June 6, 2011

I am posting this message on behalf of Ruth Murray, OASL President.  It relates to OSLIS in that the site is funded by LSTA money.  See below.

Thanks,
Jen

Jennifer Maurer
School Library Consultant
Oregon State Library
jennifer.maurer@state.or.us

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Dear School Library Community,

Please help us retain and increase our LSTA grant opportunities.
The federal government is at a critical point in which the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Program and the Library Services and
Technology Act are being considered under the FY2012 budget.  Senators Jack Reed and Olympia Snowe are leading an effort to increase support for both in FY2012 federal funding.  It is critical that our state senators hear from their constituents that we value these programs and urge their continued funding.  What can you do?  Call your state senators.

Call here (please call between 9am & 5pm EST):

(202) 224-3753
Washington, D.C. office of U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley

--or--

(202) 224-5244
Washington, D.C. office of U.S. Senator Ron Wyden

Talking Points:

1.       Tell them as a constituent from their state you are voicing your support of school libraries and ask that they sign on to the
library funding letter. http://www.districtdispatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/FY12-LSTA-and-LSL-Request-Letter-_2_.pdf

2.       Request that they contact Elyse Wasch from Senator Reed's office and Matthew Hussey in Senator Snowe's office to sign the
Reed-Snowe letter as soon as possible.

3.       Express to them the value that strong school library programs bring to your community.  LSTA grant money in Oregon funds access to subscription databases to all Oregonians via libraries, OSLIS, Oregon Battle of the Books, L-Net, competitive grants for projects like digitization, targeted outreach for early literacy development, and more.

As an alternative (or in addition) you can use the ALA Washington Office online service to look up our senators-
http://capwiz.com/ala/dbq/officials/?affiliate_lookup=1.

1.       Select our state.

2.       Select the senator.

3.       The second tab in their information page will list Contact.  This will allow you to email or submit a web form to the senator's
office as well.

The co-signing of this letter MUST OCCUR BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY JUNE 8th.  Please don't wait; contact our senators today!

Please call right away.  We don't want to lose OSLIS and other important LSTA projects for Oregon.

Ruth

Ruth Murray-President
Oregon Association of School Libraries
Portland State University
Library Media Instructor/Advisor