The Washington Affairs Office was established in 1989 at the
Georgetown University Law Library to advance information policy issues
on behalf of the American Association of Law Libraries. It was renamed
the Government Relations Office in October 2008 to better reflect the
broadened scope of the office that includes advocacy efforts at
national, state, and international levels. AALL Government Relations
Office staff
include Director Mary Alice Baish and Advocacy Communications Assistant
Emily Feldman. Staff work to meet the objective of AALL’s strategic direction on Advocacy.
The Government Relations Office staff work on information policy issues in accordance with AALL's Government Relations Policy and in consultation with the Copyright Committee, Electronic Legal Information Access and Citation Committee, Government Relations Committee,
and, where necessary or appropriate, the President or Executive Board
of the Association. Issues include funding for public law libraries,
digital authentication and preservation, access to government
information, copyright, privacy and more.
While the Government Relations Office works with members of Congress
and their staffs, agencies, and the Administration to promote
information policy issues, it is you who has the most powerful
voice to be a strong advocate for law libraries. As a law librarian
and constituent, you have the ability to get the attention of your
lawmakers. This toolkit provides you with information you need to
become a successful advocate for law libraries on the federal and state
levels. We have divided the toolkit in sections to help our members
and chapters learn the tools they need to take action.
The purposes of this Toolkit are to:
- Illustrate the many ways in which you can get involved in advocacy;
- Provide you with specific actions you can take immediately;
- Present you with a comprehensive look at the issues and bills we’re currently working on; and
- Give our members and chapters the tools they need to become effective on both the federal and state levels.