ILA Executive Director Announces Bigger Than A Building Campaign

May 6, 2020

We started this new month by announcing something that we hope will help our community continue to stay strong during this pandemic, the Bigger Than A Building Campaign.

Bigger Than A Building is two-fold. First, it’s designed to increase public awareness around the fact that--even through a pandemic--Illinois libraries are working, virtually, to assist communities around the state. Secondly, as library boards and local decision-makers turn the spotlight on libraries from a financial standpoint, the campaign can help the library community make the case to keep Illinois libraries working at capacity. We are, indeed, bigger than just our buildings.

I invite you to take a look at these resources, including ways to protect your library, talking points, communication tools, images for social media, and resources for curbside delivery and reopening. Because public libraries are currently in the spotlight, the focus of these materials is primarily on public libraries. We understand that libraries of all types will need similar resources and plan to address those needs. 

In addition to other resources we have gathered, including daily COVID-19 Updates, the ILA Alert, and our social media platforms, we hope that you find this new campaign a resourceful tool that you can use to spread the word that libraries are bigger than a building they reside in, they are the essential hubs of the communities they serve. 

On behalf of the ILA executive board, I would like to thank all who have worked on this project: Shandi Greve Penrod and Ellen Popit of IHLS; Monica Harris and Mary Witt of RAILS; Jim Deiters and Alex Todd of the ILA Advocacy Committee; and ILA staff members Cyndi Robinson and Tamara Jenkins for all their contributions to this effort, as well as our advisor Marci Merola, former director of the Office for Library Advocacy of the American Library Association.

Diane Foote

ILA Executive Director 

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