At the YSS Board meeting on Friday, March 21, WLA Executive Director Laura Salser encouraged us to be strong advocates: "Youth Services Librarians always have wonderful stories, so I encourage you to share them now." In that spirit, we re-share the original letter from our WLA President Kathrine Clark and Library Development and Legislation Chair Peter Loeffel on the current situation at IMLS and how you can help by telling stories of how youth services have a positive impact in your community.
March 18, 2025
Greetings, WLA Members
Late last week, President Trump signed an Executive Order involving the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and other federal agencies. Original White House Executive Order
There are still unanswered questions about this order and its potential impact on federal funding for libraries nationally as well as here closer to home.
While we wait for the IMLS to release its plan of compliance with the order, WLA leadership and its Library Development & Legislation (LD&L) Committee are communicating with our partners at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, leaders within the 15 public library systems around the state, other state library associations, and the American Library Association. We will share more information as it becomes available to us.
What can you do now? A very positive thing you can do is to share a story with your federal elected officials about how Wisconsin libraries have a positive impact in your community. If possible, the story should illustrate libraries' support for literacy, school success, employment and workforce development, disaster recovery, services for veterans, etc. Let your elected officials know that federal funding helps libraries deliver essential services and ask them to protect funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Unique personalized communications using the online congressional office portals linked below will have a much greater impact than auto-signed petitions and identical pre-written statements. Your approach should be reflective of WLA's ongoing thoughtful, politically neutral legislative advocacy campaign supporting state library aid in the 2025-27 budget.
Wisconsin U.S. Senators
Senator Ron Johnson
Senator Tammy Baldwin
Wisconsin Congressional Delegation (Find your representative)
1st District - Bryan Steil
2nd District - Mark Pocan
3rd District - Derrick Van Orden
4th District - Gwen Moore
5th District - Scott Fitzgerald
6th District - Glenn Grothman
7th District - Thomas Tiffany
8th District - Tony Wied
If you have questions, please contact WLA Executive Director Laura Sauser at sauser@wisconsinlibraries.org.
Thank you for your support of Wisconsin's libraries.
Katharine Clark
WLA President
Peter Loeffel
LD&L Chair
Late last week, President Trump signed an Executive Order involving the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and other federal agencies. Original White House Executive Order
There are still unanswered questions about this order and its potential impact on federal funding for libraries nationally as well as here closer to home.
While we wait for the IMLS to release its plan of compliance with the order, WLA leadership and its Library Development & Legislation (LD&L) Committee are communicating with our partners at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, leaders within the 15 public library systems around the state, other state library associations, and the American Library Association. We will share more information as it becomes available to us.
What can you do now? A very positive thing you can do is to share a story with your federal elected officials about how Wisconsin libraries have a positive impact in your community. If possible, the story should illustrate libraries' support for literacy, school success, employment and workforce development, disaster recovery, services for veterans, etc. Let your elected officials know that federal funding helps libraries deliver essential services and ask them to protect funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Unique personalized communications using the online congressional office portals linked below will have a much greater impact than auto-signed petitions and identical pre-written statements. Your approach should be reflective of WLA's ongoing thoughtful, politically neutral legislative advocacy campaign supporting state library aid in the 2025-27 budget.
Wisconsin U.S. Senators
Senator Ron Johnson
Senator Tammy Baldwin
Wisconsin Congressional Delegation (Find your representative)
1st District - Bryan Steil
2nd District - Mark Pocan
3rd District - Derrick Van Orden
4th District - Gwen Moore
5th District - Scott Fitzgerald
6th District - Glenn Grothman
7th District - Thomas Tiffany
8th District - Tony Wied
If you have questions, please contact WLA Executive Director Laura Sauser at sauser@wisconsinlibraries.org.
Thank you for your support of Wisconsin's libraries.
Katharine Clark
WLA President
Peter Loeffel
LD&L Chair
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