11 Keys to Your Statehous

摘要

"All politics is local, in Boston as well as in Helena," says John Finn, president of the Montana Library Association. Indeed, while the folks at the American Library Association (ALA) Washington Office are working for libraries on the national level, it's the librarians, trustees, Friends groups, and patrons who get the hard work done in each state. They do it one step at a time, building and sustaining classic grass-roots support year in, year out. For some politicians, the effort works, for others it is barely enough to keep the library hat in the ring. "Librarians don't think they're doing enough, but that is not true," says New York State Senator Hugh Farley (R), a library advocate who defended the state's libraries against drastic cuts last year and would like to see libraries funded in pace with education. "They are extremely respected by their own legislators." If all politicians were as taken with libraries as Farley is, librarians wouldn't have so much work to do.