• Recruits people to serve on Government Relations Committee.
• Keeps abreast of legislative issues which relate to libraries, especially Vermont libraries.
• Reports to the Executive Board on library legislation.
• Prepare news items on legislation for VLA News.
• Submits to the treasurer an estimate of income and expenses for the annual budget.
• Prepares an annual report for the annual meeting and for publication in the June/July issue of VLA News.
• When possible, attends National Library Legislation Day in Washington D.C., or organizes a Vermont Legislation Day.
• Prepares an annual legislative agenda for adoption by the membership at the annual meeting.
• With the Executive Board, works toward implementation of the legislative agenda.
• Attends Department of Libraries Board meetings and report to Executive Board and/or the VLA membership.
• At end of term, turns over current records to successor and non-current records to the archivist.

I’m glad to discuss the job in greater detail if there are any questions, so please feel free to either email or call. My contact information is below.

Thanks,

Joseph M. Farara
Faculty Librarian, Johnson State College
Director of Vermont State Colleges Library Planning
337 College Hill
Johnson, VT 05656
(802) 635-1272
fararaj@jsc.vsc.edu

Please call both of your U.S. Senators to ask each of them to request that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND),  include the hiring and retaining of librarians in the $18 billion “Jobs Bill” as well.

BACKGROUND FOR “JOBS FOR MAIN STREET ACT”

1. Libraries play a key role in getting America back to work again.  Nationwide, the library is the only source of no-fee Internet access for 71 percent of Americans. With more and more job applications only being accepted online, the public library is becoming the center of most American’s job searches.
2. State Library Agencies reported in November 2009 that 77 percent of states cut funds that support local public libraries, which has meant layoffs, staff furloughs, and forced retirements. This has caused a 75 percent cut in services to the public including canceled statewide databases used for job searching, homework help, and cuts in 24/7 reference, which are used by small businesses and students.
3. Our proposal to be a part of the $20.5 billion program to create jobs that provide public services would not add any additional funding, but would give libraries a specific amount to draw on.
4. The money would be used for library jobs that are focused on assisting patrons with getting back to work – thereby having the impact of assisting literally millions of Americans find employment. None of these funds would be used for facilities or equipment.
5. These funds would be distributed in a clear, concise, affirmative manner. Funds would be distributed to states using a formula through IMLS based 50 percent on population, and 50 percent on relative unemployment (similar to the Department of Labor’s Dislocated Worker Program).
6. The Chief State Library Officer in each state would be responsible for distributing funds to local public libraries based on their local needs.
7. A minimum amount of funding per library could offer one library staff job per building based upon need and a maximum of five full-time staff.
8. Funds would be limited to hiring back staff released due to budget cuts, recruiting new staff and/or expanding staff services around job searching and employment skills training.

Call the U.S. Capital switchboard ASAP at 202.224.3121.  For email addresses and other contact information go to: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

As president of the Vermont Library Association, I am pleased to see that Gail Weymouth and Trina Magi from our Intellectual Freedom Committee are quoted extensively in your story on the reauthorization of the Patriot Act (http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/86172/).

However, please note that it is inaccurate to say that the Vermont Library Association “withdrew its support” from Senator Leahy’s version of the Patriot Act reauthorization bill as stated.  We officially endorsed his original markup, which would have moved to more strongly protect Americans’ civil liberties and the right to privacy.  It is true that we are disappointed that some of his original provisions were stripped or watered down in the version which emerged from the Judiciary Committee, and we did not endorse those changes.  However, we did not vote to withdraw our support for the changes to the original law that Senator Leahy proposed, many of which do remain in the bill.

The story correctly notes that we hope that amendments on the Senate floor will strengthen the protections for civil liberties in the bill, including restoring some of Senator Leahy’s original provisions.  We welcome any work by Senators Sanders and Leahy to introduce or support amendments that would more strongly protect these freedoms.

John K. Payne
President, Vermont Library Association

Letter To The Meeting Of The Vermont Library Trustee Association Annual Conference

From Patrick Leahy, Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

October 17, 2009

Dear Friends,

I appreciate this opportunity to report the latest developments on the process to reauthorize several sunsetted portions of the Patriot Act and to commend Vermont Library Association for all you do for Vermont.

On September 22, 2009, I introduced the USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act (S.1692) with Senators Benjamin Cardin and Ted Kaufman.  Senator Sanders soon joined as a cosponsor.  As before, I wrote the bill with close attention to protecting constitutional rights and civil liberties.  The bill expanded oversight of the use of surveillance authorities and increased transparency.  The version of the bill that was reported favorably by the Judiciary Committee on October 8, after thorough debate in the markup process, remains a strong bill, both in protecting rights and liberties, and in requiring vigorous oversight of the use of government surveillance authority.

We all share the goal of safeguarding our First Amendment rights, personal privacy, and other core values that we treasure as Americans.  We all want to ensure that Americans are safe and secure and protected from harm.  These goals are not mutually exclusive, and I held both in mind as I developed legislation to reauthorize provisions of the Patriot Act and expand the protection of civil liberties. I appreciate the input I sought and received before drafting the bill and after the Judiciary Committee’s markup on the bill.  I welcome that engagement, and especially the active participation of Vermonters in this conversation.  I would like to address many of the points that have been expressed, and I continue to welcome your thoughtful feedback as this legislation is further considered by the Senate and the House.  Please feel free to contact me by phone (toll-free at 1-800-642-3193) or by email at senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov.

National Security Letters. I share the concerns that I have heard from the librarian community about problems in the use of National Security Letters (NSLs), a request for records that is issued by the FBI without prior approval by a Federal court.  The use of NSLs has risen dramatically since the standard for issuing an NSL was lowered in the 2001 Patriot Act.  I agree that new protections are needed to safeguard against abuses of NSLs.

My bill includes a December 31, 2013, sunset on the use of National Security Letters and a comprehensive audit on the authority.  It also directs the FBI to produce a statement of specific facts showing that the information the Bureau seeks is relevant before an NSL can be issued.  I recognize that many in the librarian community support a higher standard for the issuance of an NSL.  I am sympathetic to that position, but I also recognize there is not enough support for that proposal to prevail in the U.S. Senate.  Therefore I have sought and secured progress in the Senate that would achieve significant improvements over current law.

While a sunset on NSLs has been proposed in the past, it has never before gained traction in Congress.  I will fight for my NSL sunset provision to be part of any final bill that is signed into law.  In fact, the sunsets I included in the 2001 Patriot Act are the reasons we have the opportunity to reexamine the Patriot Act today.  The combination of an audit and a sunset in this bill would be a significant inducement for the FBI to exercise great care in its use of NSLs.

My bill also corrects the constitutional defects in the issuance of nondisclosure orders (or “gag orders”) on NSLs.  The bill allows the recipient of an NSL with a gag order to notify the government at any time that it wishes to challenge the gag.  The government then bears the burden to seek a court order to force the recipient to follow that gag order.  Even if the government prevails in court, and the gag order stands, under the terms of my bill the government must notify that recipient when there is no longer a need for the gag.

Finally, the bill strengthens privacy protections by requiring that the government does not unnecessarily disseminate or retain personal information it collects via NSLs.

Orders for Library Records, Business Records and Other Tangible Things. The business records provision of the 2001 Patriot Act (often referred by its section number in that bill, “section 215”) has generated enormous controversy, in part because it allows the government to obtain library records and other sensitive records.  In 2006 I voted against the final version of the Patriot Act reauthorization bill because it contained two provisions that I could not support.  One was a year-long delay to challenge a section 215 gag order in court. The other was a conclusive presumption in favor of the government that courts would have to apply when gag orders were challenged.  My bill strikes both the one-year waiting period and the conclusive presumption.

My bill also modifies the standard for obtaining a court order for business records or other tangible things.  Current law requires the government to show reasonable grounds that the records sought are relevant to an authorized investigation.  However, current law also states that the records are presumptively relevant if the Government shows that they pertain to a foreign power, however attenuated that link may be.  My bill repeals the presumption of relevance and requires the Government to show what it relied upon to assert that the records are relevant.

My bill also raises the standard the government must meet before it can obtain library circulation records and patron lists.  I fought for a higher standard on a wider set of sensitive records — including book seller, firearm sales, medical, education, and tax records —  but was not able to prevail on that proposal as the Committee considered the bill.  I will continue to press for this improvement as the bill moves through the Senate and the House.

Oversight and Public Reporting. In 2005, I included audits in the Patriot Act reauthorization package over stiff opposition from the Bush administration.  The audits that were produced by the Inspector General proved that certain authorities, especially NSLs, had been misused, and in some cases, abused.  Internal reforms followed, but we all agree that more needs to be done.  Oversight and audits are critically important to protecting our privacy and preventing abuses.  My bill includes new audits of NSLs, section 215 orders, and the use of pen register and trap and trace devices.   The bill also requires new public reporting on the use of both NSLs and section 215 orders.  Finally, in addition to the sunset on NSLs, my bill includes sunsets on section 215 orders, and two other controversial provisions.

The bill contains additional provisions that are explained on my website.

I am grateful for the thoughtful interest of the librarian community on this and so many other issues, and I welcome your continued feedback.

Take Action!

Calls to ALL Senators are needed IMMEDIATELY to protect $200 million for libraries, community computing centers and related institutions in the original language of the Senate stimulus bill, H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We have just been advised that Senators Kent Conrad (ND-D) and Lindsey Graham (SC-R) are expected to introduce Senate Amendment 501 which would strip funding for libraries and broadband to put additional funding in FDIC. If introduced, the vote could take place this afternoon.

The message is: keep the $200 million for libraries and broadband in H.R. 1 – defeat amendment 501. Libraries provide information on jobs, employment skills, and all other types of job-seeking information. More people are using libraries during these difficult times and the demand for broadband is greater than ever.

Senator Patrick Leahy – http://leahy.senate.gov/

Senator Bernie Sanders - http://sanders.senate.gov/

Even with her assurances, we must let the CPSC know how important an issue this is to libraries. Please call the Acting Commissioner, Nancy Nord, at (301) 504-7901. When you call this number, wait for the automated directory to give you directions to reach Nancy Nord’s office. Explain to the Commission that it is simply impossible for libraries to remove all children’s books from the shelves and/or ban children under 12 from the library and still provide the level of service that is needed.

As always, thank you for all that you do. The only way we will be successful in ensuring that children will have access to safe books is with a strong grassroots effort. Your comments to the CPSC need to be submitted as soon as possible, so please tell all your friends and family – we need as many people as possible to communicate that this oversight could have lasting ramifications on our children and our communities.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 has been interpreted to include books as a product that must be tested for lead. While it is understandable that the CPSC must protect children from toxic materials, publishers have already tested the book components and found that the lead levels are lower than the regulations require three years from now. Additionally, all book recalls in the last two decades have been because of toys attached to the books that posed a choking hazard, not the books themselves.

Making these testing regulations retroactive would require both school and public libraries to take drastic steps to come into compliance. They either would have to ban children from their libraries or pull every book intended for children under the age of 12 from their bookshelves at the time children are fostering a lifelong love of learning and reading.

In order to allow children and families to continue accessing critical library materials, please either exempt books from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, accept the component tests that have already been done, or exempt all books currently in school and public libraries. This will ensure that our children continue to have access to safe and educational library materials.

Thank you for your continued support of libraries!

Sincerely,

Kristin Murphy
Government Relations Specialist
American Library Association – Washington Office
1615 New Hampshire Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20009-2520
Phone Number: 202.628.8410
Fax: 202.628.8419
kmurphy@alawash.org

My Lifelong Library Journey

From the Old West Church to Guilford’s Little Library You’ve Got to Love

Presented at Brooks Memorial Library, November 17, 2008

I remember the old West Church Branch Library in Boston’s West End where I would curl up by a spiral staircase and avidly read Landmark series biographies and the Golden books. The library was in one of the first churches in Boston—an early 18^th century beauty. I discovered my love of books there, my love of the endless learning the stacks can hold.

Then, as a teenager, I remember the Codman Square Dorchester/Boston Branch Library and the young, attractive, eager librarian. She had recently got her MLS and how vital she was to the growing interests of my best friend and me in literature and philosophy—existentialism, specifically and how she introduced us to Camus and Kafka and Golding and egged us on to think and dialogue in hushed conversation in the stacks. All the other boys were out playing stick ball in the setting sun and there were my friend Marshall and I and an eager young librarian yapping about existence and nothingness and the absurd in the quaint environs of Codman Square.

And how that eventuated in bringing me to this place, our beautiful Vermont, where I continue to read books in libraries, large and tiny, all over the State; experiencing small and some time large communities of readers who sit as a unit, a core, a critical mass of learning —discussants from all age groups, but particularly our elders– passionate to talk about books and ideas and to relate what they read to their human experience—as Vermonters, visitors, citizens, and just plain folk.

Here, in this library, I have been awed by the wisdom and intelligence of elders who every two weeks, in dreadful snow and sleet and ice even, showed up to sing the praises or dis a book while engaging in lively, thoughtful sharing of ideas. At the Dover Free Library, the snowbirds of Florida, well-read to a T, can’t wait to begin, and park their cars early to get a good seat so that we can come together—a somewhat refugee community in the hills of West Dover—to share thoughts and feelings about books and inevitably to relate them to what it feels like to be a mother, father, grandmother, elder, a human being moving closer to the end—wanting to share the feel of that too. And the tears and the laughter!!!

Having led discussion groups all over our state, I can testify to the vital learning that takes place in groups which bring people of all ages together to discuss books, share opinions, share their lives. It’s really quite remarkable and rewarding.

And, today as a trustee of the Guilford Free Library, I see this same attraction of the library for children, adults and seniors who crowd into the tiny space that is our library to use computers, research, obtain inter-library loans, and take advantage of the varied programs intended to reach all sectors of that town we love called Guilford.

Each of these instances is a testament to the library’s place in community life—in providing moments and hours when we come together to read together, discuss the great issues of the day, of the world, our town, our own lives.

As a book discussion leader, there are so many ah! moments I have seen when I look into the faces in the room and see that something illuminating has struck the reader, some new lesson, a revelation, an addition to what we knew or thought we knew.

This is the place of libraries in lifelong learning. In my own experience as in many others, from our early years to our senior years, libraries have provided and will continue to provide the space and resources in which we add to what we know, learn the new, investigate the old, become richer, fuller, more knowing citizens, readers and human beings.

Thank you.

My Lifelong Library Journey

Windsor County Legislative Breakfast – Recap

Legislators who attended:  Steve Adams, Dick McCormack, Jim Masland, Mark Mitchell, Alice Nitka and Ernie Shand

Here was our agenda along with some notes:

Introductions and Welcome
Mary Danko : : Library Director, Weathersfield Proctor Library
Helen Bearse : : Patron, Weathersfield Proctor Library
Mary’s patron did not show up (she forgot!), but Mary was able to tell Helen’s story about how the library is impacting Helen’s young adult life.  Translation:  After reading “Twilight,” her reading took-off!  Helen has read almost every YA book the library owns.

Confidentiality Statute
Debra Bullock Spackman : :  Library Director, Norman Williams Library
Deb thanked the legislators for passing the Confidentiality Statute and asked for their continued support, especially since there are rumblings of repealing it.  Deb also spoke about the Randolph case and had handouts, too.

Library Funding Issues
Jeremiah Kellogg : : Regional Librarian & Consultant, VT. Dept. of Libraries
Debra Bullock Spackman : :  Library Director, Norman Williams Library
Jeremiah spoke about how libraries creatively get money for operating expenses and for capital improvements – like bathrooms!  Deb spoke about the bill for state funding that the legislators saw last year and that while we won’t be asking for money this year, to please keep us in mind in the near future.  Mary piped in with the importance of DOL and all they do for libraries, especially her little library.  And Deb added that big libraries need DOL, too!

Library Usage in Tough Economic Times
Elaine Caffrey : : Library Director, Hartland Public Library
Elaine talked about the value of libraries and had some great handouts for the attendees.  Deb talked about how her library has had to have major cutbacks.  Mary talked about how fuel and postage costs are greatly affecting some libraries.

Last Questions and Farewell
Alice Nitka asked if besides computer use, was book usage up as well?  We all were able to respond yes.  All the legislators were very positive about the mission of Vermont libraries and were grateful that we had the breakfast to let them know what we were all up to.

**A personal note:  This was my first legislative get-together that I ever attended and I hosted it!  It was really quite easy, fun and very worthwhile.  Thanks to everyone who made phone calls to their legislators.  Any communication by librarians to their reps is great reminder to them that we are out there working hard for our communities.

Mary Danko

Weathersfield Proctor Library

5181 Route 5 : : P.O. Box 519

Ascutney, VT  05030

802.674.2863

 

We invite you and your library to participate in this. While the format of these gatherings has varied, they all provide an opportunity for legislators, librarians, and trustees to talk about library issues and the key part that libraries play in Internet access, job searching, and education. It is also an opportunity for us to hear about the legislative process and the agenda before them.

We need to meet with Legislators this year to thank them for their support for the new patron confidentiality law and to remind them that state funding for public libraries continues to be an important issue. Our goal is to keep this at the top of their agenda when state finances are stronger. We also want Legislators to ensure ongoing support for the Department of Libraries’ services to public libraries.

Click on the following link for instructions on organizing a gathering:  Legislative Gatherings How-to.