Advocacy is Forever

As you read this, the provincial election will have already taken place. The projected raise in the operating grants either will or won’t be approved in the budget, and who knows what will happen going forward from here. This is where advocacy comes in.

Keeping the needs issues of libraries in the minds of our politicians is a good way to ensure that they actually do think of us when it comes time to dole out the money. A good advocacy plan will see that your local politicians see the library as more than just the building downtown, they will see it as the thriving community space that needs the support of councils and the government to continue successfully into the future.

Libraries, as well as many other cultural institutions, have an “out of sight, out of mind” problem. And the fact that we’ve been functioning on the same grants for multiple years in a row contributes to the image of being able to make do with what we have. And on one hand, that’s a good thing, knowing that we are resilient and resourceful and able to use our resources to their best effect. But on the other, when we don’t advocate for ourselves on a regular basis, it enables politicians to think of us as part of the furniture, something that just keeps chugging along without intervention or the need for additional resources.

This is, of course, not true. All costs rise, and rise faster now than ever before. Getting facetime with your political representatives and telling them exactly why we need more money just to keep the lights on is imperative. If you don’t have an advocacy plan for your library, there are some great resources available. The Library Association of Alberta is a great place to start, as is the Ontario Library Association’s advocacy toolkit. A couple of American resources can also have some great ideas, from both the American Library Association and the Public Library Association. The Illinois Library Association has a great outline for how to create your own advocacy toolkit. And while this is a little old, it’s also the most comprehensive training plan for library advocacy I’ve ever seen. It was put out by the now defunct Canadian Library Association in 2011 (Linda Cook was on the team!) and is still a valuable resource.

And of course your Alberta library systems have been working for nearly a year to create some advocacy tools specifically for Alberta libraries. Just because the election is over doesn’t mean that advocacy is over too. Advocacy is something that has to happen on an ongoing basis, with your councils, your MLAs, and even your users. Reminding them all at regular intervals just how integral and vital your library is to the fabric of your community is something I know we all try to do continually, and having some talking points at the ready can only help to spark those conversations.

The systems will continue to meet and develop tools for advocacy going forward, and I look forward to talking with everyone about how their own efforts are shaping up. I’d love to talk about this at the upcoming public libraries meeting as well, to share ideas and successes.

I look forward to seeing everyone in June.

Louisa Robison

CEO