DGI Annual Business Meeting: Bernadine E. Abbott-Hoduski

By Chris Zammarelli, The Brookings Institution

The Government Information Division was honored to have Bernadine E. Abbott-Hoduski, author of Lobbying for Libraries and the Public's Access to Government Information, speak at the division's annual business meeting.

Abbott-Hoduski served for 21 years as a professional staff member for the U.S. Congress Joint Committee on Printing.  She is also the co-founder of the American Library Association's Government Documents Round Table (GODORT).

She began her talk by stressing the importance of accessible government information.  She said, "Access to government information is the bulwark of democracy in our country."  She added that librarians help hold the government accountable for its actions.

Abbott-Hoduski noted her role in starting GODORT, saying that she was not going to be "falsely modest" about it.  She called GODORT ALA's troublemakers.  "That is the essence of lobbying, being a troublemaker," she said.

A bit of advice she offered about the lobbying process is to identify a professional committee staff member to lobby because they are hired for their lobbying ability.  They therefore survive longer than political staffers. (Although she did note, "No one is not a political staffer.")  She also said that they tend to know what sthey're doing.

However, she recommended being patient with whomever you are talking to, "no matter how lowly you think a staffer is."  She added, "Think of yourself as a children's librarian," and explain your issue in detail and in the easiest-to-understand terms.

Abbott-Hoduski said that librarians should be "lobbying all the time" to make their importance to their organizations known, and that lobbying is the key to surviving political shake-ups.

She stressed that all policy changes, whether it is on the federal scale or just in your own library, have consequences.  "When you're doing stuff, think about what's going to happen down the road," she said.  She mentioned as an example that saving a lot of money could lead to program cuts.  She also singled out the closing of the GPO stores nationwide.  She said that these outlets were profitable, but closing them looked good on the bottom line.

She then went into detail about some of the policy issues facing information access and government libraries.  She said that she took the EPA library closures personally as she is formerly the Librarian for the EPA in the Kansas City Region.

Abbott-Hoduski said that proposals to close libraries should be included in the Federal Register so that the public can comment on them.  She also said that the Government Accountability Office should analyze such proposals.

She pointed out that there is no Congressional committee that monitors federal libraries.  The committees that oversee each respective agency cover the agencies' individual libraries.  A situation such as the EPA closings shows the need for a separate committee that has the sole purpose of overseeing federal libraries.

In addition, she believes there needs to be a formal consortium of library associations to lobby on behalf of libraries.  She said that ALA and SLA are becoming more effective in lobbying, but this is only a recent development.  Right now, she said, "They have nothing to be proud of."

Other federal libraries that are under threat are the V.A. and military base libraries.  Abbott-Holduski said that public libraries are impacted by these closures because they are expected to handle the influx of affected users.  She pointed out that these libraries have "such unique collections" that other libraries can't meet the needs of their new patrons.

She also discussed efforts by The Open House Project to compare the Congressional Record with videos of floor debates to make sure that what appears in print matches what happened in Congress.  She said that the young staffers at Open House are a lot more optimistic than she is that they can make a difference on the Hill.  However, she said, "If you're not optimistic, you're not going to be a good lobbyist.  That's the key."