How can you best lobby for something in city politics....

[kally]

I have written how this new library is dividing our community. Some want it, some don't. If you were to put together a campaign to influence those who have not decided on what they think about the issue what would you do?

What steps would you take?
How would you organize a campaign?

I am new at this and could use some of your great ideas. I know there are people in opposition who we will not make an effect on, but for the great undecided, how can we help educate them and hopefully influence them?

Any thoughts?

[iris lily]

You cannot repeat enough times the services and products offered by the library. Again and again and again, because people do not know what they can get at the Library.

Those campaigns that put a daily price tag on the thing "only $.23 cents each day buys you access to 100,000 books, 21,000 dvds, 8,000 audiobooks, 100 Free music downloads a year...." etc

Even though I personally am always quite skeptical about those daily pricing deals, but that's just me, I think that the majority of people like them.

[razz]

What has worked for our group is the focus on 'the one thing that is free to every resident' in the community - then go into the services provided and watch who uses the library and how it benefits them.
I water the plants several times each month. What I found really resonated with me was the range of ages that benefit. - seniors who had a safe place to sit, read the paper and mix with people; a secure place to watch your children have story time, playtime, learn to use computers and watch suitable free movies; a safe place for those with literacy problems have their lessons; retirees who stretch their dollars by reading the magazines and daily papers; teens who meet their friends and get help with homework; the developmentally challenged who have a weekly story hour and so on.

[mtnlaurel]

I couldn't say enough good things about our library - it is a hub of activity for our community.
Seniors, Families, Singles, Teens, Young Children

I think it would be interesting to find out if a good strong library correlates with home values in any way
?????
And if so, engaging your Chamber of Commerce and Realtors Assn as allies would be helpful

Although I would never specifically move to a location just for a library.
Checking out the library and it's programs is something I do when we are considering places to live (we've moved a lot recently)
I have 2 young children and am currently staying at home and am thrilled to be blessed with such an amazing resource.

Here is a super cool thing that a library in our system does for example.....
They have Subject Boxes that you can check out if you want to study something in depth with your kids.
It's a huge bin with books, worksheets, CDs, DVDs all on specific subjects -- insects, dinosaurs, etc.

Of all the places I've lived in my life.... I used the library at each and every one.
I couldn't imagine my life without the library.

[goldensmom]

I'm assuming you are for the library but this would be relevant for any issue. I would start a letter to the editor campaign asking those who I know support my opinion to write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper defining the benefits of my side and addressing concerns of the other side. It might start small but with interest it will grow. We have 2 local newspapers, one is delivered free to everyone and one is by subscription. So if you have something similar in your area that might be a place to start .You could also print up and post nifty, eye catching flyers at bulletin boards in local stores emphasizing the benefits of your side.

[Miss Cellane]

What are the reasons that a new library is necessary? Why can't the old library be renovated or an addition added? Those are the questions I'd be asking myself if the issue came up in my town. So find the the goals that make it necessary to have a new building. They could be as simple as there's no parking near the current library or there's no land to expand on to or the current building is structurally unsound.

So you need to get facts.

List the benefits of the new location and a new building. Lots of space to expand, books that have been in storage for years can be put on the shelves, ample parking, close to beach and trails so the library can start a new series of nature walks, new building means that there can now be an adequate heating/cooling system so that the books will be better preserved, the whole building can be wired for computers and wi-fi added, etc.

Then use statistics, hopefully showing how use of the library has increased over the years, to the point where the current building can't sustain further growth.

Then the benefits of the modern library--not just books and story hour, but computers and internet and electronic books and DVDS and CDs and educational talks and free movies on Saturdays and whatever else your library has to offer. Point out what they *can't* offer now and will be able to offer in the new building/location.

Benefits to the town in terms of construction jobs while the building is being built, and if the new library will require additional staff, point that out too.

After all the fact-gathering, use the facts to target different audiences. To parents, the benefits of story hour for toddlers, the research facilities for high school students, the benefits of borrowing DVDs to occupy the kids on rainy weekends vs. buying them.

To environmentalists afraid the beach will be ruined, facts that show it won't.

Pitch the budget aspects to one group, the knowledge/learning aspects to another.

Create a Facebook page. Get on Twitter. Letters to the editor. Start a "Friends of the New Library" blog.

You should also contact the library and make sure you are working with them, presenting a united front. If the Library doesn't have much of an internet presence, encourage them to get on Facebook and Twitter and start a blog.