Marian Goes to Washington: A Political Primer for Librarians

摘要

In the 2002 and 2000 election cycles, covering about four years, only 24 librarians made political contributions in excess of 200 dollar to any one candidate, political party, or political organization. Hardly a tour de force. In contrast, the political action committee for a large online vendor had receipts of 14,000 dollar in 2000 and 52,000 dollar in 2002. Not exactly in the same league with the NRA but nothing to sneeze at either. We are in the midst of widespread budget cuts. We have been for some time and there is no end in sight. While librarians' salaries are not, in large part, overly generous, there are ways of influencing policy without going broke. Librarians must understand how the political process works and how they can use it to increase the standing of libraries and the profession.