With time running out on the 116th Congress, ALA this week issued an advocacy alert urging librarians and library supporters to push their U.S. representatives and senators to include funding for libraries in a potential Covid-19 relief package.
As the clock ticks on a potential bill, ALA officials are urging Congress to include funding for libraries and library workers, many of whom were furloughed or laid off in 2020, as well as "direct library broadband and stabilization" funding.
“This is likely to be the last relief bill before Congress for several months,” said Alan Inouye, ALA senior director of public policy and government relations, in the alert, which urges library advocates to email their members of Congress, as well as reaching out to their elected leaders on social media. “Many more colleagues in our library community are at risk now," the alert adds, “just when communities need them the most.”
A bipartisan framework released this week proposes some $200 million for broadband aid to be distributed through the IMLS (Institute for Musem and Library Services).
In a letter to Congressional leaders shared today with PW, Kathi Komer, ALA's Associate Executive Director for Public Policy and Advocacy, made the case for featuring libraries in any effort to expand much-needed broadband access.
"On behalf of America’s 117,000 libraries and the communities they serve, we write in support of essential broadband funding to close the connectivity gap as laid out in the Bipartisan Emergency COVID Relief Act of 2020," the letter states. "This desperate need to connect is constantly visible to our members, from the Utah worker who kept her job by working daily using library Wi-Fi from the parking lot, to the Montana pastor who borrowed a library hotspot to conduct COVID-related funerals. Libraries are an indispensable strand in a tattered digital safety net. This has never been more apparent as libraries stepped up when health and safety restrictions shut down schools, businesses, places of worship, and even healthcare facilities.
Meanwhile, reports in various media outlets suggest Congress is at a make-or-break moment as the the end of the session draws near. Democratic House leaders are said to be insisting that any relief bill provide funds to help cities and states reeling from the economic impact of Covid-related shutdowns, while the GOP-led senate is insisting on a liability shield that would restrict COVID-19 related lawsuits.
Meanwhile, Congress on Friday appears to have bought itself another week with a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown that would have begun at midnight tonight.
To contact your representative, library supporters can use the ALA's message template to contact their elected representatives.
