<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Contact Senator Merkley's Office to Support Library Funding</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>Dear Colleagues:<BR>
<BR>
All of you benefit in some way from the LSTA funds that Oregon receives every year (e.g., Gale databases, L-net, Plinkit, OSLIS, competitive grants).<BR>
<BR>
Now is the time to take action to increase LSTA funding in 2011. Contact <B>Caitie Whelan</B> in Senator Merkley’s office and ask her to have the Senator sign the “Dear Appropriator” letter that Senator Reed is circulating. <BR>
<BR>
<B>Senator Wyden has already signed the letter.</B> <B>We need Senator Merkley to do the same. <BR>
</B><BR>
Please call or email Caitie Whelan in Senator Merkley’s office. Tell her what LSTA does for your library and why we need the modest increase that the “Dear Appropriator” letter asks for. The letter also asks for an increase in Federal funding for school libraries.<BR>
<BR>
Tell Caitie to contact Elyse Wasch in Senator Reed’s office who is handling the library funding letter.<BR>
<BR>
<B>Contact Caitie today: 202-224-3753 or caitie_whelan@merkley.senate.gov<BR>
</B><BR>
Need more details on this? Read on for the message from the American Library Association...<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><FONT COLOR="#0000C0"><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:16.0px'><BR>
Take Action!<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times, Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:16.0px'> <BR>
The deadline for these "Dear Appropriator" to be received by the Appropriations Committee is <B><U>April 14</U></B>, so it is important that you call your senators today and ask them to sign onto a "Dear Appropriator" letter that is circulating around the Senate. This letter will be sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee and will be asking the committee to support the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL) program in its FY2011 budget.<BR>
<B><BR>
BACKGROUND ON THE PROGRAMS AND WHAT WE ARE ASKING FOR<BR>
</B> <BR>
<B>LSTA<BR>
</B>Congress is currently drafting the federal budget for fiscal year 2011. It has never been more important than now that Congress fully funds the LSTA, the only annual source for federal funding to libraries. As Congress writes next year's budget they need to understand that dollars from the state and local levels are at an all-time low, and libraries can not continue to do their important work without this funding.<BR>
In this "Dear Appropriator" letter that is circulating around in the Senate, the signatures are urging the Appropriations Committee to include $300 million in funding through LSTA in the FY2011 budget. Please contact your two senators' offices and tell them about the work your library does in the state and community. It is always a good idea to stress what programs and resources your library provides to help build the local economy, help kids with their homework, and so much more. After you have explained how libraries are an incredibly valuable investment, please ask your senator to sign onto the "Dear Appropriator" letter supporting LSTA and Improving Literacy Through School Libraries (ILTSL). <BR>
<B><BR>
School Libraries<BR>
</B>In his FY2011 budget request, President Obama consolidated Improving Literacy Through School Libraries with five other literacy programs. This would mean that school libraries will have to directly compete with other dissimilar programs to receive federal dollars under the President's plan. However, Congress is drafting their own budget for FY2011 right now, and there is no word yet if they will go along with President Obama's recommendation of consolidation. Congress needs to hear from you NOW about the important role that school libraries play in today's schools.<BR>
<BR>
Right now there is a letter circulating around the Senate urging the Appropriations Committee to specifically appropriate $100 million for the ILTSL program. This amount would make money available to every state, rather than the current competitive grant program. Please contact your two senators' offices explaining to them how important having a school library can be in a child's education. Please ask them to sign on to the ILTSL and LSTA "Dear Appropriator".<BR>
<BR>
The deadline for the "Dear Appropriator" letter is April 14, so please contact your senators today and urge them to sign on! Also, please ask your friends and library supporters to contact their senators as well - we need to keep the pressure on our elected officials so these programs receive the funding they need.<BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><FONT FACE="Optima, Times New Roman">Jim Scheppke, State Librarian<BR>
Oregon State Library<BR>
250 Winter St. NE<BR>
Salem, OR 97301<BR>
503-378-4367<BR>
(fax) 503-585-8059<BR>
jim.b.scheppke@state.or.us<BR>
</FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><BR>
<IMG src="cid:3353394698_547947" ><FONT COLOR="#008000">Go Green, Keep it on screen - think before you print.</FONT><BR>
</FONT></SPAN>
</BODY>
</HTML>