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Concentrated citizen action IS the way forward in this moment, and I agree
wholeheartedly with Liza (and George and Bethany): the messages we use will
have to speak to citizens well beyond our fields.

It would be wonderful to galvanize a network in this moment that can
articulate *clearly and with unified voices* that libraries, archives, and
museums are NOT luxuries for the privileged; they are vital to the health
and success of our nation and our world.

Bethany, thank you as always for being such an articulate, thoughtful,
thought-provoking and community-minded force in our field. As a citizen, I
welcome others in NC who want to "caucus for mutual support" (to quote
Liza's lovely statement) to let me know.

All my best,
k

*Katherine Skinner, PhD*
Executive Director, Educopia Institute
http://educopia.org

Working from Greensboro, NC
[log in to unmask] | 404 783 2534




On Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 1:24 PM, Liza Loop <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Bethany,
>
> I will respond to your request for citizen action from here in Northern
> California. You are *not* alone!
>
> In addition, may I suggest that it's time to compose some messages to
> conservatives and military hawks to explain, in language meaningful to
> them, exactly how these budget cuts will impact programs they value. We
> need to go beyond "preaching to the choir" and encourage our opposition to
> think more strategically, systematically and deeply. This action may
> require research into funding that supports conservative scholarship as
> well as local and religious history.
>
> Any colleagues in my geographical region who would like to caucus for
> mutual support, please feel free to contact me.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Liza Loop
> History of Computing in Learning and Education (HCLE) Project.
> www.hcle.org
> [log in to unmask]
>
> On Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 8:44 AM, <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Thank you for this strong statement. It is a wonderful call to action.
>> I'm acting.
>>
>> Michelle
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Mar 16, 2017, at 11:19 AM, Bethany Nowviskie <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear friends,
>>
>> Last night, the Trump administration released its new budget blueprint
>> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-presidential-budget-2018-proposal/>,
>> an advisory document that proposes increases in spending to military
>> programs and national security, coupled with major decreases to—or the
>> complete elimination of—many programs supporting scientific data
>> and research, human health, and environmental safety; social uplift,
>> education, and protection for the poor; international
>> diplomacy, cooperation, and aid; and the arts, culture, history, and museum
>> and library services. The House and Senate will now begin offering their
>> own budget resolutions, and a long process of negotiation—informed by the
>> will of the people, as expressed to our elected representatives—will
>> ultimately result in Appropriations committee legislation setting funding
>> levels for agencies and offices germane to the goals of the Digital
>> Library Federation <https://www.diglib.org/about/> and its mission to
>> “advance research, learning, social justice, and the public good.”
>>
>> These include—among many others—agencies and offices whose federal
>> budgets the Trump administration proposes to *eliminate entirely*: the National
>> Endowment for the Humanities <https://www.neh.gov/>, the Corporation for
>> Public Broadcasting <http://www.cpb.org/> (which supports NPR and
>> PBS), the National Endowment for the Arts <https://arts.gov/>, the Woodrow
>> Wilson International Center for Scholars <https://arts.gov/>, the US
>> Institute of Peace <https://www.usip.org/>, the Appalachian Regional
>> Commission <https://www.arc.gov/about/index.asp>—and of course the IMLS,
>> the Institute of Museum and Library Services <https://www.imls.gov/>.
>> IMLS not only supports academic library and information science R&D
>> programs that contribute to the development of a coherent and utterly
>> necessary national digital platform; it also supports public programming
>> and education in our nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000
>> museums—themselves vulnerable to future budget cuts. Future reductions may
>> also be proposed to the budgets of the National Archives, the Library of
>> Congress, the Smithsonian Institution and other federally-funded keepers of
>> records, culture, and national memory.
>>
>> Program officers and staff of public service organizations like these are
>> prohibited by the federal Hatch Act of 1939 from engaging in some forms
>> of political activity, thus curtailing their ability to advocate fully for
>> the agencies to which they have devoted so much, while serving as agency
>> representatives. *The DLF community must represent them, and—in our
>> support for the myriad ways these agencies serve us—we raise our voices
>> <https://www.indivisibleguide.com/> to represent the communities and
>> publics we serve together. *
>>
>> Last month, in a national climate of growing division and rising
>> fear, the DLF and its parent organization, CLIR, offered a statement
>> outlining our community’s enduring values and our own “Deepening Resolve
>> <https://www.diglib.org/archives/13504/>.” I spend my every day in awe
>> of the imagination, drive, compassion, and expertise of DLF
>> practitioners. I know the people who make up our working groups
>> <https://www.diglib.org/groups/> and who staff our member institutions
>> <https://www.diglib.org/members/> are resolute in their understanding of
>> the power of digital libraries to serve—as we put it in the statement
>> <https://www.diglib.org/archives/13504/>—”individuals and institutions
>> that are both stalwart and vulnerable, people living now and generations
>> yet to come.” The DLF community strives to build usable, welcoming, and
>> respectful knowledge representation systems that embody “our shared, core
>> values of enlightened liberalism and scientific understanding,” help us
>> understand the past and imagine better futures, and advance “our mission to
>> create just, equitable, and sustained global cultures of accessible
>> information.”
>>
>> These are lofty goals. Like all things, they start in the local
>> <https:[log in to unmask]>,
>> the embodied, the world near to you.
>>
>> Regardless of your party affiliation or political creed (and in the
>> understanding that diversity of thought is among our community’s great
>> strengths)—if you share my concern about aspects of the current
>> administration’s budget proposal and vision for libraries, research data,
>> and cultural heritage in the digital age, I urge you to *contact your
>> representatives <https://www.contactingcongress.org/> and make your views
>> known*. Finally, I remind you that the DLF has very consciously redoubled
>> its efforts <https://www.diglib.org/archives/13044/> to function as a
>> flexible, pragmatic, and supportive framework for grassroots efforts of all
>> kinds, relevant to our field. DLF members and non-members alike are invited
>> to use us as a platform for effective community organizing
>> <https://wiki.diglib.org/About_DLF_and_the_Organizers%27_Toolkit>. We
>> are here for you, and for the futures you want to build.
>>
>> —Bethany (writing quickly and alone; Team CLIR/DLF and DLF Advisory
>> Committee endorsements, additions, or productive dissent may yet come)
>> This statement is posted online: https://www.diglib.org/archives/13694/
>>
>> Bethany Nowviskie
>> Director of the Digital Library Federation (DLF) at CLIR
>> Research Associate Professor of Digital Humanities, UVa
>> diglib.org | clir.org | ndsa.org | nowviskie.org | she/her/hers
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Liza Loop
> History of Computing in Learning and Education (HCLE) Project.
> www.hcle.org
> [log in to unmask]
>