Nlld briefing: part 1

Ann Hutton, Executive DirectorALA President, Jim Rettig, welcomed the 400+ attendees to NLLD and expounded on one of the themes from his presidential year --- advocacy within the library ecosystems. As an academic librarian, he sees first hand the difficulties students experience who have not had research training in their K-12 learning environment. Warming the hearts of many of his listeners, he likened the local public library to other community first responders since it is the library that is on the first line of defense for many in this strange and unprecedented economic environment. He believes that libraries of all types are interdependent and need to advocate for each other. “If a school system gets rid of its library it is leaving its children behind and while the first responders, the public library, will do a lot it cannot do it all.” Rettig stressed that all of the NLLD issues are library issues not just by type of library but within an integrated library ecosystem. And as to why we come to Washington to lobby, Rettig said, “We don’t do it for libraries we do it for the people they serve.”With Rettig’s vision, ALA’s Office for Library Advocacy will create a new website identifying best practices from around the country and detailing how effective libraries coalition build with other libraries, within cities, communities, and states. Library Stategies, a consulting group of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library will perform the research. (Source: SELCO Librarian)