Contacts: Marci Merola
Director, OLA
(312) 280-2431
advocacy@ala.org

NEWS
For Immediate Release
June 10, 2008

CHICAGO – Space is still available for the Advocacy Institute at ALA’s 2008 Annual Conference. “School Libraries in Crisis: Why Everyone Should Care” will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, June 27, in Grand Ballroom E/F at the Hyatt Regency Orange County) during the 2008 Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Those not yet registered can reserve their spot now through June 20.

“Spokane Moms” Lisa Layera Brunkan, Denette Hill and Susan McBurney, founders of the Washington Coalition for School Libraries and Information Technology, a grassroots initiative that raised $4 million for school libraries in Washington state, are among the program’s featured guests.

Members from all facets of the library community are encouraged to attend. Attendees will learn how the crisis in school libraries can affect libraries of all types and how to leverage this crisis into their own advocacy campaigns.

The registration fee, which includes lunch, is $75. The “I Love Libraries Advocate’s Package” includes limited admission to the ALA Annual Conference (including exhibits, opening general session and more) and is available for $100. For more information on the “Exhibits Supreme” package, visit www.ala.org/advocacyinstitute. To reserve your space today, please contact Marci Merola, Director, ALA Office for Library Advocacy, at (800) 545-2433, ext. 2431, or email advocacy@ala.org by June 20. 

The Advocacy Institute in Anaheim is co-sponsored by the California Library Association (CLA), the California School Library Association (CSLA) and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). It is coordinated by the Office for Library Advocacy (OLA), the OLA Advocacy Committee, the Advocacy Institute Task Force and the Library Advocacy Now! Training Subcommittee, in cooperation with the  ALA Public Information Office (PIO), the  Association for Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA), the Chapter Relations Committee, the  Washington Office's Committee on Legislation and  Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA).