Before the Ballot ― Building Political Support for Library Funding

This guide helps librarians and library staff build political support for library funding in the years leading up to a ballot measure or political initiative through day-to-day work. It describes how to align a library's internal approach to building new external partners and finding, activating, and holding on to supporters, then the practical side of running an informational communications campaign in the last three to four months before an election. It discusses voter attitudes about libraries, radicalizing them about libraries, creating the perception of the library as a candidate or cause, creating a fundable plan, building partnerships and joining coalitions, relationship-building, defining audiences of potential supporters, messaging for funding support, engagement with supporters and activists, transitioning into an informational communications campaign, fixing political and voter perception problems, why libraries lose, and best practices for an informational communications campaign, as well as a sample timeline for a 36-month campaign. Chrastka, a library trustee, supporter, and advocate, and Sweeney, a library advocate and former librarian, are both associated with a national political action committee for libraries. Annotation ©2019 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)