Federal:
Take action to support federal library funding! Contact your senators to sign each of the Reed/Collins LSTA and Reed/Grassley/Stabenow IAL “Dear Appropriator” letters. Senators have until May 19 to sign. President Trump has proposed elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and most all other library funding sources. Read the full story on the District Dispatch.
The Joint MLA/AAHSL Legislative Task Force met with lawmakers in Washington DC in mid-April. They advocated for continued support in funding the NLM and NIH. Representatives were given fact sheets on NLM resource use, benefits of public access to federally-funded research, and NLM research support. For those attending MLA 2017 in Seattle, look for the Activism in a Time of Turbulence open forum. Read more about the Legislative Task Force’s meeting.
The ACRL Legislative Agenda for 2017 includes four focal issues. In priority order, these are:
(1) Federal funding for libraries
(2) Network neutrality
(3) Access to federally funded research
(4) Privacy and government surveillance
Read about each of these issues and view the Watch List of issues of “great concern” to academic and research libraries, but which have no legislation pending.
State:
Just a couple of news items of interest:
“Illinois Senate OKs Internet Privacy Measure” from The State Journal-Register
“Monday Bid Deadline Prompts Scramble Among Illinois Insurers, Legislators” from Modern Healthcare