Act4SL Advocacy Group Pushes for Librarians in ESEA

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By Debra Lau Whelan August 10, 2010

There's a new school library advocacy group in town--and it's called Act4SL. Its aim? To convince legislators that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) requires a certified media specialist in every K-12 school.

Deb Logan

"Our goal is for every student across the country to have access to the type of school library experiences that will prepare them with 21st century life and learning," says Deb Logan, a school librarian at Mount Gilead High School in Ohio and one of its five founding members. "That means strong, professionally staffed school libraries with up-to-date collections. All five of us live in states where these types of programs are dwindling due to extensive cuts."

To get started, the new grassroots group recently unveiled a foldable wallet-sized printable card called "Ready, Set, Contact," which offers a one-stop shop of important phone numbers and websites for any librarian who wants to advocate on behalf of the profession.

"The card is designed to make contact information readily available," says Logan, who helped come up with the idea for Act4SL after presenting an advocacy session at the 2009 American Association of School Librarians Conference in Charlotte, NC. "So when a call to action is sent out, advocates have contact information readily available and are ready to quickly think about their messages, and then either call or email [their legislators]."

The card also provides one or two important talking points to help library advocates who don't know where to

Christie Kaaland

start, quickly put together a positive message. Act4SL's wiki also is filled with advocacy resources.

The catchy name, Act4SL, stands for Act 4 School Libraries and Act 4 Student Learning. "We discussed a group name for some time," says Logan. "First and foremost, we wanted to send a message that ultimately, we are advocating for students and their learning. We also wanted it to send a message about taking action. Ever voice is needed! Act4SL is about taking action for school libraries and student learning."

Alice Yucht

Why is it important for library supporters speak up now? Although the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate were scheduled to reauthorize the ESEA (previously titled No Child Left Behind) in 2009, it still hasn't happened. The word on Capitol Hill is that Congress might mark up an ESEA reauthorization bill by the end of the year, so that's why it's critical to convince lawmakers to include school libraries in this round of talks.

"We encourage librarians to print out, copy, mass print, and share the card with any and all supporters," says Logan, who plans to give the cards to her school's government teacher when he gives a lesson on lobbying. "It is not enough to pass out or publicize the card. People need to know how to use it, and how quick and simple it is to reach out and make a contact."

Logan says creating a grassroots group is as simple as sitting down with like-minded people. In fact, that's how Act4SL got started--immediately following an advocacy session Logan presented during an AASL conference.

Key library advocates were sitting in the audience: Debra Kachel, an instructor in the Library and Information Technologies Department at Pennsylvania's Mansfield University; Christie Kaaland, a faculty member at Antioch University in Seattle; and Alice Yacht, an adjunct faculty at Rutgers University's Graduate School of

Sara Kelly Johns

Communication, Information, and Library Studies. "And following the session, we talked about the need to get more people involved in advocacy," remembers Logan. "The conversation continued for at least two hours over coffee." Later that weekend, Sara Kelly Johns, a former media specialist at Lake Placid Central School District in New York, got involved.

Kachel, Logan, and Kaaland all have prior lobbying experience--they were instrumental in ensuring that language for school library funding was included in education bills that were passed in their respective states.

Johns, now an instructor at Mansfield University with Kachel, has extensive advocacy experience as well, having spent her entire library career lobbying at the state and national level. Johns is a member of ALA's Grassroots Advocacy Committee and AASL's legislative committee, where she was involved in writing the ESEA talking points used by ALA.

"Through this process, we made mistakes and learned valuable lessons that we feel can be applied at the federal level," explains Kaaland, who spent several months this past spring searching state school library websites and contacting executive boards in each state asking for volunteers. "Probably the most important lesson we learned is timing is everything. This is one of the reasons why we are acting in a grassroots fashion, with the support of the American Library Association (ALA) and AASL. It allows us to be nimble. It is also the reason for carrying this contact [card]."

Debra Kachel

Act4SL members are continuing to build a network of supporters, with Kaaland already in touch with the Washington Moms advocacy group and contacting key people in every state. "These people have agreed to respond to calls to action and to get the word out in their states," Logan says.

What's next? Future goals include creating videos showing how easy it is to contact legislators, and there's talk about developing an app to help people contact lawmakers.

"One of the great things about our group is that even though Sara, Deb K., and Alice are retired from being building level school librarians, and Christie works fulltime at the university level, they continue to work towards students having access to strong school library programs," says Logan, who is the only building-level person in the group. "Our small group is passionate about making a difference in building legislative support for strong, professionally staffed school libraries. We hope to make a difference with the reauthorization of ESEA. If each member of our profession does not step up and speak up, our students could lose access to school libraries and the important learning that they provide. ALA can not get this legislation passed without us and our voices."

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