Advocacy at Your Library: Hosting Legislator Visits

Meeting with your members of Congress doesn’t have to be intimidating or happen just on Legislative Day visits in D.C. or your state capital. Inviting lawmakers to visit the library is the best way to show them the many unique ways libraries positively impact communities. As funding structures and political realities shift, visits are a powerful tool to build relationships, gain support, and publicize the library’s programs and services. In this free webinar, a panel of public librarians will share best practices, tips, and advice on how to successfully host lawmakers.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this free webinar, participants will be able to:

• Understand the basic differences between advocacy and lobbying;
• Understand the value of inviting lawmakers to visit the library; and
• Understand approaches to navigating complex relationships.

Who Should Attend

This free webinar is intended for library workers and advocates, particularly managers, administrators, and members of Friends groups, library boards, and Foundations.

Panelists

• Susan Hempstead, Assistant Director, Strategic Relations and Communications, Sno-Isle Libraries (WA)
• Tyler Hahn, Director, Cherokee Public Library (IA)
• Amelia Aldred, ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office Deputy Director, State and Local Advocacy, American Library Association
• Michael Lambert, PLA President and City Librarian, San Francisco Public Library, will moderate

Accommodations

This live webinar will be captioned in English (United States). Zoom desktop client or mobile app is required to access captions.

Attendees using screen readers are advised to turn off speech prior to joining the Zoom event because PLA webinars make extensive use of chat functionality. Attendees who find chat distracting may wish to disable it in the Zoom event, as PLA moderators will verbally highlight important topics raised in chat and chat transcripts will be provided post-webinar.

If you have a physical or communication need that may affect your participation in this webinar, please contact us at plawebinars@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752) at least two weeks prior to the webinar. Without prior notification of need, we may not be able to provide appropriate accommodations for the live event.

Archived Recording

If you're unable to attend this live webinar, an archived recording will be available to all registrants typically within 1–3 business of the live event. Access to closed captions will be provided in the webinar recording.

Tech Requirements

This webinar will be presented using the Zoom platform. Please review Zoom technical requirements and support information, and test your connection.

Once you've joined the webinar, there are two ways to connect your audio: via computer or via telephone. No microphone is required. PLA works with its webinar platform provider to assure the highest quality audio is being delivered to attendees. However, variables over which PLA has no control—such as the speed of your Internet connection or traffic on your local network—can affect the end quality of the webinar audio delivered by your computer. Each webinar’s audio is also available by telephone via a toll number, so we recommend you have access to a long-distance enabled phone as a backup in case you experience audio issues with VoIP. If you do encounter any problems during the webinar, you will receive a link to its archived recording within a week of the live event and can review anything you missed.