Political Action

I’m part of a professional library association that is a 501(c)(3), like the American Library Association, Association for College and Research Libraries, and the Society for American Archivists. Occasionally, the group issues statements in solidarity with various groups, for instance, in protest of police violence against Black people and against Anti-Asian violence.

This is an area that (literally) tears groups apart.

There is no one right answer to this, but countless examples show that the process for arriving at an answer is just as important as the decision to issue a statement (or not) of support (or opposition).

We are a free association library. More than 90% of our funding comes from a tax levy voted on by local residents when they vote on our local school district budget.

We are considering strategies for reminding library patrons to go out and vote. We do not have a friends group.

To answer this question, we need to leave the hard, unyielding pavement of a clear prohibition (We know that the library cannot say “vote yes.”) and hang out in the weeds.

Which weeds?

Let’s go with:

Politics are impacting libraries more than ever, and our library organization is considering hiring a lobbyist to represent our interests in Albany.  We know that as a non-profit we can't engage in "political activity", but can we hire a lobbyist?  And if we can, what do we need to be thinking about, legally?

This answer applies to an association library, a cooperative library system, or regional library council (e.g. the Western New York Library Resources Council or the Northern New York Library Network).

It can also apply to a chartered museum or historical society.