Washington Hotline


C&RL News April 2016 204

Nancy Gravatt is press officer of the ALA Washington 
Office, email: ngravatt@alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eNancy Gravatt

ALA’s National Policy Convening 
ALA’s National Policy Convening is being 
held April 12–13, 2016, in Washington, D.C., 
during National Library Week. It is a chance 
to hear about policy priorities of importance 
to the national library community. (Contact 
Charlie Wapner, at cwapner@alawash.org, for 
information or to register.) This year there 
are three themes within the program, which 
will be hosted by ALA President Sari Feldman 
and Alan Inouye, director of ALA’s Office 
for Information Technology Policy, which 
include:  

• Tuesday, April 12: Youth Engage-
ment with Technology (5:30–6:30 p.m.). 
How can we develop and sustain effective 
technology opportunities for young people in 
formal (K–12 classroom) and other (informal) 
settings—particularly for those in groups un-
derrepresented in technology fields? 

• Wednesday, April 13: Advancing 
Economic Opportunity in Communities 
(3:00–4:30 p.m.). At a time when income 
inequality is a widely acknowledged chal-
lenge across the political spectrum, there is an 
urgent need to build economic opportunity. 
How can we engage a broader cross-section 
of our country in entrepreneurship, the shar-
ing economy, and 21st-century economic 
development? 

• Wednesday, April 13: Future Di-
rections for the Library of Congress 
(5:00–6:30 p.m.). What should be on the 
priority agenda for our nation’s library? It is 
an opportune time to ask this question, given 
the retirement of James Billington, the Librar-
ian of Congress since the Reagan years, and 
the recent nomination of Carla Hayden as his 
successor. 

50th Anniversary of Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA)
With the approaching 50th anniversary (July 

4, 1966) of the enactment of the federal Free-
dom of Information Act (FOIA), there was a 
spirit of festivity at the 18th annual Freedom 
of Information Day event hosted March 11 by 
the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Cen-
ter. While highlighting several library policy 
priorities, ALA President Sari Feldman said the 
association will continue to work with a broad 
coalition of groups to finally and comprehen-
sively reform FOIA.  (Since she spoke, the 
Senate unanimously passed S.337, the FOIA 
Improvement Act aimed at increasing the 
transparency of government and expanding 
access to government information on a timely 
basis. Senate and House negotiators must now 
reconcile S. 337 with the House’s own version 
of FOIA reform, H.R. 653, passed in January of 
this year.) Feldman, who honored OpenGov 
Foundation Executive Director and Cofounder 
Seamus Kraft with the 2016 James Madison 
Award, brought home the theme of how impor-
tant libraries are to the principles of democracy 
by sharing comments on that topic by several 
luminaries, including James Madison himself: 
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and 
a people who mean to be their own governors 
must arm themselves with the power which 
knowledge gives.”—James Madison, fourth 
President of the United States and author of the 
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

National Library Legislative Day 2016 is 
approaching:  register now!
This year’s National Library Legislative Day 
(NLLD) is taking place May 2–3, 2016, in 
Washington, D.C. Take a moment to register.  
There are still rooms available in the room 
block available at reduced rates at the Liaison 
Hotel. NLLD takes place over two days, the 
first day being devoted to briefings and a spe-
cial reception on Capitol Hill, and the second 
day focuses on visits with your Members of 
Congress and their staff. For more informa-
tion or assistance of any kind, please contact 
Lisa Lindle at llindle@alawash.org or (202) 
628-8410.