If you are a library advocate and wish to join the Facebook Twibbon "Save Libraries" campaign, here is how. Twibbon is a place to start campaigns. One campaign is the "Save Libraries" campaign. Among other things, you can have your profile photo include the message, "Save Libraries".
The campaign is still new and little detail other than the obvious. No place to focus on specifics or action steps. So far, the only obvious cool tool is the ability to add the words "Save Libraries" to our profile photo.... what am I missing?
After The Huffington Post carried an article about the most amazing libraries in the world, many wrote in with other amazing libraries. See Jessie Kunhardt's slideshow. "We are getting much bad news about libraries recently, as funding drops and major cuts are made, but these buildings and collections remind us of how important libraries are and how much they are worth saving.”... Huffington Post, Feb. 22
How about featuring a series on school libraries, too? That would be a good way to bring attention to the crisis in school libraries.
Library Snapshot Day is "A Day in the Life of Your Library". If you or your library is planning a snapshot day, the American Library Association provides 3 easy steps:
Let ALA Know! If you are interested in hosting a Snapshot Day, or if you have already hosted one and would like to tell us about it, please contact Marci Merola, Director of the Office for Library Advocacy, or Michael Dowling, Director of the ALA Chapter Relations Office.
Visit the Library Snapshot Day Primer to get you started. If possible, please use some or all of these criteria as part of the information you gather. Although the main purpose of Library Snapshot Day is to help libraries at the state and local level, ALA would like to translate statewide results into national results that can be used for national media and advocacy efforts.
Send ALA your results! Please fill out this form and help ALA compile information about what happens in libraries across the country in a single day.
This sounds like a good project to share with a community photo club or a school photography club.
Singer Natalie Merchant praised public librarians when she gave a surprise performance of her new CD of poems set to music, "Leave Your Sleep" at the Public Library Association conference in Portland, OR. Merchant said “I spent my entire childhood at the library” and pledged her devotion to libraries, especially at a time when "we’re all making budget cuts."
According to American Libraries Magazine Inside Scoop article by Leonard Kniffel, "she closed with a rousing version of her song “Kind and Generous,” dedicating it to librarians and dancing through the audience to express her gratitude: “You’ve been so kind and generous. I don’t know how you keep on giving. For your kindness, I’m in debt to you. For your selflessness, my admiration. For everything you’ve done, you know I’m bound, I’m bound to thank you for it,” she sang, to appreciative applause." Here is a 4-minute music video of Kind and Generous from YouTube:
Good to see a respected business publication, Forbes Magazine, carry an "intelligent investing" article about the importance of strong school libraries. "Young Learners Need Librarians, Not Just Google" by Dulcina Media CEO Mark Moran is a article that will be shared widely within libraryland and hopefully to the policymakers and education leaders who keep shortchanging students and our future by reducing funding for school library service.
If Mark could write a series of followup articles, here are some topics he could cover: School Library Standards -- require them! The AASL - American Association of School Librarians has developed school library curriculum standards, as have many states. in fact, research shows that strong school library programs increase student achievement, regardless of a school community's poverty level. State school library standards are important, yet do not exist in all states. Here are some California and national material that supports the case for strong school libraries as a key element in student success. Technology is a key element of a strong school library program. Sadly, library programs are often cut because they are not seen as "classrooms", when in fact they are classrooms.
Define "strong school library" (most parents and policymakers don't know the elements of a strong school library ...this is why school library standards are important). See"Best Seller" Campaign for Strong School Libraries. Does the library have:
A full time, certified school Teacher Librarian and a full-time paraprofessional working as a team?This allows the teacher librarian to collaborate with teachers in co-designing instruction which incorporates information literacy into the curriculum.
Lots of carefully selected books, databases, and other learning resources?Resources must reflect the school curriculum and student recreational reading needs.
A program which provides instruction and activities for students to use the research process in finding the information they need?Research is a process, not an end product – it is the thinking process which the students benefit from, not the ultimate "find." The "find" is generally forgotten – while the process remains with them forever.
Technology, including hardware, software, and networking that form a virtual library without walls linking students to the world of information, a cybrary that fully supports the school curriculum, 24/7?
Its doors open before, during and after school hours, with liberal circulation policies?This means access to the school library, its resources, and staff.
If you are a library advocate and wish to join the 
