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November 2016 515 C&RL News

Shawnda Hines is press officer of the ALA Washington 
Office, email: shines@alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eShawnda Hines

Gearing up for the next Congress and 
administration
While the 114th U.S. Congress has been in 
session for only three weeks since July 15, 
ALA’s Washington Office has been ramp-
ing up work in preparation for the next 
Congress and presidential administration. 

As a part of our national policy advocacy 
under the rubric of the Policy Revolution! 
Initiative, the Office for Information Tech-
nology Policy (OITP) provided input to 
the major party platform committees, who 
articulate a party’s formal set of value state-
ments and goals. Informed by the National 
Policy Agenda for Libraries, the broad 
message was that U.S. libraries—120,000 
strong—represent a robust national infra-
structure that advance numerous goals in 
the major party platforms. Among other 
things, the input highlighted the role of 
libraries in preserving and promoting a free 
and open society through our involvement 
in information policy issues, including 
broadband, copyright, privacy, and access 
to government information.

Having registered written input to party 
platforms, OITP staff represented ALA at 
both the Republican and Democratic Na-
tional Conventions to gather information 
about the policy positions of the respec-
tive campaigns with respect to the array of 
issues that relate to libraries. As a result, 
background research has been initiated 
to culminate in the writing of a number 
of three-pagers to be released over the 
next three months on topics ranging from 
education to copyright to entrepreneurship 
to big data. 

In addition, several public and private 
events will be held in Washington in the 

late fall and early winter to engage with 
influential players in the national policy 
arena after the election, during the transi-
tion and during the initial days and months 
of the new administration and Congress. 
One such event will convene national li-
brary leaders from the Library of Congress, 
Institute of Museum and Library Services, 
and other organizations to discuss strate-
gies to move forward the library commu-
nity’s agenda in light of election outcomes. 

Meanwhile, the Washington Office is 
supporting ALA President Julie Todaro’s 
new campaign, the 45-115 ALA Federal 
Initiative. Working closely with the transi-
tion teams of both presidential candidates 
and the policy arms of both parties in the 
Senate and the House, the campaign will 
highlight and strengthen library commu-
nity efforts to communicate how libraries 
advance national priorities. 

Like the presidential transition teams, 
ALA’s Office for Government Relations 
in Washington is also conducting an in-
depth analysis of the federal agencies and 
working to identify candidates from the 
library community to recommend for the 
presidential transition teams and positions 
in the new administration. 

On the state and local levels, materials 
are being developed to help librarians com-
municate and connect with newly elected 
officials by requesting meetings with them 
and submitting our materials to relevant 
staffers. Suggestions and input from mem-
bers anywhere across the country are wel-
come (email them to Shawnda Hines, press 
officer, at shines@alawash.org). 

Mark your calendar for a presidential 
inauguration viewing party to be co-hosted 
by the Office for Information Technology 
Policy and Julie Todaro at the 2017 ALA 
Midwinter Meeting on Friday morning, 
January 20.