Description: 

Identifying supporters, building relationships, and raising money are three key elements of library advocacy, but we don’t always approach them in the most effective ways, EveryLibrary Political Director Patrick Sweeney maintains. In terms of building relationships, we sometimes hear from partners/former partners that their relationships with us are short-lived because those supporters initially provide funds, resources, and encouragement, then don’t hear back from us. And, at a larger level, we are not always as clear and focused as we should be about what advocacy actually means and involves.

To explore these long-term challenges and seek solutions, please join us for this free, 90-minute highly-interactive online workshop (via Zoom) under the auspices of the California Library Association Ursula Meyer Library Advocacy Training project as Sweeney returns to this series of learning opportunities with fresh insights for a new year in library advocacy in California and encourages us to pay attention to underexplored resources and approaches in advocacy.

Goal:

Participants will better understand some of the actions we have taken that, over a long period of time, discourage rather than encourage others to join us in our efforts to advocate on behalf of libraries and the communities they serve to produce concrete, positive results that benefit members of those communities in the California library ecosystem.

Objectives

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

Describe at least three ways that advocates can work with potential partners to produce positive results on behalf of California libraries and the communities they serve

Describe at least three key elements that lead to success in fundraising through advocacy

Cite at least three steps you can take to be more successful in fostering sustainable advocacy relationships with supporters, identifying supporters, and building long-term relationships with those who will help fund your advocacy efforts

Presenter:

Patrick “PC” Sweeney is a graduate of the San Jose School of Library and Information Sciences and former Administrative Librarian of the Sunnyvale (CA) Public Library. He was Executive Director of EveryLibrary California, a statewide initiative to support library propositions. He is co-author of “Winning Elections and Influencing Politicians for Library Funding” as well as “Before the Ballot; Building Support for Library Funding.” He has been recognized with a “40 Under 40” award by the American Association of Political Consultants for his work fighting for libraries at EveryLibrary. He is a lecturer at the San Jose Information School where he teaches courses on politics and libraries. He is active across social media as PC Sweeney.

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. Archived recordings of previous sessions are available on the California Library Association YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@californialibraryassociati2705/videos.

To support the series through a donation, please visit the CLA website at https://www.cla-net.org/donations/fund.asp?id=23440.