Jenna Nemec-Loise receives YALSA’s YA Advocacy Travel Stipend to attend National Library Legislative Day

CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), selected Jenna Nemec-Loise as the recipient of a stipend to attend ALA’s 39^th annual National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) in Washington, D.C. May 7-8, 2013.

“We are pleased to send Jenna to Leg Day for the opportunity to get the word out on all the hard work YALSA members do to ensure the teens in their community have access to excellent library services and resources,” says YALSA President Jack H. Martin. “We look forward to explaining how imperative library funding is to teens across the U.S. and the great impact it has on the legislators’ constituents.”

YALSA’s YA Advocacy Travel Stipend of $1,000 will provide Nemec-Loise with funds for event registration, travel expenses, hotel accommodations, meals and other travel expenses.

NLLD is a two-day advocacy event, during which hundreds of library supporters, leaders and patrons meet with their members of Congress to champion national library funding. Briefing Day features sessions on the issues affecting libraries in Congress. Nemec-Loise will hear from Congressional staff, legal experts, lobbyists, ALA staff and others. The following day participants meet with legislators and their staff. As a children’s librarian at the Chicago Public Library Roosevelt branch, Nemec-Loise will spend the day with the Illinois delegation.

When she returns from D.C., Nemec-Loise will write a post for the YALSAblog after NLLD to share her experience meeting with legislators.

Library advocates who cannot make it to Capitol Hill for the event can be a part of the effort by calling and/or emailing their elected officials as part of Virtual Library Legislative Day. Activities will be held throughout the week of May 6-10, 2013, providing an opportunity for all library advocates to make their voices heard on a national level.

For more than 50 years, YALSA has worked to build the capacity of libraries and librarians to engage, serve and empower teens. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to www.ala.org/yalsa, or contact the YALSA office by phone, (800) 545-2433, ext. 4390, or e-mail, yalsa@ala.org.