1.1 What the AALL Government Relations Office Does for You

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Resources:

The Government Relations Office offers several timely services to help you stay informed about the latest information-policy news and updates:

  • The Government Relations Office Web site on AALLNET: The one-stop-shop for AALL policy updates, letters, testimony, issue briefs, presentations, and other resources, with coverage back to 1995. 
    • http://www.aallnet.org/aallwash/
  • AALL Washington Blawg: Launched in February 2008, the Blawg includes the latest policy updates, news items, summaries of hearings, useful resources, and more. It is the best source of up-to-date information from the Government Relations Office. You can receive Blawg updates through RSS feeds and email.
    http://aallwash.wordpress.com/
  • Washington E-Bulletin: Each month, the E-Bulletin provides you with a round up of the important information policy issues that we're tracking, current action alerts, chapter news, and further reading for the information policy junkie. The E-Bulletin is available on our Web site and is sent out to a number of listservs, including the AALL Advocacy Listserv.
  • http://www.aallnet.org/aallwash/lru.asp
  • The AALL Advocacy Listserv: A two-way discussion list that keeps you in the loop on the latest policy news, the Advocacy Listserv also gives you an opportunity to share stories about what's happening in your state. Listserv members can post news, questions, or concerns to the hundreds of people who subscribe to the list.
    http://www.aallnet.org/aallwash/aalladvocsubscribe.asp
  •  “Washington Brief” column in Spectrum: The column highlights the most important issues the Government Relations Office is following. Archived columns are available on our Web site.
    http://www.aallnet.org/aallwash/lru.asp
  • GRO Staff: The Government Relations Office staff are always here to answer your questions and discuss your concerns. Please feel free to drop us a line any time!

Mary Alice Baish
Director
AALL Government Relations Office
(202) 942-4237
mbaish@aall.org

Emily Feldman
Advocacy Communications Assistant
AALL Government Relations Office
(202) 942-4233
efeldman@aall.org

IDEA CORNER:

If you're looking for AALL's position on a policy issue or just for more information, try searching AALLNET. In the search bar in the left-hand column, type in a few key words. For example, "public access to information," "digital authentication," or "orphan works" will bring up background information, policy documents, action alerts, and more.

Events:

In addition to the resources we offer to keep you informed and engaged, the AALL Government Relations Office and Government Relations Committee hold several events during the AALL Annual Meeting and Conference to tell you about our work and give you an update on what’s happening in Washington, D.C. AALL members and chapter members are encouraged to attend as many of these  events as possible.

For example, we held the following events at the 2010 Annual Meeting:

Legislative Advocacy Training 2010: Raising the Bar in Your State

Saturday, July 10, 2010 ▪ 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

As you can see from our agenda, we’ll be hosting concurrent open brainstorming sessions during the Advocacy Training on concrete ways to promote our two top priorities at the state level—the value of state, court and county law libraries and the progress of our AALL State Working Groups, including the development of a national inventory of primary legal information.

If you can join us in Denver, you’ll be able to choose between these two important breakout sessions:

  • The first will feature an interactive panel discussion led by SCCLL-SIS Board Member Joan Bellistri with several public law librarians who have successfully dealt with a funding crisis in their state. We want you to brainstorm about what new tools we can develop collaboratively and make available on AALLNET. These new tools will help us demonstrate the value of public law libraries and build allies to help promote their unique role in providing access to justice.  
  • The second, led by incoming Government Relations Committee Vice Chair Catherine Dunn, will include a dialogue with the coordinators of several of our state working groups on the successes and challenges they’ve faced. Paul Lomio and Erika Wayne, who are working with NOCALL and AALL’s California Working Group to develop and test the prototype for the national inventory, will then summarize progress to date. They’ll also lead a group discussion for new ideas on how to populate the inventories down to the local level. If you have a laptop, please be sure to bring it along! 

We need many more volunteers for our state working groups. Even though you may not be able to attend our training session this summer, please contact Emily Feldman to sign up.

Policy Meetings

Hear about the recent work of our three policy committees and their plans for the future. These meetings are open to everyone, and provide a great opportunity to network with members of the Committee and learn more about their important work.

Copyright Committee
Sunday, July 11, 2010 ▪ 12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
 
Electronic Legal Information Access & Citation (ELIAC) Committee
Sunday, July 11, 2010 ▪ 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Government Relations Committee
Monday, July 12, 2010 ▪ 12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

Chapter Leadership Roundtable: Government Relations

Monday, July 12, 2010 ▪ 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Intended for chapter members with an interest in policy, this Roundtable is designed to give participants an opportunity to learn about the work of the Government Relations Committee and Government Relations Office, share policy news from your chapter, and ask any questions you may have about chapter advocacy. It’s also a great opportunity to network with your peers in other chapters. This is an important meeting for chapter policy committee chairs and committee members and we strongly encourage participation by one or more member of each chapter.

G3: AALL Public Policy Update

Monday, July 12, 2010 ▪ 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

The AALL policy update annually provides the AALL membership with news about progress with information policy issues and legislative advocacy efforts during the year, as well as pending legislation and administrative actions of particular interest to our membership. GRC Chair Camilla Tubbs will present the 2010 AALL Public Access to Government Information (PAGI) Award and the Robert L. Oakley Advocacy Award to our distinguished recipients. She will also provide an overview of the GRC's work during the past year. Chair of the Copyright Committee Joan Shear, Chair of the Electronic Legal Information Access and Citation Committee Emily Janoski-Haehlen, and Director of the Government Relations Office Mary Alice Baish will summarize their year's activities and accomplishments.