ALA Washington Office Debuts Legislative Scorecard 2007

ALA members often inquire as to how their Members of Congress voted on issues of particular importance to libraries. In response, the ALA Washington Office has created the Legislative Scorecard.

Covering votes from 2007, the scorecard lists several key pieces of federal library-related legislation that ALA supported, and places a check mark beside the names of the Senators and Representatives who sponsored those bills.

For example, on the Senate page:

5. S 1121 – Co-sponsorship of the LIBRARIAN Act which supports the authorization for cancellation of Perkins Loans for students who perform public service as librarians in low-income schools and public libraries.

A user need only find his/her Senators and see if there is a checkmark under #5 to determine whether or not those Senators co-sponsored the LIBRARIAN Act.

If you find that your Members of Congress have sponsored several of these measures, use the Legislative Action Center to send them a note of thanks! Likewise, if your legislators have supported few or even none of these bills, send them a note expressing your support of libraries!