Washington Coalition for School Libraries and Information Technology (WCS-Lit)

www.fundourfuturewashington.org

Advocacy Primer

Lisa Layera Brunkan Denette Hill

Susan McBurneyThese materials are made available through a Creative Commons License

“It’s not enough for a cause to be just. Knowing the policy, understanding the political terrain and building relationships have to be part of the advocacy effort in order for it to be successful.”

Lisa Brown, WA State Senate Majority Leader Commenting on the Coalition’s success,

two weeks after the session ended

The current library landscape

“Endangered species”

“Obsolete”

“On the way to extinction”

“Draconian cuts”

“Elimination”

An Approach Based on Survival Advocating to win and promoting policies with teeth

• Funding: Permanent or stop-gap

• Vision: Supporting long-range planning efforts

• Code: Ensuring your survival

The Political Terrain

Argument Objection

Libraries matter.Get in line. “Lobby the bill, not the issue.”

- Political insider for 40 years

The librarian is the advocate.

Special interest“Tell them not to send librarians.”

- Committee chair, via top advisor

Libraries need more money.

It’s a ‘local decision’. It’s the state and Fed’s failure to sufficiently fund it.

Libraries should be funded.It’s an extra, an enhancement, a luxury in these economic times. “Where would you want us to cut?”

An Approach Based on Survival

20th Century 21st Century

Libraries matter

• Global Competitiveness• Workforce Readiness• National Competitiveness• How do libraries save or make the state money?

Librarian as the advocateStakeholders as the advocates. Thousands, representing every sector.

Library as an elective, an enhancement

Library as a 21st Century classroom/modality. A fixed cost.

Classical literacyLiteracy as 21st century skills w/libraries that help bridge the digital and print divide.

StakeholdersDecisionMakers

Tools

Wisdom

Wisdom = Avoiding Pitfalls

• STAKEHOLDERSInform and empower vs. communicating only to ask for something ($$$ or canned/scripted actions).

• DECISION MAKERSEmpathy, respect, graciousness.

• TOOLSUse judiciously or risk impotence.

Who are your stakeholders?Ours included:

Parents Business Leaders Higher Education Community District and Building Administration Classroom Teachers Community Leaders and Elected Officials Retired Citizens Military State and National Organizations (PTA, Teachers’

Unions, AAUW, Education Advocates) Students

The Citizens’ MandateGrassroots mobilization as THE key to legislative results

The Tools • Form a Coalition • Charter members • Online petition – who thinks this matters?• Calls, emails, visits to legislators, the Governor, and

federal leaders• Community Captains • Press• Website and Blog• Flyers• Bookmarks

How to get a seat at the table

Organize or disappear.

Show up! The Flotilla Strategy: Teams of 3-4 showing up every week.

Tell your story. Personal stories, not canned messages.

“My reference books are so old that when my students do their state-required social studies project they won’t know that Mt. St. Helens has blown her top.” -a Spokane teacher-librarian

Know your ask, know your case, be able to show it. “What is it you want the state to do?”

Policy-generating actions:– Provide data, not anecdotes.

– Provide standards, not anecdotes.

– Provide comparative statistics, rankings, and historical trend analyses, not philosophical arguments.

– Make a realistic and strategic ask, framed for consumption, not tabling or dying in committee.

– LISTEN & OBSERVE: let the legislators tell you how to frame the issue.

Data is Crucial! • 21st Century Data Collection and Dissemination

– Uniform measurements– Measuring performance: using metrics to initiate change– 100% participation– Checkbox on all standardized tests (presence of full-time, certified librarian)

• State of Affairs: the importance of the brief– Staffing: certified vs. para-professional– Collection copyright average – Access– Track book attrition and test scores in schools with less than 1.0– Socio-economic measurements that matter (free and reduced lunch, minority

students)– Comparative ranking: where does your state stand?

• Trail of the cuts: baselines matter for policy– Every state library association should designate someone to receive

reports of cuts, coordinate with AASL/ALA. – Effective data: the Oregon numbers

Effective Data: The Oregon Numbers

Grassroots Effectiveness vs. Mass Noise

GRASSROOTS EFFECTIVENESS MASS NOISE

The people’s voice: For each librarian, 3 stakeholders.

Librarians = special interest

Personal emails and letters invite engagement.

Mass communications will be ignored.

Personal stories Canned messages

Personal interactions (visits, attending meetings) bring the effort to life and create the mandate.

Mass actions w/o personal follow-up are ineffective.

Global Competitiveness

“I believe keeping an active library and librarian in the public schools is as important as any other primary education role. We must teach our children to do research and explore on their own. What better resource is there than a library and librarian to provide a safe and positive environment for discovery of interests and gifts of knowledge. Our competitive advantage in the United States is clearly our ability to be creative and inventive of new technologies, new business processes, new music, new fashion, new dance, new ways of looking at old things... It is in our culture and we cannot lose this ability. Research and Development is our Thing! Libraries plant and nourish this seed in our children.”

Jon CopelandCEO - Inland Imaging Business Associates

Effective Talking Points

Academic Opportunities

“I had the pleasure of presenting Dr. Irwin "Ernie" Rose with the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Washington State University in 2004. Dr. Rose, a Nobel Laureate and a graduate of Lewis & Clark High School in Spokane, told me that much of what he learned in high school, he learned among the stacks of the library. This generation of children deserves the same opportunity.”

Chris Marr, WA State Senator

Workforce Readiness“Clearly, we are not doing our job as a society in preparing our sons and

daughters to qualify for the jobs that I am able to create. I believe that the library system in our public schools could contribute to better preparing our children for success in a global economy. I also believe that we have under-emphasized literacy and language as a priority in preparing our children for good jobs. The primary characteristics I am looking for are critical thinking, and the ability to read, write, and speak well. In my experience, the best critical thinkers, with the best communication skills, are those who read frequently and passionately. Without excellent libraries and librarians, our children will not have access or guidance to help them find a passion for words, concepts, and the worldly attitudes that will make them employable by companies like mine.

We need more, better, well-funded, and well-staffed, libraries.”

Carl Albrecht, Principal, The Arnold Group.

Equity

“As school children learn to read and research, we lay the groundwork for future participation in a world representing all cultures and communities. In this way, school libraries strike at the very heart of democracy by providing opportunities for giving voice and equal choice to all children.'

Dr. Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet

President of Antioch University-Seattle

Business recruitment and retention: A community/state’s calling card

“I've spent my career in quality of life issues, having served three governors as Economic Development Commissioner and chairing the state's Quality of Life task force.

In all the hearings I did across the state, large and small communities, the

singular most important issue is the quality of our schools. We simply will not succeed in a world economy, where our product will never be the least expensive, if we don't build knowledge-based product.

I believe strongly that lowering our library capacity to part time service sends

the wrong message to our children, our parents, our targeted companies and "family friendly" future employers. They simply will go where they know children are being mentored to read, research, problem solve…follow their personal "thrill of the hunt". A librarian is person who unlocks and nurtures this adventure. It is a full time job involving research, training and commitment.”

Don Barbieri, Chairman, Red Lion Corporation.

Information literacy and critical thinking skills cannot be remediated.

“At Gonzaga University, we see incoming students from school districts throughout the western United States (including Hawaii and Alaska) and other locations in the country and the world. Even though all our students are theoretically ‘prepared for college’, it is clear that students coming from resource-poor districts are at a disadvantage compared to students from resource-rich ones, and that disadvantage persists through their four years here. Even smart, motivated students will struggle at the college level if they do not arrive with the thinking and learning skills they need to succeed. I am very concerned that the reduction of school library programs will decrease our students' ability to succeed in college, or whatever other post-secondary pursuits they choose.”

Dr. David Boose, Professor of BiologyGonzaga University

Economic Competitiveness“We are in the business of healthcare services and employ

over 700 healthcare workers in the state of Washington. Our healthcare providers, at all levels in the organization, learn continuously about new healthcare technology, treatments, and new regulations. In our business those with the skills to use various information resources to improve their knowledge independently in addition to formal, structured education and training, are the true stars. They are the librarians, teachers and leaders in our own organization. We must focus on building these skills early in our children’s education.”

Jon Copeland Stephen P. DuvoisinCEO Inland Imaging Business Associates CEO Inland Imaging Investments

It’s a fallacy to believe the institution will be rendered obsolete.

“It's perhaps natural to believe that in this age of web-based information, libraries and librarians are going the way of the dodo, or at least are becoming a luxury that we can no longer afford. Exactly the opposite is true.

In the print world, the ratio of authoritative information to garbage was relatively

favorable, and it was relatively straightforward to differentiate one from the other. The web, however, is an undifferentiated jumble of fact and fiction- of authoritative information and garbage. Learning how to intelligently navigate this mess is a critical life skill that every student must learn. Librarians are information professionals- the people best equipped to impart this knowledge. Libraries are repositories of authoritative information, as well as sources of knowledge about how to critically evaluate information.

We must stop the erosion of Washington's school libraries.”

Dr. Ed Lazowska, Bill & Melinda Gates Chair University of Washington

Member, National Academy of Engineering Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences

20th Century: libraries are considered an ‘enhancement’ and ‘local’ program.

21st Century: libraries are 21st century classrooms that impart the skills necessary to survive, compete, and flourish in the information age.

“This idea that libraries are extra is really a fallacy. I think the libraries are a fundamental foundation of a good education.”

Dave Quall, WA State RepresentativeChair of the House Education Committee

Top 10 To-Dos

“The Spokane parents gave people around the state an opportunity to say, 'Yes, this is important.’ That is special—not unique—but it's unusual, because here's a couple of concerned parents who are doing more than writing or emailing. They're expressing views clearly and forcefully and providing a website so that others who agree can express their views as well.”

-Skip Priest, WA State Representative, to the LA Times

“You and I both agree that libraries are important and an essential part of schools.  I'm not a member of the education committee, but if this bill makes it to the Senate floor, I plan to support it.”

-WA State Senator in response to an email seeking commitment

“I think we can do the funding you need... without passing a bill. This allows the funding to go out this year and the task force to complete their work over the summer without another mandate to unwind. I think everyone gets what they need.”

-Finance Chair on the eve of bills dying

7. Be a friend instead of a foe. How?

Be gracious instead of complaining. Be respectful. Be appreciative instead of demanding. Be realistic.

“At the end of the legislative session what matters most is how you’re remembered.” -Olympia insider

“It was wonderfully reaffirming for me to witness positive energy vibrating at such a high frequency that it could only produce positive results.”

-Legislative Aide

8. Provide a concrete request and substantive documentation laying out the case.

It needs to be data-rich, efficient, compelling, and framed in policy context.

“All those other folks that want inclusion are vying for dollars, so you need to really hone your arguments and stay on message. You have a great start but the battle is going to get bloody as more groups weigh in with their requests, yeah, even demands for funding.  Some will cite laws or regulations that, they will claim, require they be funded, others will appeal to emotions or multiple other reasons . . . it will not be pretty or nice.  So, come prepared to fight and watch your back.”

-Legislative Aide after the session ended on what would lie ahead on the road to seeking permanent funding

9. As part of rebranding 21st century libraries, harness every emerging technology, and employ all mediums, to make yourself indispensible.

10. Plan to be in it for the long haul, and find financial supporters.

“Give yourselves a collective standing ovation for having the courage to go after your vision with a vengeance and never look back!”

-Legislative Aide to a high-ranking member of the state legislature

Simple tips that lead to success It’s all about the decision makers.

Legislators, the governor, and top agency leaders are the only people that can bring about change. They are the real champions. Advocates can only put an issue on the table. Invite legislators to address your meetings – it’s mutually beneficial.

Help the press connect the dots. Suggest key people to interview and provide the contact information. A quote from a decision-maker regarding libraries is one of the most important outcomes you can facilitate.

Provide stakeholders with everything they need to take action.Links, email addresses, phone numbers and background info

Envision a new reality“We all need to stand together, for our state and for others; our dream is that Washington develops a blueprint in the next year for the most 21st Century, the most visionary, and the most fully-funded school library programs in the country.”

Spokane Moms, the last day of the 2008 session

Less than 3 months later, WA State’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), presented the following proposals:

Libraries for the 21st CenturyTechnology for 21st Century Teaching and Learning