Stand up New Yorkers! National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) is fast approaching and we have work to do. Our voices count.

NLLD is an opportunity for us to learn more about the Administration and its policy related to support for the Library Services and Technology Act ( LSTA), intellectual freedom, privacy, copyright, net neutrality and many other issues that are important to librarians, library users and the general public.

Registration for National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) is open.You can find out more about NLLD by clicking here. For information about the schedule of events click here.

NLLD Briefings take place at The Liaison, you can register here. Here is a link to hotels that are either in Washington DC or in nearby Virginia with ready access to the Metro which comes into Union Station, not far from The Liaison and the legislative office buildings.

As a result of the changes in the Administration, many of the legislative issues are still unknown, however, based on President Trump's Executive Budget, released earlier this week, we know that he has eliminated funding for the IMLS Institute of Museum and Library Services. This is the only federal funding for America's libraries and is critical to New York State. Funding from IMLS  supports the NOVELny program, which makes databases available to all New Yorkers. In addition, IMLS funding supports the operation of the Division of Library Development (DLD). We also have indications that the new Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Ajit Pai intends to end support for net neutrality. Net neutrality is the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally.