Scroll to the bottom of the page to see photos from the visit.

Here’s a recap of National Library Legislative Day from Julie Walker, Assistant Vice Chancellor & State Librarian:

Another NLLD is in the books, and it was a great success for Georgia’s delegation. On a mild, breezy day in Washington, our teams stayed busy (and walked many steps!) making visits to our delegation. For the first time in a few years, congress is in session, so we were able to visit with many of our congressmen personally.

In a note of very good news, IMLS funding for the remainder of FY17 (through September 30, end of the federal fiscal year) was increased by $1 million. Several congressmen felt that the agency would continue to be funded in next year’s budget, though that process won’t begin for a while. They were all impressed with the many ways we use our LSTA funding in statewide efforts that benefit all Georgians, and we heard several compliments on how far we stretch our dollars!

I’m so grateful to our colleagues who took the time to make this trip with us. Thank you to Alan Harkness, Anna Lyle, Stacy Brown, Darla Chambliss, Stephen Houser, Jennifer Lautzenheiser, Brenda Poku, Tom Brooks, and Jo Lahmon for your outstanding preparation and enthusiastic representation! (Thanks to Stephen Whigham and Helen Poyer for allowing Brenda, Tom, and Jo to attend!) GPLS staffers Elizabeth McKinney (representing GLA as well), Pat Herndon, Angela Stanley, and our phenomenal state coordinator, Wendy Cornelisen, were proud to work with this group. FOGL president Dan Aldridge and his wonderful library-supporter wife Judy were terrific as always. We were joined this year by Margaret Quinlin, publisher at Peachtree Press, and Susan Del Rosario of Tutor.com, as well as Sherrie Harrington of Berry College, and Maggie Murphy and Jeannie Blakely, both of Georgia Highlands.

Special thanks to Maggie Marshall for doing the tricky work of scheduling all of our office visits and making our travel arrangements. It’s a tremendous honor to represent all of you and the impressive work you do. You make it easy to talk about how truly outstanding Georgia’s libraries are, and easy to boast about the incredible work you do.

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