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The Legislative Panel

 

Legislative News - October 2009

 

Advocacy 101 – Getting Your Message Heard

Due to low registration, the Advocacy 101 – Getting Your Message Heard” programs have been canceled. The MLA Office will be issuing refunds to those who registered. We apologize for any inconvenience. We hope to offer the program again in 2010.

Libraries are facing critical shortages in funding and resources at the federal, state, and local levels. Learn how to successfully advocate for your library system. You will gain knowledge and understanding of how the State of Maryland operates and will use this knowledge to effectively get your message heard by the right people. Learn how to use Capwiz, the latest tool that makes contacting your elected officials easy. Learn tips and insider information on being an effective advocate for your library system.

Advocacy 101 is perfect for Directors, Trustees, Library Staff, Friends and Community advocates. This program is sponsored by the Maryland Library Association’s Legislative Panel and will be presented by the Legislative Panel’s officers: Mary Baykan, Mary Hastler and Natalie Edington.

Capwiz Survey Results

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Capwiz survey this summer! There were 183 completed surveys submitted. The data has been gathered and the Legislative Panel is examining the results to determine what adjustments should be made. Our goal is to make more effective use of Capwiz in our advocacy efforts. We received valuable feedback and a number of good suggestions, so stay tuned for improvements!

One suggestion was to offer training on Capwiz, which we will do in November.

Capwiz is an online advocacy tool used to distribute information about legislative issues and facilitate contact with elected officials. Capwiz is provided to MLA by the American Library Association. You can check it out at http://capwiz.com/ala/mdExternal Web Site.

Legislative News - July 2009

We had a busy Maryland Legislative Session and continue to have several federal legislative issues of interest to libraries. Many thanks to everyone who has participated in advocacy efforts this year!

MLA Annual Conference Program – PowerPoint Presentation

Outgoing Legislative Officer Denise Davis and Assistant Legislative Officer Natalie Edington teamed up with Kristin Murphy and Lynne Bradley, representatives from the American Library Association’s Washington Office, to present a program at the MLA Conference entitled “The Legislative Challenge: Library Advocacy in 2009 and Beyond.” The presentation included a summary of the challenges and accomplishments during the 2009 Maryland Legislative Session, the work of the Legislative Panel in library advocacy, the critical importance of advocacy as a part of every library worker’s job and how you can better advocate for libraries. In case you missed it, or if you would like a review, the PowerPoint presentation is available below.

The Legislative Challenge: Library Advocacy in 2009 and Beyond – PowerPoint slides

Capwiz Survey

This was the first year the Legislative Panel used Capwiz, an online advocacy tool provided to MLA by the American Library Association. The Legislative Panel is looking for feedback on Capwiz in order to make adjustments for next year. Whether or not you used Capwiz, please take a few minutes to complete the confidential, eleven-question survey by following the link below. The survey will be available until Saturday, August 22, 2009.

Capwiz Survey - http://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?key=teGR163oqn3SVgZOj_7unOgExternal Web Site

New Legislative Officers

The new fiscal year also brings about some changes in officers for the Legislative Panel. Denise Davis will be stepping down from the Legislative Officer position. We are very appreciative of her hard work and eternal optimism during this challenging year. Mary Baykan will be serving as the Legislative Officer. Mary Hastler, as Assistant Legislative Officer, will provide assistance with monitoring Maryland legislation and issues. Natalie Edington will continue her role as the Assistant Legislative Officer / Federal Coordinator and follow the federal legislation and issues. Contact information for each of the officers may be found by clicking on the Contacts link on the left side of this page.

Last updated 10 November 2009.