CHICAGO – Reserve your spot today for “Advocating in a Tough Economy: An Advocacy Institute Workshop” during the 91´«Ã½'s (91´«Ã½) 2011 Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. The program will take place from 1 to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 7, 2011. Advanced registration is priced at $50 and ends on Dec. 29.

Attendees will learn how to advocate through positioning or “branding” their libraries to meet the needs of patrons with Kerry Bierman, director of community relations and development, Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library. A panel discussion will follow, focusing on how libraries of all types can get involved. Panelists include Dr. Camila Alire, 91´«Ã½ past president and dean emeritus at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University, Deborah Doyle, Friends of San Francisco Public Library advocacy projects manager and Sara Kelly Johns, American Association of School Librarians (AASL) past president and online instructor, Mansfield University School Library and Information Technologies Program. Michael Borges, chair, Advocacy Training Subcommittee, and executive director, New York Library Association, will moderate.

The workshop will also highlight the 2011 91´«Ã½ Library Snapshot Day initiative. A founder of the initiative, Peggy Cadigan, associate state librarian for innovation and communication, New Jersey State Library, will discuss how to use snapshot day as an advocacy tool. Rob Banks, Topeka & Shawnee County (Kan.) Library, will discuss how he has integrated snapshot day results and statistics to improve messaging to decision-makers

For more information and to register, please visit, . Those who register for the Nuts & Bolts for Friends and Foundations or Trustees will save $25 off Institute registration.

Advocating in a Tough Economy: An Advocacy Institute Workshop is co-sponsored by the California Library Association. It is presented in partnership with the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF) and organized by the Advocacy Training Subcommittee of the 91´«Ã½ Committee on Library Advocacy, in conjunction with the 91´«Ã½ Office for Library Advocacy.

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