MLA Conference Keynote - Library Advocacy from the Frontline

I am sitting here at the Missouri Library Association Annual conference. The keynote speaker is the first line up. I am hoping to be able to blog throughout this conference to keep everyone up to date on what is going on here at the MLA conference.

Dr. Camila A. Alire, the president of the American Library Association is the keynote speaker and discussing how advocacy must start with the library staff and faculty.

She defines advocacy as "active support of a cause or course of action." Her presidential initiative is involving library staff in library advocacy. "We all must advocate for the value of our libraries and all of us must also be able to articulate our value as library employees."

Types of Advocacy
-Legislative
--Library Administrators
--Trustees
--Friends
--Grassroots

What's not happening is frontline advocacy coming from librarians and library support staff.

So how can librarians and library staff advocate for their library?
1. Articulate the value of your respective libraries and the value to their communities.
2. Intermediaries - Improve the quality of resources and services in the library environment.

Typically frontline librarians and staff are not charged to do library advocacy. Usually they are just responsible for services and outreach. The main thing that should be being done is to talk about how good your library is.

Level 1 Advocacy - Involve people by the virtue of their title and/or responsibilities
Level 2 Advocacy - Involve other librarians and library staff

Build an Advocacy Team
-Determine the extent of frontline staff involvement
--Provide scripts and/or "cheat sheets"
-Articulate that involvement and add to job responsibilites

Remember that staff must do advocacy at their comfort level by matching the message with the venues (grocery store, ballgame, etc.), work with staff for input, and then allow the staff to meet so that they can assess the outcomes of advocacy.

"Anyone who thinks they are too small to be effective has never been in bed with a mosquito."

My thoughts - this was a good session with a lot of good things to think about. We don't really think of librarians and library staff needing to advocate for the library, but it really is part of our job.