Resources to Help You Advocate
ALA's Advocacy Clearinghouse
This page brings together ALA's tools and resources for advocating for libraries,
librarians, and library services. Check the
General Advocacy section for basic instructional and research tools for the beginning advocate, and the
Advocacy Factsheets section for guides on becoming a better advocate, building your advocacy campaign,
making your case, lobbying, and working with the media. Another useful resource is their
Early Literacy Talking Points.
Ohio Library Council Advocacy Resources
The OLC makes available an Advocacy Handbook to coach library staff in building a library advocacy network
and reaching legislators. The focus is on communicating with state and local elected officials. This resource is
available to OLC members; login required to access and download it. The Ohio Library Council Government Relations is dedicated to enhancing the role of public libraries as
advocates for library services and library patrons.
International Reading Association
The mission of the International Reading Association is to promote reading by continuously advancing the quality of
literacy instruction and research worldwide. Its Legislative Action Team is a grassroots network of
member volunteers participating in advocacy efforts to promote quality instruction.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) provides many useful fact sheets and informational resources
about advocacy. They have a nice collection of information about the legal aspects of the subject.
Further information about becoming an advocate for Children's literacy can be found
on their Using Early Childhood Research page.
A Window to the World:
Early Language and Literacy Development (PDF)
This new (2011) research brief from Zero to Three shows how early language and literacy
development contributes to a child's success throughout life, puts forth five policy recommendations, and summarizes relevant research. Recommendations include:
Emphasize family engagement, particularly the role of parents in emergent literacy and the importance of reaching all at-risk infants and toddlers;
Dedicate funding to support early language and literacy development in infants and toddlers, including professional development for early childhood professionals who care for infants and toddlers;
Ensure that wording of literacy legislation for children birth through grade 12 reflects children's needs across the entire age range;
Build collaborations among birth to 3, prekindergarten, and K-12 programs to create shared responsibility for language and literacy development;
and Focus research funds on supporting early language and literacy for infants and toddlers.
Ounce of Prevention Fund
The Ounce of Prevention Fund has a single goal: that all American children, particularly those born into poverty,
have quality early childhood experiences in the crucial first five years of life. The Ounce provides direct services to
children in the Chicago area, and advocates for state and federal funding for early childhood services that reach
hundreds of thousands of children across the country. A public awareness video produced by the Ounce,
Change the First Five Years and You Change
Everything, is a compelling introduction to the problem of children in poverty being unready for kindergarten. Share
it with your local decision makers and your community.
Association for Library Services to Children Blog
The Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) blog has several posts that are useful to early
literacy advocates. In particular, Authors Speak Out for Libraries introduces
an interesting resource for librarians to use.
Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy Blog
Another blog containing useful information about early literacy advocacy is the Colorado
Libraries for Early Literacy blog. Like the ALSC blog, numerous entries can be found here.
Of particular note are the Monthly Advocacy Tips. Many of these tips are simple, but quite effective.
Oregon Library Development Services
The Library Development Services of Oregon have created a site for their early literacy initiative.
While some of the information is specifically focused on Oregon's libraries, there is a treasure trove of
useful ideas for any early childhood literacy advocate. The site discusses how to get funding, why collaborations
are important, and more. In addition, they have a great list of
Additional Resources that are quite useful.
Reading Rockets Advocacy Page
The advocacy page for Reading Rockets is geared towards parents (with some attention given to educators).
There are numerous informational documents for parents as well as links to advocacy blogs. In addition, a reading
list about books discussing the need for early literacy advocacy is provided. Despite focusing on parents, there are
several parts of this page that are helpful to youth librarians.
The National Center for Family Literacy
The National Center for Family literacy provides Family Literacy Oriented Training and Consulting,
as well as early literacy research. They have several programs and including the
Toyota Family Literacy Program, that
address the growing educational needs of Hispanic and other immigrant families by increasing English language
and literacy skills for adults while also supporting their involvement in their children's education. This program
has funded over 255 family literacy sites.
Zero to Three - Federal Policy Baby Blog
The public policy process can be fast-paced, so this blog offers important policy developments impacting babies,
toddlers, families, and early childhood professionals. A service of Zero to Three, a
national nonprofit organization that informs, trains and supports professionals, policymakers and parents in their
efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers.
SparkAction Early Care and Learning
The Benton Foundation provides information for adults to advocate for children in their
communities through SparkAction.org. The Early Care and Learning section gives ideas for
cost-effective programs, citable research sources, and other information advocating care and
literacy for young children.
RTI Early Childhood Research
RTI International provides a range of research and program evaluation services that includes
child and family assessments, classroom observations, program quality assessments, and training. The
Early Childhood page contains links to research valuable to early literacy advocates.
Friends of the Library U.S.A. - Early Literacy
This page, created by the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations
(formerly known as the Friends of the Library U.S.A) contains links to early literacy research
and articles. A few of the links are broken and the page is no longer maintained, but there are still valuable research sources
for advocates to be found on this page.
The Link Between Public Libraries and Early Reading Success
This research-fueled article discusses the link between public libraries and early reading success.
National Coalition for Literacy
While not focused on early literacy, this advocacy organization is very active in adult education, family literacy,
and English language acquisition in the U.S. The NCL works to raise public awareness for the need to increase funding
and programs, to promote effective public policy, and to serve as a resource for the field on national adult education issues.
