How to Write a Letter to a Representative or Government Official

Photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash

Now more than ever it is important that you make your voice heard.

1.       Find your representative.

a.       If you are focusing on a local issue, contact your city council.

b.       For issues effecting the state, contact you may want to contact your state representative. Texas allows you to search for your specific representative, but there are also house committees that focus on specific issues.

c.    You can also look up your congress representative through the U.S. House of Representatives. 

2.       Make sure you format your letter correctly. Some representatives accept emails, but it is important to keep the same information.

a.       American Library Association offers this example:

Date

Your Name

Your Address

Your City, State, Zip code

Your E-mail

Your Phone Number

The Honorable_________________________

House of Representatives or United States Senate Office Address of Representative or Senator

Dear Representative/Senator ____________________,

3.       Keep the letter brief and to the point. Ideally, your letter should be no longer than one page.

4.       Introduce yourself first and the key reason about why you are contacting them. Try to focus on a single issue per letter.

5.       Do your research. You can reference resources to add credibility to your letter and offer evidence for your cause.  Depending on the topic you are addressing the subject guide for Criminal Justice, Sociology, Political Science or Legal Resources may have suggestions of where to start. Or, explore a detailed list of databases, all accessible on or off campus. 

6.       Narrow your letter down to three main points and argue for them.

7.       Personalize your stance. Offer an anecdote from your life or loved one that relates to the issue and supports your stance.

8.       State your desired outcome. What would you like to see this representative do to better represent you and your community?

These tips are based on sample letters and writing tips from the American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union.

2019 American Library Association Youth Media Awards

Pictured above are just a few of the winners of various American Library Association Youth Media Awards for 2019, announced this morning.  Check out the link above for a list of all the winners.  Watch for many of these titles to be added to the Tarleton Libraries' collections!

Clockwise from upper left: 

• Merci Suarez Changes Gears, winner of the John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature;
• Hello Lighthouse, winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children;
• Rescue & Jessica: A Life-Changing Friendship, winner of the Schneider Family Book Award for young children (ages 0-10), for "embodying an artistic expression of the disability experience," and
• The Fox on the Swing, winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States (it was originally published in Lithuanian as Laime Yra Lape).

Four Recent Award Winners by African American Authors

At the recent announcement of the annual Youth Media Awards by the American Library Association (ALA), four books by African American authors won multiple awards during this African American History Month.  All of the books were honored by ALA's Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) with a Coretta Scott King (CSK) Author Book Award or Honor designation, given each year to African American authors of books for children and young adults that "demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values."

The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, was an CSK Author Honor Book.  In addition, it also won the William C. Morris Debut Award, which honors a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens, and was named a Michael L. Printz Honor Book for excellence in young adult literature.  Its audio version, narrated by actress Bahni Turpin, won the 2018 Odyssey Award as the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States.  You can access an e-book version of this book in the Tarleton Libraries' OverDrive collection.  The novel is about a girl named Starr whose two worlds (predominantly-white prep school by day, low-income black neighborhood by night) collide when she witnesses the death of her unarmed friend by a police officer.

Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds, was a CSK Author Honor Book, a Printz Honor Book, and an Odyssey Honor Book, for the author's own narration in the audio format.  In addition, the novel was named a John Newbery Honor Book as a distinguished contribution to American literature for children.  Written in free verse, the book is the story of a 60-second elevator ride that changes the life of 15-year-old Will as he encounters people from his past when seeking to avenge the shooting death of his brother.  This book is being acquired for the Dick Smith Library Curriculum Collection on the lower level.

Crown:  An Ode to the Fresh Cut, written by Derrick Barnes and illustrated by Gordon C. James, received a Coretta Scott King honor in both the author and illustrator categories, and named a Newbery Honor Book.  It was also chosen as a Randolph Caldecott Honor Book for the artists of the most distinguished American picture books for children, for Gordon James' impressionistic oil illustrations.  This picture book is about an African American boy's visit to the barber shop.  This book is also being acquired for the Dick Smith Library Curriculum Collection on the lower level.

Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson, won the Coretta Scott King Author Book Award and was also a Newbery Honor Book.  The book is also on the 2018 Lone Star Reading List created by the Texas Library Association, with recreational reading recommendations for students in middle school, grades six, seven, and eight.  The novel is a coming-of-age tale about Jade, an artistic black teenage girl.  This book is also being acquired for the Dick Smith Library Curriculum Collection on the lower level.

African-American Authors Win Library Association Awards

Jacqueline Woodson,
2012 Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature
[24 Aug 2012] / Tulsa City-County Library /
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The American Library Association (ALA) announced its annual Youth Media Awards on Monday, February 12, 2018, appropriately enough in Library Lovers Week!  And, fittingly for African American History Month, the three awards given to individuals for their body of work (and not a specific title) went to African American female authors.

Administered by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of ALA, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award was first given to that author in 1954. The medal in bronze "honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children over the years." The award is presented every two years.

The 2018 winner is Jacqueline Woodson, who has written picture books, young adult novels, and a memoir in poetry, many of which have won other awards.

We have 15 titles by Jacqueline Woodson in Tarleton Libraries collections in Stephenville and Fort Worth and in our OverDrive e-book collection.

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Eloise Greenfield, cropped from
  Hands on theFreedom Plow Book Talk
 [5 Oct 2010] / teachingforchange / CC BY-NC 2.0

Angela Johnson was named the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award, which "honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."

The annual award, established in 1988, is administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of ALA, and is sponsored by School Library Journal magazine. It recognizes an author's work in helping adolescents become aware of themselves and addressing questions about their role and importance in relationships, society, and in the world. 

We have 11 books by Angela Johnson in the Curriculum Collection on the lower level of the Dick Smith Library.

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Eloise Greenfield won the 2018 Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, named in memory of children’s author Virginia Hamilton.  It is presented in even years to an African American author, illustrator or author/illustrator for a body of his or her published books for children and/or young adults, and who has made a significant and lasting literary contribution.  The award is sponsored by ALA's Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT), and the winner gets a medal and a check for $1,500.

We have 11 books that Greenfield authored or co-authored in the Dick Smith Library, ten children's books on the lower level, and a memoir in the stacks on the upper level.  

2015 ALA Youth Media Awards

On Monday, February 2, the American Library Association (ALA) announced its Youth Media Awards.  These are a number of awards for books and other media (such as audiobooks and videos) given annually in January or early February - check out the link above for a list of the winners.

Two of the award winners are also on the Texas Bluebonnet Award reading list for 2015-2016, and are already available in both the Dick Smith Library in Stephenville and in the Texan Hall Library in the Hickman Building in Fort Worth.  Many of the other winners, including all of the Newbery, Caldecott, and Sibert winners and honor books, have now been ordered for the Dick Smith Library, and should be available for checkout in a few weeks.

The Right Word:  Roget and His Thesaurus, won the 2015 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for the most distinguished informational book for children.  It was also named as an Honor Book (a runner-up) for the 2015  Randolph Caldecott Medal, which "honors the illustrator of the year's most distinguished American picture book for children."  It also received a 2015 National Council of Teachers of English Orbis Pictus Honor Book designation, for outstanding nonfiction for children. Jen Bryant (a previous winner of the Schneider Family Book Award, another ALA award, last year; a Charlotte Zolotow Award Honor Book designation in 2009; and the Orbis Pictus Award last year) was inspired to write about Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869) when she accidentally picked up an early edition of his Thesaurus instead of the novel she'd planned to read on a road trip.  This picture book biography features watercolor, collage, and mixed media illustrations by Melissa Sweet, a previous winner of the Sibert Award (in 2012) and a Caldecott honoree (in 2009, for A River of Words, written by Jen Bryant).

 A runner-up for this year's Sibert Award was Separate is Never Equal:  Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation.  This picture book is about the little-known school desegregation case in California that preceded the more famous 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case by seven years.  This book was also named a 2015 Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book, given to "Latino/Latina ... illustrator[s] whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth."  The author and illustrator of this book, Duncan Tonatiuh, won the latter award in 2012 and had honor books named in 2011 and 2014.  His books also won the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award in 2012 and 2014.  His artwork is inspired by ancient Mexican art, particularly that of the Mixtec writing system.  

BUTTONS! My buttons! Banned Books Week 2013

At Tarleton Libraries we have a tradition of buttons. That's right, BUTTONS! We like to hand them out during special events like Library Lovers Day and Banned Books Week. This year is no exception. Yesterday began Banned Books Week 2013. Tarleton Libraries' theme this year is "I'm with the BANNED". Take the time to look over our Banned Books Week table display in the lobby, grab a free button, and checkout a banned book. You may be surprised at some of the books that have been banned/challenged.

Not sure what Banned Books Week is? Check out the American Library Association Website for more details. Feel free to email reference@tarleton.edu or call (254)9689249 with questions.

Tweet us your favorite banned book

 @tarletonlib #BannedBooksWeek

Choose Privacy Week, May 2-8 2010

May 2-8 is the first ever Choose Privacy Week, sponsored by the American Library Association. ALA describes Choose Privacy Week as a "new initiative...about privacy rights in a digital age", where libraries can "give citizens the resources to think critically and make more informed choices about their privacy." ₁

Although online services such as Google and Facebook are undeniably convenient, they come with privacy concerns. For example, ALA states that "online searches create traceable records that make [users] vulnerable to questioning by the FBI, or that government agencies can track their phone calls, airline travel, online purchases, and more."₂

Facebook, for example, has been under fire recently for its privacy changes (Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, stated in January that "privacy is no longer a social norm."₃) In December of 2009, Facebook default settings were changed to public. In April 2010, Facebook made information "such as a user's hometown, education, work, activities, likes and interests public, whereas previously such information could be hidden."₄ And on May 5, Facebook suffered a major privacy glitch when private chats between members could be viewed publicly.

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₁The American Library Association. "Choose Privacy Week." http://www.privacyrevolution.org/. Accessed May 6, 2010.

₂Ibid.

₃ Johnson, Bobby. The Guardian. "Privacy no longer a social norm, says Facebook founder." January 11, 1010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/11/facebook-privacy. Accessed May 6, 2010.

₄Brodkin, Jon. Networked World. "Consumer groups hammer Facebook privacy violations in federal complaint." http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/050610-facebook-privacy-violations.html. May 6, 2010. Accessed May 6, 2010.

Neil Gaiman, feral child raised by...

The American Library Association chose Neil Gaiman to be the Honorary Chair of the 2010 National Library Week, celebrated this month. Although I have dear friends that I suspect were raised by wolves, it is intriguing that he himself says he was a feral child raised by...librarians. His interview with Kate Pritchard Neil Gaiman Talks About His Love of Libraries is interesting reading, and prompted me to wonder what a library means to you, Dear Reader. Let us know!

In case you are interested, we have several of his titles, some juvenile literature, in PZ7.G1273 (downstairs), and PR6057.A319 (upstairs). I promise not to check them out for a few days. Maybe.