OLA Legislative Committee
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Oregon State Library Room 102 and Online
Attending: Janet Webster, MaryKay Dahlgreen, Abigail Elder, Diedre Conkling, Nan Heim, Elsa Loftis, Sue Ludington, Ted Smith, Buzzy Nielsen, Kate Lasky, Robin Rolfe, Jane Corey, John Schoppert, Brooke Robertshaw, Carol Dinges, Amanda
1. School Library and ESSA Update (Robin)
Robin reported on the activities around responding to ODE’s draft implementation plan for the Every Student Succeeds Plan (ESSA). OLA, OASl and ACRl signed a joint letter with recommendations for the plan prior to its writing. Janet and Robin worked on suggested responses to the ODE survey about the plan. The ESSA Task force of OLA, OASL and ACRL members is working on a formal response to the draft plan that should be submitted by January 24th. All is happening on a tight timeline. Janet and Jen Mauer from the State Library have contacted people about attending the regional ODE community forums about the ESSA plan. Our presence is being recognized.
The main points of the conversation are about building the resource of teacher librarians in every school as they serve not only the students but the teachers and administrators; teacher libraries are valuable resources in professional development.
It’s unclear what the Legislature needs to do with the plan. We think there is a simple approval. Janet and Robin will send Nan and Amanda the OLA/OASL response to the ODE ESSA Implementation Plan. This will allow them to respond to legislators on our perspective – teacher librarians are valuable assets.
2. Lobbyist Report (Nan)
The Legislature convened on January 9th and adjourned until February the next day. People were sworn in, committees announced and over 1500 bills had their first reading but were not assigned to committees. The State Library has two bills: SB75 is the expansion for the Ready to Read Program to 17 and rising of the minimum grant to $1200; HB 5018 is the budget. SB75 may be heard by the Senate Education Committee co-chaired by Roblan and Linniscum (new senator from Klamath Falls) or by the General Government Committee. The budget bill will go to the joint General Government Committee co-chaired by James Manning (new from Lane County) and Greg Smith (Heppner and a strong library supporter.
The big four issues that the Legislature will focus on are the budget (too small), transportation. Housing and healthcare.
Abigail asked about HB 2193 that deals with minimum number of hours. Amanda explained that is addressing reliable schedules and is focused on restaurants and retail. Abigail explained that it could affect on-call library positions. Nan and Amanda will monitor it .
3. State Law Librarian Report (Cathryn)
The Law Library is recruiting for a communications librarian. The OJD budget looks okay for now and there isn’t any introduced legislation around county law libraries. No news is good news.
4. State Librarian Report (MaryKay)
HB5018, the State Library budget, include a cut to Ready to Read as mandated by the Governor’s Office. SB75, the expansion of Ready to Read, would mean a reduction from $.97/a child to $.84/a child given the expansion and lack of new funds. MaryKay is going to request removing the increase in the minimum grant size. She’ll get accurate budget numbers to us so we can prepare our information. She’s planning to meet with fiscal staff, the Governor’s Office and relevant legislators prior to the session. She anticipates the budget hearing in late February/early March. We agreed to support the expansion to 17 as it gives libraries more flexibility in how they use the funds. We support not raising the minimum grant size. We will advocate for increased funding to at least maintain the current level ($.97/child) or increase to $1.
The State Library has finally hired a head of the Government Service Division.
The State Library meets January 19th and 20th to do strategic planning and have their regularly scheduled meeting. MaryKay plans to keep the strategic planning broad as it addresses the next 5 years LSTA Plan.
Aletha Bonebrake will be cycling off of the board in June 2017. The board will be looking to add a member of the public. OLA will be asked for input. If people have suggestions, please send them to Elsa.
5. Legislative Day
Legislative is fast approaching on February 21. Janet worked on materials and sent them out to the committee today. They include an updated appointment schedule on GoogleDocs. She also is in the process of updating communications material that Emily Ford developed in 2015. These will all be available to the committee for comment.
We discussed various assignments.
o Communications: Kate agreed to help with getting the word out on social media. Diedre will help. Janet will get the messages that Emily created to them. Brooke is also willing to help get the word out to the academic networks.
o Webinar for attendees: Abigail is working with Rachel on a basic one for attendees.
o Issue briefs: Our primary issue is adequate funding for Ready to Read. We also need to consider our messaging on school libraries and the education continuum. It’s harder to advocate for something if there isn’t specific legislation. Equitable access to legal information currently means supporting the State Law Library in its funding of statewide access to legal databases. Janet will draft and share.
o Photographer for Read poster: Ruth has her contact.
o Books: Jane is working with Katie and will check on how many we have and if we need to solicit more.
o Set up and take down: Buzzy and Nan will set up and Ted and Brooke can help with take down.
o Book selection: Jane will track the selections. (Did I hear that correctly?)
o Briefing session: MaryKay has Room 102 in the State Library reserved. Nan will see if she can get a room in the Capitol.
Janet, Abigail, Sara and Nan will get together to continue planning for Legislative day.
6. Douglas County Update (Kate & MaryKay)
Kate and MaryKay discussed the current situation (branches closing in April and the main branch closing at the end of June). The city of Oakland has contacted MaryKay about how to set up a city funded library. The Ford Family Foundation will not put more funds into keeping the system open. Most thought that this didn’t signal that the Foundation was abandoning libraries in general. The county is looking at Oregon Solutions as a means to provide some leadership for community conversation around library service in Douglas County.
We agreed that the worse thing than could happen in July is for the county commissioners to distribute or sell all of the library system’s assets. We decided to write a letter encouraging them to consider maintaining the assets so people can explore options. Once the assets are sold, it will be much more expensive to reopen in the future. Buzzy will draft a letter and get to the OLA Board by the February 3 board meeting. He will contact Harold for input. He will also contact a former hood River commissioner who might be willing to talk to the Douglas County commissioners about options given the Hood River scenario.
7. Guns in Libraries (Abigail)
Abigail is working on a guide to best practices.
Future Meetings:
March 9
May 11
Outstanding Action Items:
· Janet and Robin will send Nan and Amanda the OLA/OASL response to the ODE ESSA Implementation Plan.
· MaryKay will get budget numbers on HB5018 and SB75 in terms of how the proposed cuts and expansion will affect Ready to Read Grant funding.
· Anyone can send Elsa suggestions for the upcoming vacant position on the State Library Board.
· Buzzy will work on a letter and contact with Douglas County.
· Abigail will draft a model gun policy and have it reviewed by Kate, Buzzy and Diedre.
· Nathan, Sue and Janet will continue to work on the Engage site.