ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 14, Number 37 April 7, 2005 In This Issue: PLEASE CONTACT YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IMMEDIATELY AND ASK THEM TO SUPPORT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR AMERICA'S LIBRARIES: Deadline for House letter is tomorrow, Friday, April 8th! ACTION NEEDED: Please contact your Members of Congress today and ask him or her to please sign the Representative Grijalva-Rep. Simmons letter in the House and the Senator Reed-Sen. Collins letter in the Senate that support federal library programs. PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT REP. GRIJALVA, REP. SIMMONS, SEN. REED OR SEN. COLLINS DIRECTLY. Instead, ask your Representative's staff to contact Rep. Grijalva, Rep. Simmons, Sen. Reed or Sen. Collins' staff to add their Member's signature. In both the House and the Senate, Members of Congress are circulating letters of support for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Circulating the letters in Congress are Representative Raśl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Representative Robert Simmons (R-CT) in the House of Representatives, and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Senator Susan M. Collins (R-ME) in the Senate. The letters are addressed to the House and Senate Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriation Subcommittees and requests that the House include President Bush's request of $221.33 million for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and $100 million for the Improving Literary Through School Libraries program for FY 2006. The LSTA and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program provide critical funding for libraries of all kinds nationwide. Only by including $221.33 million for the LSTA and $100 million for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program in the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill will we ensure that library patrons of all ages have sufficient access to library and information services, support recruiting and educating the next generation of librarians, and provide libraries the resources they need to improve literacy skills and academic achievement. ALA strongly encourages its membership to immediately contact their Members of Congress and urge them to sign on to both the House and Senate letters in support of federal library programs. Last year, we had 56 Members of Congress from the House of Representatives and 33 Senators sign up in support of America's libraries. Funding is extremely tight this year and competition is very strong among the many groups seeking federal funding for the upcoming year. If the number of signatures does not significantly increase, these letters will not be taken seriously. If your Members of Congress are not on these letters, it is critical that you contact them immediately. Time is of the essence. If you can't call, please write using the Legislative Action Center link below. Also, please feel free to forward this message to your perspective listservs. Current signers in the House (51): Reps. Andrews, Baldwin, Bishop, Case, Clay, Cleaver, Crowley, D. Davis, S. Davis, Dingell, Ehlers, Eshoo, Etheridge, Frank, Gonzalez, Gutierrez, Hinchey, Hinojosa, Holt, Israel, Kildee, Kind, Lantos, Lofgren, Marshall, Matsui, McCarthy, McCol lum, McDermott, McGovern, MCHUGH, McNulty, Meeks, Moore, Oberstar, Owens, Payne, Ross, Ruppersberger, Sanders, Schiff, Slaughter, Solis, Tauscher, Tierney, Tubbs Jones, VanHollen, Waters, Watson, Waxman, Woolsey Visit ALA's website for more information on these letters at: Use ALA's Washington Office Legislative Action Center at to identify and fax your Members of Congress in both the House and the Senate. You can also call your Member of Congress directly using the U.S. Capitol switchboard at: (202) 225-3121 ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Carol Ashworth, Don Essex, Joshua Farrelman, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.