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Good Morning and Happy Friday! I am encouraged by this swelling of library advocacy! When Gov. Lee took office and charged his 22 Commissioners to write reports on "how best to help the 11 distressed counties" I too thought of libraries and mentioned this to all in attendance at Legislative Day—urging them to contact the commissioners and tell them how libraries can help his rural initiatives. I contacted the governor's office then, and I know others did the same. The most effective grass-roots advocacy, however, *does *take many more voices reaching out to—and building relationships with—legislators. (And it takes multiple points of contact over time to achieve a *true * relationship.) To that end, we are in the process of writing a letter from TLA and TSLA and will send it on the listservs for TN Librarians to add their signatures. So, be on the lookout for it! Also, I would be remiss if I didn't use this opportunity to STRONGLY URGE attendance at TN Library Legislative Day in 2020. It's an election year, and your participation can make 2020's Leg Day an even bigger success. All my best, Sharon Kay Edwards, MSLS Legislative Monitor, Tennessee Library Association (931) 619-7863 On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 6:59 AM Carolyne Knight <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Amen Judith. Carolyne Knight > > > > *From:* TN Libraries List for Subscription [mailto: > [log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Judith Cutright > *Sent:* Thursday, August 29, 2019 8:33 AM > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] Squeaky wheel > > > > > **** This is an EXTERNAL email. Please exercise caution. DO NOT open > attachments or click links from unknown senders or unexpected email - > STS-Security. *** * > ------------------------------ > > I was reading my local newspaper last week and came across an article > concerning Governor Bill Lee holding a summit with officials and > stakeholders from distressed counties throughout Tennessee including Clay > County, where I have been the library director for (however many) > years. The article discussed how rural areas will benefit from the > “improved coordination of services and overall alignment of departments in > serving rural Tennessee”. It also discussed recruitment of professionals, > ag-tech business, teachers, healthcare, education and workforce programs, > employment fairs, unemployment, job access, and several other goals of this > summit. To my amazement, nowhere in the article were libraries mentioned. > Moreover, reading this in the paper was the first I’d heard of this summit. > > This got me to thinking. Do our leaders know what we, as librarians do? > Do they realize the value of our services? How many topics discussed in > this article do we deal with on a daily basis? Helping people find jobs, > fill out their unemployment, assist them with schoolwork, provide a safe > place for young and old? It seems so often that the libraries of this > state are not seen as a necessity by those in power. Thus, we are never > asked to take a seat at the table to take part in discussions of empowering > and building our communities. > > I decided that, if they didn’t know, I was going to let them know. I > wrote to Governor Lee, and sent a copy of the letter to Tre Hargett as well > as my state Senator and Representative. I have attached a copy of the > letter to this email. > > I am only one voice. I hope that you, as other librarians, who build and > serve our communities each and every day, and who remain committed to these > communities no matter how underpaid, and how undervalued, will take a few > moments and write your own letters. Let them know how valuable we are to > our communities and how vital it is to include us in these official > conversations and efforts. If there are discussions concerning bettering > our communities, who knows more about the people of our communities, both > good and bad, than those that have daily contact with all parts of our > towns? > > One squeaky wheel can be ignored, but a trainload of squeaky wheels have > to be heard…… > > > > Judith Cutright > > Director of Library Services > > > > > > CLAY COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY > > 116 Guffey Street > > Celina, TN 38551 > > (931) 243-3442 > > Fax: (931) 243-4876 > > [log in to unmask] > > https://sites.google.com/site/claycountypubliclibrary/ > > > > To unsubscribe from the TN-LIBRARIES list, click the following link: > http://listserv.tn.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TN-LIBRARIES&A=1 > To unsubscribe from the TN-LIBRARIES list, click the following link: > http://listserv.tn.gov/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TN-LIBRARIES&A=1