Yesterday, on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2009 I participated in a state-wide effort to lobby on behalf of the libraries throughout New York in Albany, NY. This was my first visit to the state capital. From the city, it takes a little less than four hours to get there. I went with a large contingent of fellow library staff members from the
New York Public Library. The library’s union, Local 1930, sponsored the trip by paying for the bus. We left in the early hours of Tuesday morning, just after 8:00 AM. People from all departments and levels of the library were encouraged and did participate, from librarians to clerical staff to even staff members from our Development Office. Since the issue of funding affects us all, it was nice to see that over fifty staff members were willing to pack in and tightly squeeze on a bus to fight the good fight and restore our library budget for the next fiscal year.