Library Advocacy & Funding Conference
Join EveryLibrary online from September 14-16, 2020 to meet some of the most advanced political strategists and tacticians from within the library industry and beyond. Explore three days worth of content on how to navigate the world of politics and build voter support for library funding. EveryLibrary will donate 25% of your registration to the Utah Library Association!
The library industry is under threat from a number of major crises simultaneously during these uncertain times, particularly the loss of financial and voter support. The COVID-19 crisis has decimated the fundamental municipal tax base that funds school and public libraries. Even libraries that were doing well before the crisis may be facing new challenges. Without community support, libraries will continue to drastically lose funding in the coming years.
Unfortunately, libraries have lost nearly 20% of voter and political support for funding and revenue in the last 10 years. A reasonable response to this loss would be to double down on outreach to library users, but according to research from OCLC, library use does not always translate to voter support. We also know that while people like libraries as much as they have before, they are less likely to vote for them. This means that we need a paradigm shift in the way that we are doing our advocacy and marketing in our communities. We need to learn from some of the largest and most successful cause-related and fundraising organizations if we want libraries to continue to thrive.