Sometimes it’s that one letter—that formal pitch, put into writing—that makes all the difference in moving advocacy efforts toward positive results for those served within the California library landscape. It’s the letter that builds upon all the efforts you and your partners have made up to that moment, and now cinches the deal through clear, concise, persuasive prose delivered to the right person at exactly the right moment—and that’s what this highly-interactive online workshop is designed to help you achieve. Join us in session, facilitated by experienced library advocates, to explore what they have seen in successful letters written to advocate on behalf of libraries and the communities they serve, and dive into some hands-on exercises designed to help you hone your own advocacy letters to help foster positive change in your community.

Please note: Participants are encouraged—but not required—to bring samples of their own library advocacy letters to explore ways to strengthen them.

Goal:

By participating in this session, you will begin crafting an impactful, effective advocacy letter designed to produce the positive results you want.

During the session, you will:

• Identify at least three elements found in successful advocacy pitch letters
• Identify three key people you will approach with the letter you develop in this workshop
• Complete the first draft of a brief (no more than one-page) advocacy letter you will use within the two weeks immediately following their participation in the session
• Identify at least three resources you can use in your ongoing advocacy efforts as you develop additional pitches

Session Facilitators:  

Megan Cusick, Deputy Director, State Advocacy, American Library Association Public Policy and Advocacy Office

Deborah Doyle, Chair of the Sonoma County Library Commission and member of CLA’s Advocacy and Legislative Committee

Crystal Miles, Public Services Manager at Sacramento Public Library and member of the Ursula Meyer Advocacy Training Committee and the CLA Advocacy & Legislation Committee

Paul Signorelli, CLA Library Advocacy Training Project Manager and author of Change the World Using Social Media (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021)

About the Ursula Meyer Advocacy Fund Training Series

This program is part of an ongoing series of monthly online sessions organized offered through the Ursula Meyer Advocacy Fund Training Series; sessions are generally held online on the second Wednesday of each month, beginning at 10 am PT. The series honors the memory of Ursula Meyer, 1977-78 CLA President, California Library Hall of Fame inductee, longtime director of the Stockton-San Joaquin Public Library, and fierce advocate for library services and intellectual freedom. The Ursula Meyer Fund was established to provide for the training of librarians in all stages of their careers, and library supporters, in political advocacy and political action, in honor of Ursula’s belief that librarians need effective political skills to advocate for library support at all levels of government.