What We Learned from a Visit to Washington DC & how You can Help

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On May 2nd, I traveled to Washington DC with YALSA President Sarah Hill and other YALSA members to participate in National Library Legislative Day.  We focused our conversations on

Sarah and I met with Congressional staff who work for committees that are relevant to libraries, such as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.  We participated in seven meetings in seven hours and here’s what we learned from this speed-dating with Congressional staff:

  • Your emails, calls, Tweets and letters are working—especially your calls and letters—but we need more. Everyone we met admitted that Congress is pretty old school.  So, calls and letters get more attention than social media or email.  This includes letters to the editor and op-ed pieces in local newspapers.  Please keep sending letters and making calls!  As of May 4, only 20 Senators have signed the letter supporting federal funds for libraries in FY18.  Check out this earlier YALSAblog post for sample messages and a ready to use letter to the editor (docx).

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Why You should Care about the FCC’s Attack on Net Neutrality

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In 2015 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), after an outpouring of support from the public, put in place strict regulations to make sure  internet service providers (ISPs) could not do things like create fast lanes, or “throttle” online traffic.  They preserved an open internet where all traffic is treated equally online and where large corporations did not get preferential treatment over individuals or small institutions, like libraries or schools.  The American Library Association (ALA) has long been a supporter of net neutrality–keeping the Internet open and free to everyone–and has issued several statements on the topic.  Net neutrality aligns closely with libraries’ core value of providing free and open access to information for everyone.  You can learn more and keep up to date on developments from their District Dispatch blog.  This week, the Trump administration proposed rolling back those regulations with an ironically named “Restoring Internet Freedom” proposal, and they are now accepting public comments about the proposal.  Read More →

Net neutrality and youth participation

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danah boyd, PhD candidate at the School of Information in Berkeley, CA is featured on this week’s spotlight for Digital Media and Learning about youth and net neutrality.

She writes, “Net neutrality is not just a geek thing; it’s a generation thing. If we want to build a world where youth have a voice online, we have to keep the net neutral.”

Be sure to watch the short YouTube clip on ‘Ask a Ninja’ to find out more about net neutrality.

In light of Time Magazine’s announcement as ‘You’ being the person of the year for 2006, “for the growth and influence of user-generated content,” net neutrality is a pretty big deal.

Posted by Kelly Czarnecki