[Libs-Or] Fwd: [alacro-l] Urgent- ALA Call to Action for IMLS

[OLA President]

I'm sharing this with you from the American Library Association. Some of
you may have seen it already, but I would like to pass it on in case.
Thank you,
Elsa Loftis

Dear Library Advocate,

The time is NOW!  If you’re a librarian, a library worker, anyone who cares
about libraries, does business with a library, or if you depend on your
library for accurate information, then your Congressperson needs to hear
from you – and at least five more people that you mobilize – TODAY
<http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/fight-for-libraries>!
At least $210 million in federal library funding is on the budget-cutter’s
chopping block. Our champions in Congress need your help to save it and the
Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the agency that
distributes most of those funds to every state in the country. Everything
you need is at ALA’s Legislative Action Center now
<http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/fight-for-libraries>.

As detailed in the ALA Washington Office blog
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDE5NjUxJnA9MSZ1PTEwMzY0ODc5NTgmbGk9NDIyMzcxNzg/index.html>,
the President of the United States effectively proposed eliminating all
federal library funding and closing IMLS – the small, respected agency that
administers $183 million of those funds through the Library Services and
Technology Act (LSTA). He also asked Congress to wipe out $27 million for
Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL), which school libraries use to buy
books and other materials for the nation’s poorest children. But our
library champions in Congress have mobilized to fight back and they need
your help to succeed.

Today, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ3) wrote to every Member of the House of
Representatives asking them to support LSTA, and Reps. Eddie Bernice
Johnson (D-TX30), Don Young (R-AK), and Jim McGovern (D-MA2) circulated a
similar letter asking support for Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL).
Both letters urge their House colleagues to sign letters to the
Appropriations Committee supporting library funding. The first so-called
“Dear Appropriator” letter asks the Committee to fully fund LSTA in FY 2018
and the second does the same for IAL.

We know from many past funding fights that these Representatives’ requests
of their colleagues simply will not be enough. *Members of the House need
to hear from their constituents before the April 3rd deadline.* Please call
your Representative and ask them to sign both the LSTA and the IAL “Dear
Appropriator” letters our champions have circulated, otherwise the powerful
Appropriations Committees will not make LSTA and IAL a priority,
dramatically increasing the odds that they will be cut or eliminated next
year.

ALA’s *Legislative Action Center
<http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/fight-for-libraries>*
has everything you – and five of your friends, patrons, relatives,
employees and customers – need to identify your Member of Congress and to
tell him or her by email, tweet or phone to sign the LSTA and IAL “Dear
Appropriator” letters to protect those critical programs in the FY 2018
federal budget.

*We MUST save federal library funding and IMLS!  If not you and your fellow
library lovers, who?  If not right now, when?  Please, act right now
<http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/fight-for-libraries>!
  *

To read my full statement about the President’s draconian budget proposals,
please visit ALA's website
<http://ala.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT02NDE5NjUxJnA9MSZ1PTEwMzY0ODc5NTgmbGk9NDIyMzcxODM/index.html>
.


[image: Julie Todaro signature]

Julie Todaro
ALA President








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-- 
Elsa Loftis
OLA President 2016-17



*I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.-Jorge Luis
Borges*
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