OLA Library Development and Legislative Committee
Monday, March 16, 2014
10:00 am – 12:00 noon
Oregon State Library, Room 202

Present: Diedre Conkling; MaryKay Dahlgreen, State Librarian; Abigail Elder; Nan Heim, OLA Lobbyist; Sue Ludington; Ruth Murray; Janet Webster; Kate Lasky; Buzzy Nielsen; Emily Ford; Sara Charlton; Jane Corry, OLA President-Elect; Korie Buerkle

  1. Review of Previous Actions Items
  2. Collecting resources for starting a district: Kate has pulled together more of her material and should be done in a couple of weeks. She will share that with Buzzy and Sue to see if they have more to add – Buzzy from his experience at Hood River and Sue from the legal perspective. After the three of them have compiled a draft, Kate will send that to Emily to post on the committee website and copy Janet and Abigail. We will review when submitted.
  3. Legislative Day: See agenda item below.
  4. Compile information about partnership groups and their conference: Abigail has done this. We need to continually monitor. The Public Library Division will attend the League of Oregon Cities conference.
  5. Ask LibTech Roundtable to create a statement on the typical library computer station and why it is not ideal for e-government services: We have not had a response from the LibTech Roundtable. We’ll track them down at the OLA Conference.
  6. OLA Conference Sessions:See agenda item below.
  7. Drug-free zones: MaryKay has not any feedback from other state libraries; Janet had no response from ACRL-NW and Candice also struck out with chapter leaders. We will put this on the back-burner. Janet will contact Ted Smith at Newport as he brought this up initially.
  8. Lobbyist’s Report
  9. SB 5519 (State Library Budget): OLA testified in support of the budget. Janet encouraged the committee to consider $1 per child. It is currently budgeted at 94¢ and that will go down to 85¢ if the age range is expanded to 17. Nan and MaryKay thanked Abigail, Janet and Candice for testifying. It was a successful hearing. We probably will not see any more action until late May or June when the Legislature has a better idea of the economic forecast and whether the kicker will be triggered. We have a draft issue brief that Nan can use to lobby for the $1. It will have to come from a committee member as we are too late for an amendment.
  10. SB 84 (Standards for high school accelerated learning): This had a hearing in front of the Senate Education Committee and OLA submitted a neutral letter encouraging inclusion of a standard for school libraries. It does not have a work session scheduled yet and will die if this is not scheduled by April 10. Janet, Candice and Nan will draft an amendment.
  11. HB 2479 (Reading for Success): OLA supports this and Abigail testified at the hearing in front of the House Education Committee. This changes the name of Ready to Read to Reading for Success, expands the ages covered to 0-17 and raises the minimum grant to $1200. This has passed out of committee and been referred to Ways and Means. We don’t think anything will happen until late May when the budget is clearer.
  12. SB 2650 (Summer Lunch, Learn, Libraries): This had a hearing in front of the Senate Education Committee, passed out of committee and has gone to Ways and Means. OLA did not testify although OASL did in favor of the bill. We support the concept and the State Library has been involved in the pilot program. But as it currently is written, it is vague, dependent on Oregon Department of Education, and more important, does not mention the need for school librarians to staff the school libraries that would be open during these summer programs. It has lots of promise but needs more work. There are also lots of models in addition to one that is school based. The committee had a solid discussion on different models and the need for resources to support them. We also wondered if the regional hubs could play a constructive role in this program. We will have local librarians in Komp’s and Nathanson’s districts contact them with our concerns. Ruth will talk to Jenny Takeda to explain OLA’s position as she testified in favor of the bill. Janet will contact Mathew Boulay who also testified in favor and is a strong proponent of the program. We want to keep OLA as a positive player and more importantly, school libraries as a critical element of any school based summer program.
  13. HB 2516 & HB 2513 (Textbooks): Faye Chadwell asked us to look into these bills that advocate for funding for textbooks in community colleges and possible bulk purchasing. She suggested that there are other alternatives that Oregon’s community colleges and universities could explore to address the high cost of textbooks; one is developing open educational resources. These bills have been reference to the House Committee on Higher Education, Innovation and Workforce Development. There was a hearing on March 11. HB 2516 was amended to appropriate $5 million to OSU to develop open education resources.
  14. B 5514 (County law libraries appropriation): Sue reported on this. She followed the recent hearing that covered funding to the county law libraries. There was testimony about increased funding for mediation so counties would not have to take needed funds from the law libraries to cover this service. Sue will report back on the spring meeting of the law librarians to see if OLA should do anything in terms of support. Another library district is considering absorbing the county law library. This would be in addition to Tillamook, Klamath Falls and Hood River.
  15. Legislative Day Planning – April 29th
  16. The day’s schedule will be:
  17. 7:30 –Set up the book display in the Galleria. Ruth, Katie and Sara will do this getting the books from the State Library where they are stored.
  18. 8-3:30 – We will have the display staffed.
  19. 9 – Introduction to the Day and Issues by Abigail and Janet – State Library ground floor.
  20. 9:30 – Advice from Nan - Galleria
  21. 3:30 – Take down book display, take selected books to Nan’s car and remainders back to State Library.
  22. It’s time to start scheduling appointments with legislators. These can happen whenever there is room in their days. People may meet with staff. The schedule of a legislator is: 8am hearings, 10:30 (or so) floor sessions, 1 pm hearings, 3 pm hearing. So timing depends on if they have a hearing or a floor session that goes long. Emily has a Google doc created for appointments. We will have a table at the OLA conference and can help people make appointments. Legislators want constituents if an appointment is made. This means we need to make sure we have key people identified. Nan and Abigail will put together a list of legislators.
  23. Ruth announced that OASL is paying for a substitute for Erin so she can be our photographer again. THANK YOU!
  24. Janet will refine the talking points so it’s short and succinct. Abigail will work with Jane to make a video on talking to a legislator. Korey will encourage youth services people to attend. We will find people to pair with first timers.
  25. Nan is ordering the tables. Sara will bring treats. Abigail will check with Willamette about the hours for lunch.
  26. We will have a workday after the 29th at Nan’s office to ship the books.
  27. Legislator of the Year
  28. We decided that we don’t have a prominent champion at this time. We will revisit after the session is over.
  29. State Librarian’s Report
  30. Answerland is moving to the State Library. This has been funded by LSTA for 10 years and the funds are appropriated for 2015/2016. The State Library will hire a coordinator, streamlining the program. It has to get legislative approval. It’s the right time to move it from a willing Multnomah County Library. It’s statewide, focuses on children and has 50 partner libraries.
  31. The budget hearing went well. The only sticking point was Senator’s Johnson suggestion of making the Ready to Read Grants challenge grants. Several on the committee commented on the difficulty of raising more funds locally in terms of staff time as well as community capacity. Janet discussed this with the Senator after the hearing.
  32. The State Library Board meets on March 21 with its three new board members. The board will focus on supporting and implementing the strategic plan. They will propose a change to the OARs on setting hours for the reading room.
  33. Conference Programs
  34. The two sessions are set and ready to go.
  35. Creative Partnership with Leah Griffith, Ted Smith and Sara Q. Thompson
  36. Communicating with Voters Using Social Media with Erica Findley and Jon Chrastka
  37. Tickets to the EveryLibrary Fundraiser are on sale and linked to the registration page. Proceeds will be shared between EveryLibrary and People for Oregon Libraries.
  38. We will have a table at the conference. Janet will send out a schedule for staffing..
  39. National Library Legislative Day
  40. This is May 4-5 in Washington DC. Right now, MaryKay, Ruth, Jane and Sara are attending. Janet may. State Library is making appointments.
  41. Jane will get summer reading buttons and bookmarks for the office visits.
  42. Janet reported that the OLA donation to the event has been requested from the OLA treasurer.
  43. Committee Charge
  44. We agreed to the revised charge. This will be sent to the Executive Committee for approval.
  45. See the charge at the end of these notes.
  46. School Libraries Update
  47. Janet reminded all thatanother third of Oregon’s school districts are required to submit their continuous improvement plan June 20th. This should include s plan for quality school libraries. Last year, OLA sent superintendents and school board members a letter urging them to consider school libraries.
  48. We agreed that we should continue to advocate. Ruth and Janet will follow up.
  49. Action Item Review
  50. Collecting resources for starting a district: Kate will share what she has with Buzzy and Sue for feedback and additions. Once that is completed, she will send the material to Emily for posting on the Committee’s web site and to Janet and Abigail for review.
  51. Library computer stations and e-government: One of use will talk to the Lib Tech Roundtable at the conference.
  52. Drug-free zones: Janet will contact Ted Smith on our findings.
  53. SB 5519:Janet will revise (shorten) the issue brief on Ready to Read to use at Legislative Day and to advocate for $1.
  54. SB 84: Janet, Candice and Nan will draft an amendment asking for inclusion of a standard that requires a school librarian in every high school offering accelerated credits and adequate information resources.
  55. HB 2650: Abigail will contact librarians in Springfield, Eugene, Hubbard and Woodburn to get them to contact their legislators with our concerns. Ruth will contact Jenny Takeda and Janet the same with Mathew Boulay.
  56. Legislative Day:
  57. Nan and Abigail will put together a list of must visit legislators.
  58. Ruth and Sara will continue to gather books.
  59. Abigail will check with Willamette about lunch logistics.
  60. Janet will review our talking points and circulate.
  61. Conference: Janet will send out a schedule for staffing the committee table.
  62. Legislative Day: Jane will get buttons and bookmarks for office visits. Janet will check on the donation to ALA.
  63. Committee charge: Janet will send to Candice for the next Executive Board meeting.
  64. School Libraries: Janet and Ruth will find last year’s letter to school boards and get this out to this year’s districts.
  65. Hotline: Janet will get articles in the Hotline about legislation and school libraries.

Important Dates:

April 15-17: OLA Conference, Eugene

April 29th: Legislative Day

May 4-5: National Library Legislative Day

May 18th: Committee Meeting 10-12, State Library Room 202
6.03PROPOSED CHARGE: LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT & LEGISLATION COMMITTEE - March, 2015

6.031Duties

6.0311Establish and maintain OLA’s legislative agenda that identifies priorities for action that affect all types of libraries in Oregon.

6.0312Track and respond nimbly as appropriate to legislative and advocacy issues and opportunities at the local, state and national level.

6.0313Support Oregon libraries with local development and advocacy issues including but not limited to maintaining toolkits, developing messaging, promoting best practices, producing statistical reports.

6.0314Inform and engage with non-government funders on the vital and varied contributions of libraries in their communities.

6.0315Identify and coordinate with other organizations to promote the value of Oregon libraries and advocate for support.

6.0316Communicate with OLA members on legislative and political issues, legislation and tools to improve advocacy efforts statewide.

6.0317Work with the OLA lobbyist to accomplish the above duties.

6.0318Perform other duties as assigned by the OLA Executive Board or the OLA President.

6.0319Shall consist of nine members.