NCSU Libraries Focus Online
Volume 22 number 1 - Fall 2001
National Library Legislative Day
By Peggy Hoon, Scholarly Communication
The NCSU Libraries' Scholarly Communication Librarian Peggy Hoon serves as
the chair of the North Carolina Library Association's (NCLA) Governmental Relations
Committee. One of her major responsibilities this year was to coordinate statewide
participation of North Carolina librarians in the American Library Association's
twenty-seventh annual National Library Legislative Day in Washington, D.C.,
during spring 2001. Hoon and ten highly motivated librarians joined colleagues
from across the country to seek support for libraries and their millions of
users.
The librarians spent the first day of their two-day trip reviewing issues
and needs and coordinating stories of success. Grouped in flexible teams of
twos and threes, they spent the next day traveling to the offices of North
Carolina's senators and representatives to tell the library story--which is
really the story of North Carolinians' information needs, whether generated
by schoolchildren, the general public, college students, researchers, or businesses.
Issues discussed during the visits included: reauthorization and adequate
funding of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), the only federal
program focused on funding library services in North Carolina; Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization, including school library funding;
support for S.487, the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act
(TEACH); and government documents availability.
Participating North Carolina librarians this year included Kevin Cherry (State
Library of North Carolina), Dave Ferguson (Forsyth County Public Library),
Nancy Gibbs (NCSU Libraries), Deanna Harris (East Garner Middle School), Peggy
Hoon (NCSU Libraries), Anne Miller (Duke University), David Paynter (New Hanover
County Public Library), Mary Reichel (Appalachian State University), Eleanor
Swaim (Forsyth County), and John Via (Forsyth County Public Library). They
visited thirteen of North Carolina's fourteen congressional offices and hosted
a brunch that drew congressional staff members as well as Congressman Howard
Coble of North Carolina's Sixth District. North Carolina's visiting librarians
also collected bookmarks from libraries across North Carolina and gave them
to each congressional office as a way of keeping North Carolina's libraries
and patrons uppermost in the legislators' thoughts.
For those who think that this sounds like fun and important work, it is! Consider
joining next year's trek to Washington, D.C., for the twenty-eighth annual
National Library Legislative Day to tell your library's story.
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