Library Advocacy Now!

Butt-Head: "Beavis, love your library...er...dammit"; Beavis: "er...yeah." OK, as a PR push, the B&B approach might not be so hot, but with libraries being the current whipping boy in popular media such as Harpers, The New Yorker, Newsweek, and MSNBC, it's clear that we need a strong advocacy team, whether thumping the money drum or beefing up our general image. Library Advocacy Now! attempts to steer librarians in the right direction by offering suggestions for building an advocacy network, surveying and responding to constituents' input, effectively working with the media, and so forth. Combining general guidelines, interview clips, and case studies with an information-filled handbook (which is, frankly, more useful than the video), the program suffers a bit from poor timing. The irony of the first interviewee/case study being Ken Dowlin/San Francisco Public Library (with a brochure stating "The SFPL, More Hours! More Books!") tends to undercut the message a tad. Still, as a video/handbook package, this is still a strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)