ACRL Government Relations Committee

Committee Charge

In consultation with the ACRL Board and staff, to take a direct and active role in formulating an ACRL Legislative Agenda seeking formal input from the Scholarly Communications Committee, the Copyright Committee, and other committees and ACRL leaders as appropriate. The Legislative Agenda will be prioritized and include objectives for legislative action at the national level on issues that may affect the welfare of academic and research libraries. The Committee will recommend an ACRL legislative agenda to the Board before the Spring Board meeting; to keep the ACRL Board up to date on the activities and discussions of the ALA Committee on Legislation; to assist the ACRL Board in efforts to incorporate the ACRL legislative agenda into the ALA legislative agenda; to play a liaison role with the Chapters Council in developing mechanisms for stimulating grassroots action on behalf of the ACRL legislative agenda. The Committee will monitor the Legislative Advocacy Plan and make suggestions for improvement as needed. In addition, the Committee will support the ACRL Government Relations Specialist to ensure success of that position. Members of the GRC may be asked to write position papers expanding on Legislative Agenda items. The Chair of the ACRL Government Relations Committee will serve as the liaison to the ALA Committee on Legislation and is expected to take a leadership role in recruiting librarians to the ACRL Legislative Network (legnet), plan the ALA National Library Legislative Day events that ACRL offers, and attend the ALA National Library Legislative Day.