june04c.indd


W  a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e  Bernadette Murphy 

National Library Legislative Day 2004 a 
success! 
National Library Legislative Day, cosponsored 
by the District of Columbia Library Association 
(DCLA) and ALA, is held every year in May to 
bring librarians, library trustees, board members, 
and other library friends to Washington, D.C. to 
talk with their representatives and senators about 
issues of concern to the library community. 
This year’s events brought more than 500 
librarians and friends of libraries from 49 states 
to Capitol Hill to advocate on behalf of libraries 
and library programs. Nearly 60 academic and 
research librarians attended the ACRL Legislative 
Luncheon on Monday, which included an 
advocacy session specific to their issues. 

Each year ALA’s Washington Offi ce prepares 
information on key legislative issues for discussion 
with Legislative Day participants at an all­day 
briefing. The following day, library advocates 
bring our messages to their members of Congress 
and they cover issues, including copyright and 
intellectual property, appropriations and funding 
for library programs, and issues relating to access 
to government information as well as the Internet 
and telecommunications. 

FOLUSA gives an annual public service 
award on National Library Legislative Day 
to a member of Congress who provides 
leadership on and demonstrates commitment 
to important library issues. This year, 
FOLUSA presented two awards: Sen. Russ 
Feingold (D­WI) and Rep. Bernie Sanders (I­
VT) both were honored at the Congressional 
Reception. Feingold and Sanders each 
delivered rousing speeches to the crowd, 
reinforcing their commitment to scaling the 
USA PATRIOT Act so that it does not infringe 
on civil liberties. 

After attending National Library Legislative 
Day events, participants are encouraged 
to maintain and promote the relationships 
they built with their representatives and 

Bernadette Murphy is communications specialist at ALA’s 

Washington Offi ce, e-mail: bmurphy@alawash.org 

senators through regular communication 
with legislators’ offices in Washington, D.C., 
as well as with staff in their local district 
offices. We also encourage participants to 
invite their legislators to local library events 
being held in their communities. 

The ALA Washington Office and DCLA 
express our thanks to the attendees of 
this year’s National Library Legislative Day 
events. The events provide an important 
opportunity for each participant to educate 
senators and representatives about all 
the terrific programs at your library and 
on issues that are important to the larger 
library community. Your Congressional 
representatives want to know how libraries 
and library programs impact the lives of their 
constituents—and who better to tell them 
about the continuing importance of libraries 
than a strong group of library advocates? 

The ALA Washington Office is continually 
reminded by comments from House and 
Senate staffs of just how important the 
presence of library supporters is on Capitol 
Hill. 

Staff will say, “People visited me in May 
and talked about . . . libraries, copyright, 
school libraries, government information,” 
whatever the subject is that you are 
discussing. This proves to us that Congress 
understands the message delivered by 
constituents who are interested in the 
subject matter and can be counted upon to 
pay attention to Congressional action. 

(Supervising,” continued from page 308 ) 
These suggestions and bits of advice are 
meant to smooth the way and help guide 
you as you begin developing that inevitable 
experience of your own. 

Notes 
1. William Oncken Jr., Managing Manage­

ment Time: Who’s Got the Monkey (Engle­
woodCliffs: Prentice­Hall 1984). 

332 / C&RL NewsJune 2004 

mailto:bmurphy@alawash.org