A Win in Iowa!

We are excited to announce that the campaign to keep school librarians from being “optional” in Iowa State Senate Bill 1190 in Iowa was wildly successful and the language was removed from the bill. In less than 12 hours over 500 people across the state of Iowa signed the petition. Your actions made this possible!

We were proud to stand with the Iowa Association of School Librarians, the Iowa Library Association and their Lobbyists to provide our platform, data, and funding to support their incredible work in the state of Iowa. There were many from these critical state organizations that worked tirelessly to make this campaign successful.

The senators faced a barrage of emails and phone calls from all parts of Iowa. This had a profound effect on the outcome. It was Senator Mark Lofgren's amendment that removed the wording from section 13. Of note, the amendment passed by voice vote, which means no one, including Committee Chair Amy Sinclair, objected. Please take some time tomorrow and email these senators, as well as those on the committee, to thank them for removing the language regarding teacher librarians from 1190.

We were only able to provide pro-bono support to Iowa Librarians thanks to the generosity of our donors.
Please make a $10-$25 donation today!

Of course, we’ve love to thank the number of people who this campaign so successful.

IASL

• The IASL Board - This group of teacher librarians began meeting on Saturday, and by Sunday evening, they were drafting talking points, organizing outreaches, and curating resources for our presentation to the subcommittee.
• Lisa Beal - In her role as IASL Advocacy Chair, Lisa took the draft the board created and revised it to make it personal and powerful. Taking her last personal day of the year, Lisa drove to Des Moines, and testified at the subcommittee; moreover, she spoke with at least half of the committee afterward, including Senator Lofgren and Education Committee Vice Chair Cournoyer. In only her second month in her role on the board, Lisa represented us with pride and excellence.
• Drs. Karla Krueger and Joan Taylor - These UNI professors drove to Des Moines with the sole purpose of supporting IASL and Lisa. Like, Lisa, they met with senators and spoke on our behalf. We are blessed to have them in our corner. 

ILA

• Dan Chibnall, Michael Wright, and Zach Stier - These three individuals were so very key to the success we had. Dan and Michael were the first to alert us of the bill and put us in contact with the lobbyists. They brainstormed a plan, and galvanized the full ILA membership for their support.
• Craig Patterson and Amy Campbell – These lobbyists are always quietly working on behalf of Iowa Librarians and did tremendous work at the capital.

Follett

• We would also like to thank Follett for their generosity in supporting EveryLibrary's school library work. Without their contribution, we could not make the SaveSchoolLibrarians.org platform available for free to school librarians across the country.

Thank you all for your continued support of school librarians in Iowa.

Patrick "PC" Sweeney
Political Director