all library funding – and the agency, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), that administers much of it – in his initial FY18 budget proposal. You also know thousands of librarians, library supporters, users, vendors and citizens in every Congressional district in the country used the ALA Legislative Action Center and many other channels to insist that their Representative in the House sign two “Dear Appropriator” letters to the Appropriations Committee asking them to preserve funding this year for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) program.
One-third of the entire House of Representatives signed each of those Dear Appropriator letters and nearly 170 Members signed at least one — an 18% increase in support for IAL and a record-shattering 64% increase for LSTA. (Visit this House tracker to see whether your Representative in the House signed.)
Now, it’s time for you to break records for support in the U.S. Senate by asking both of your Senators to sign Dear Appropriator letters for LSTA and IAL. Our goal is to put a majority of all 100 Senators on record in support of these critical programs! Check this Senate tracker to see if your Senator signed last year and if they have already agreed to sign this year. If not, we have until just May 19 to convince them to add their names to both the LSTA and IAL letters. There’s no time to lose.
Please use ALA’s Legislative Action Center today to call, email or tweet (maybe all three?) both of your Senators and ask them to support federal funding for libraries by signing both the “Reed/Collins LSTA” and “Reed/Grassley/Stabenow IAL” Dear Appropriator letters. Many Senators will only sign if their constituents ask them to, so your action is crucial. Let them know why libraries are important to your community and ask them to show their support now.
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