Many people associate advocacy with lobbying—a full-time job in which one cultivates personal relationships with lawmakers and officials to make or defend key lines in laws, regulations, budgets, and other decisions.

To many who work in libraries, this can seem daunting. However, as is usually the case with stereotypes, this one is far from accurate. I’d like to make the case that there are three “big myths” about library advocacy that you need to jettison right now.

This matters, because in reality, budget increases and policy changes are usually the end product of a long process of changing minds and... Read more

WebJunction and the nonprofit Legal Services Corporation (LSC) have partnered to deliver national online training for public library staff to strengthen access to civil legal justice through public libraries. LSC recently launched a podcast called Talk Justice, which explores ways to expand access to justice and illustrates why it is important to the legal community, businesses, government, and the general public.

The latest episode, The Role Libraries Play in Closing the Justice Gap, features  Brooke Doyle, Project Coordinator for WebJunction’s Access to Civil Legal Justice project. Brooke is joined by Emily Florio, Senior Research Services Manager at Hogan Lovells... Read more

As we reflect on this past year, it’s clear that library staff excel at learning new skills during extraordinary times! You have responded with grace, patience and fortitude to ever-changing scenarios, and we hope that the year ahead brings continued opportunities for you to learn and share with colleagues, near and far. This month's offerings include nearly 70 webinars, covering 21 topic areas to explore. Thank you to the Wyoming State Library for collecting this list of learning opportunities! It's updated monthly on the Free Training page, where you can also view the offerings by topic.

For additional training,... Read more

The National Day of Racial Healing (NDORH) is an opportunity for people, organizations, and communities to call for racial healing, bring people together in their shared humanity and take action together to create a more just and equitable world.

NDORH is a part of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation effort - a national and community-based process to plan for and bring about transformational and sustainable change, and to address the historic and contemporary effects of racism.

We put our heads together with the team leading NDORH to come up with some specific ways that... Read more