Barb's Blog

I spent 4 days in Juneau last week at the annual Alaska Library Conference.  Though the time was jammed with lots of good workshops I would love to have attended, I spent the first 3 days on Capital Hill lobbying for a bill the school librarians are going to try to put through the legislature.  If the bill passes as plans, every active school library in our state will receive a yearly grant of $2500 for schools with more than 6 teachers, and $750 for schools with less than 6.

We worked hard to get our bill in draft form, trying to find primary and  secondary sponsors, and getting our ducks in a row to spread the news on the next steps to Alaska School Librarians around the state.  Here’s a few pictures from the 3 days up on the hill.

Suzanne and I had gone to visit her house representative Mary Nelson.  2 years ago Suzanne received the Alaska School Librarian of the Year Award.  Mary wanted to present her with a certificate.   Mary Nelson is going to be one of the co-sponsors for the bill.

Donny Olson, a Democrat from Nome, standing on the left, is one of our two primary sponsors for the bill. The gentleman on the right is our lobbyist, Clark Gruening.

 Tim B., on the right, is an aide for Ralph Samuels.  Though Samuels will not be able to sponsor our bill, it was his office that took our proposal and got it put into a working draft.  Tim has been a wonderful support, giving us suggestions of key individuals to talk to for potential sponsors.

I called John Harris, our Valdez House Representative, to let him know I was going to be in Juneau.  He had given me some nice support way back in October to get this bill in place.  I decided to stop by to keep him in the loop.  He took time to take us to chamber and have our photos taken. Too bad the quality is so bad!