**UPDATE: As of late this morning, the 25,000 threshhold of signatures has been reached! Congratulations to Carl Harvey and his many partners and allies!**

School Library Monthly joins the ALA Washington Office in encouraging readers to sign the White House petition asking the Obama administration to “ensure that every child in America has access to an effective school library program.” This is a SEPARATE initiative from the SKILLS Act that has been reintroduced in Congress. If 25,000 signatures are not received by February 4, the petition will not be forwarded to the President. It has been recommended that we set an internal cut-off date of Feb. 3, just in case.

Remember: this is a REVISED petition. If you signed the petition a few months ago that was initiated by librarians in California, that vote does not count toward this new petition.

ALA Washington distributed these cards at ALA Midwinter with the instructions:

By now, hopefully everyone is back at work — and relatively rested up — who attended ALA Midwinter. Midwinter attendees tend to be a different crowd from those who attend other conferences. The primary reason for Midwinter attendance is that you are on a committee that requires your attendance at a face-to-face meeting or you want to see the Newbery, Caldecott, and other Youth Media Awards announced live (which is absolutely, unequivocally fun if you’ve never done it).

So the folks at Midwinter tend to be the librarians who are going above and beyond their day job at their library or related site. These are the folks who, back home, live under that dark shadow called, “You’re An Overachiever.”

If there’s one thing I saw this past weekend, it was FATIGUE. The combination of what was, for most, a shorter holiday break, plus additional job responsibilities seems to have tuckered out our profession. And there were many faces we didn’t see this year that we usually do, folks for whom salary or benefit cuts, or an overwhelming workload, meant they could scarcely afford the time or the costs of being away from home. And we know that there are many of you out there who are running multiple libraries, or trying to balance part-time classroom teaching with the very full-time responsibility of maintaining, much less improving, a library collection and program.

School Library Monthly hears every day from folks who are working this hard and feeling this fatigue, and that’s why it supports the White House petition that, if 25,000 signatures are received, will be delivered to President Obama’s desk. Many of your colleagues have worked tirelessly to get the word out on behalf of the profession.

If you haven’t yet signed, SLM encourages you to do so, if only as a sign of support and thanks for those formal and informal leaders in the profession who have extended themselves on behalf of all in the profession. Signing sooner rather than later reduces their fretful anxiety. Remember: this is a REVISED petition. If you signed the petition a few months ago that was initiated by librarians in California, that vote does not count toward this new petition.

Thanks.

Former Howard Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi, widely regarded for being the first campaign leader to harness the power of the Web, spoke at ASCD’s recent Leadership Institute for Legislative Advocacy. The ASCD InService blog posted this advice:

From the Occupy movement to increasing state-level flexibility in federal education legislation, the significance of being both local and vocal was a major theme of this year’s institute.

“We don’t live in a top-down communication world anymore; messages are peer-to-peer,” explained Trippi. “Anyone can challenge the thinking at the top.” Trippi encouraged educators to use social media to their advantage to build their “army of Davids” and start “handing out slingshots.”

Yet, despite grassroots support, it often seems education policy makers and practitioners speak two different languages. Staffers and educator advocates offered communication strategies for bridging the divide between Capitol Hill and the classroom. For example

- Using anecdotes, espcially stories specific to your the representatives jurisdiction, to illustrate your goals or agenda

- Basing your argument in research

- Identifying what’s working well, what you want to change, and where you can compromise

- Tweaking the rhetoric from “measurement” to “assessment,” and from “compliance” to “engagement”

- Knowing your representative’s voting record and commending like-minded voting

- Asking what issues they’re working on and how you can help

- Follow-up with phone calls, emails, and supplemental materials

“There is a firehose of information coming at your representatives; it’s up to staffers to ge the best to their bosses,” advised one staffer. “Build relationships with staffers and be persistent.”

And ask your friends to join you, included Trippi. “YOU move the message.”

Good advice for getting our message across in tough times!