Welcome to the Lib Politics Rodeo
If you haven't heard about what is happening with Kentucky Libraries get out your keyboards and start Googling. The court decision on library funding could produce a trend (think the Blob).
Welcome to the Lib Politics Rodeo.
Every Friday we will round up the week's news on library politics and highlight some of the things that we are following or reading. Here's what we have in our lassos this week.
In the news:
If you haven't heard about what is happening with Kentucky Libraries get out your keyboards and start Googling. The court decision on library funding could produce a trend (think the Blob). But wait there is some temporary good news "The Kentucky Court of Appeals has granted the Campbell County Public Library’s motion stopping a rollback of the property tax rate by 56 percent – to 1978 levels – while the court hears the case." See also this Library Journal Article that provides some great background on what is going on with Kentucky Libraries right now.
On the best coast things are looking up. EveryLibrary recently supported the ballot initiative for Santa Clara public libraries where they got their parcel tax renewed. San Jose hopes to follow on that success. Residents of Spokane Valley are considering a ballot initiative to fund the building of a new library.
Check out the latest on Library Journal by EveryLibrary Executive Director, John Chrastka wherein he talks about how to get out of the library with your campaign during library card sign up month. This kind of door to door work can be tough, but it is well worth the goodwill you build with library users and voters that are non-users.
On our desks:
The concept of Power Mapping is a great way to approach library advocacy of any type, whether you have something on the ballot or not. It is also great for divvying up household chores. Will you use this for good or for awesome?
Campaign boot camp 2.0: Basic training for candidates, staffers, volunteers, and nonprofits by Christine Pelosi, 2012.
This is one book that we have read and re-read and it is not about libraries, but about political campaigns. Publicly funded libraries will never have to stop going to the voters. That is the nature of taxes, bonds, levies etc. Eventually you will need more and you will need to know how to successfully run a campaign. This book provides the basics and it is written with non-profits in mind. Find a copy in your local library.
That's all for today. Join us next week for another round up. Happy trails!