What's up with the Levy?

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Written by Rich Robinson

Friday, 18 September 2009

A lot of people have been wondering what's going on with the levy campaign. Our members are seeing very little literature and very little campaign swag (signs, lapel stickers, etc), and not a lot of activity, and it's been causing some concern. I'm going to take a couple minutes to try to address a couple issues.

First, a bit of background on where this data comes from. I spoke to Tim Kambitsch on Monday or Tuesday (I don't remember which). During that conversation, he invited me to the weekly meeting of a group of people who are critical to the library's levy campaign. Most were library managers or bargaining unit members, but there were a few others there. Lots of things were discussed. I'm including only a smattering in this post, but will try to get more information out after next week's meeting.

That said, let's talk about a few of the things going on, beginning with volunteer opportunities. The most pressing upcoming needs are for phone bank volunteers. We need callers to volunteer. A script will be provided, and it will be generic so you don't need to worry about trying to sound out difficult-to-pronounce names (like "Zurbuchen" for instance). Also, each phone bank will need a data entry person to staff a laptop and capture data from the callers. After phone bank volunteers, we need people to help with signage and literature drops. The timing of these events is not exactly nailed down yet. Stay tuned. To volunteer for either phone bank or signage/lit drops, go to the website and sign up.

I know people have been coming into your branches and asking how they can help. Citizens for Good Libraries put together a volunteer form that we're reproducing and sending out to our agency reps. These forms, though copied and distributed by DMLSA, are for the use of all library people to help answer the question "How can I help?"

Another way DMLSA is assisting the effort is with the upcoming "Mine Plus 9" events. Mine Plus 9 is a grass-roots organizing method that allows people to "adopt" likely levy voters and follow up with them as the election draws near. Part of the campaign will require making copies at meetings. DMLSA will cover the cost of these copies.

We also donated $10,000 to Citizens for Good Libraries, which should be targeted toward newspaper ads in support of the levy.

As a final note, I wanted to address an issue that's been of concern to many members: "Where the heck is our campaign marketing material?!?" I, too, have shared this concern. At the meeting, it was explained by the campaign professionals working with Citizens for Good Libraries. Our campaign swag will be put out in the last week of September/first week of October. At that time, the idea is to get a lot of visibility. The campaign strategy is to "bloom" in front of the voters. The campaign professionals say that the timing is designed to maximize effectiveness of the campaign in light of limited resources. I am neither endorsing nor criticising this strategy. I am merely telling you why you've not seen much out there.

I hope to post more information for you as I get it. Please volunteer. I know it can be hard because we're all busier than ever...

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