Creativity and Advocacy: In Libraries I Believe

The term “advocacy ” is an ambiguous one. It’s used by all types of institutions and organizations in our society vying for support, engagement, and fund-ing, so much so that it tends to lose its edge and meaning. Many times an organization advocates through its legislative representatives on various levels; sometimes through engagement of a com-munity through social media; and most of the time the best advocacy occurs on a daily basis as librar-ians and paraprofessionals pursue daily activities in a consistent and effective manner. Advocacy, therefore, throws a wide net, which points to the definition of the term. The Oxford English Dic-tionary defines the verb: advocate, v. To call, sum-mon, invite. So, the question, then, is what does advocacy mean for the library profession? How do we best and most strategically call, summon, and invite our diverse audiences to support libraries? These are im-portant questions that we strive to answer as individ-ual professionals and as a group of professionals in the state of Oregon. Library advocacy is an active en-deavor, one in which we engage on a daily basis, one that often pushes us beyond our daily boundaries, and one that includes many approaches—legislative, community-based, educational, service oriented, and more. Advocacy also wants and needs creativ-ity in order to thrive. Stephen Tepper and George Kuh (2011) discuss the nuances of creativity in thei