By Joe Sabatini, Co-Chair, NMLA Legislation Committee
It could happen. You can hear it in your communities. Throw out all of the
incumbent politicians. Government is the problem. Stop spending my tax
money on stuff I don’t want. I can’t afford an increase in my property
tax.
(Bond B will cost a taxpayer forty five cents per year for ten years per
$100,000 of property valuation.)
In 2008, our margin of victory was only 30,740. Bond Issue B won with a
52.2% positive margin, a decline of 4.6% from our margin in 2006. There
will be fewer voters participating. Even with highly competitive races for
Governor and U.S. Congress, there will not be the enthusiasm of a
Presidential race. Many first time voters mobilized in 2008 may be
disillusioned non-participants in 2010.
With local and institutional budgets being reduced virtually everywhere in
New Mexico, is there any library in the state which has not suffered
substantial cuts in their local media budget? Our patrons expect and
depend upon us to provide current materials. We are already less able to
meet their needs than before. Without the additional money from the Bond,
our ability to provide current materials will be meager indeed. And, once
we are unsuccessful in getting voter approval of a bond issue, it will be
much harder to convince the Legislature that libraries should be included
in future bond package. Successfully passing Bond B sends the message to
local and institutional officials that voters are willing to support
libraries as an essential service in their communities, schools and
colleges.
The Bonds for Libraries Political Action Committee (PAC) has been meeting
to plan a campaign to support Bond B. We received good support from
donations and NALSIG Silent Auction proceedings at the NMLA Conference in
Ruidoso. When ALA President Camila Alire spoke about frontline advocacy,
she acknowledged the activities of our PAC in providing the campaign
resources to accomplish our goal. And yet the PAC has not received the
level of contributions to fund the kind of campaign that will be needed.
It will be up to librarians and their supporters to bring the message to
voters in each community.
To that end, the PAC will be working with the Cooney-Watson PR firm to
produce a CD with an English- and a Spanish-language version of a radio
spot. Copies of this CD will be mailed to each public and academic library
director. In addition, the kit will contain examples of the media available for downloading from
the PAC website. Additional bumper strips are available, to be distributed
at selected meetings and to Friends groups. We continue to explore ways to
use blogs and social networks to reach new audiences. We are conscious of
the need to have these materials available in advance of the beginning of
early/absentee voting on October 7th.
What can you do now to get the message out?
Contact the PAC with your ideas and questions at
contactus@bondsforlibraries.org.
Set a date for a meeting in your community for librarians and library
supporters from all types of libraries to organize a local campaign.
Identify the financial needs and resources available to support that
campaign. The PAC can advise you about strategies for placing radio and
newspaper ads, op-ed pieces and general interest news stories.
Get bumper strips from the PAC and put them on your cars. Ask your
Friends, and your friends and relatives to do so. Bumper strips will be
seen by hundreds or even thousands of voters between now and the election,
but only if they are on car bumpers. A driver who sees a bumper strip on
two different cars will notice a trend. Three different cars and it’s a
landslide. Contact the PAC for bumper strips, as well as bookmarks and
brochures.
Be creative in getting out the word about your library’s impact on your
community, and the need for support. Every staff member can present this
message in his/her own way.
We can win if we tell our story.