2024 Election Reflections: WLA Members Respond

Editor’s Note: Libraries have played an increasingly politicized role in American civic life; given the contentious discourse surrounding the 2024 election and the way libraries have become embroiled within it, we asked libraries to respond back. Below, we share WLA members’ thoughts, professional practices, and plans for the future in the hopes that they provide insight into the current moment and a direction for what comes after.

Personal Reflections:

A State of Gratitude

Amy Potter

The recent election results have shaken many people, including those who work in libraries. We have lost the middle ground in the United States; we live in a world where you must pick a side. Libraries are meant to be non-partisan, a neutral ground; however, this isn’t the reality of how we are seen at this time. Libraries, for many, have become associated with liberalism and the concept of being “woke.” Whether this is correct or not has become irrelevant. To a significant portion of the general population, libraries are now associated with being on one side politically. Sadly, that position has led to many libraries coming under fire. All of this, when related to the recent election results, has led to a deep fear for the future. This is a fear shared by myself, many of my colleagues, and I suspect countless other library employees in the United States.

I was filled with fear and anxiety at the election results. I began to worry about the future of my library, my job, and the country I live in. These feelings were nearly debilitating. I honestly had to take a step back, stop thinking, and escape into a well-loved book. Reading that book allowed me to calm down and think about the future. There is so much I can’t control relating to the future right now. I realized I needed to stop dwelling in this negative place and stop worrying about a future that hasn’t happened yet. I decided to look around me and remember the things that were good in my life. I made a conscious decision to go to a place of gratitude. I realized there is much to be grateful for. Here in Washington, we can have hope that libraries will still be safe and protected. We have a new governor who will fight for us, who is committed to keeping Washington a place with an environment that will ensure libraries remain welcome and supported. These are things to be deeply grateful for; not all library employees in the United States have these assurances.

It’s easy to be negative and filled with anxiety, but I think we need to push ourselves to work harder and dig deeper. We need to strive to be in a place of gratitude for all that is good in our lives and our libraries. The election results are what they are and we cannot change them. We can, however, change our own state of mind. I choose to keep working to be in a place of gratitude.

Library Responses:

Continued Civic Engagement at the Cornish Library

Cornish College of the Arts–Cornish Library 

Every two years, the Cornish Library participates in the campus voter registration drive. We post flyers, hand out buttons and stickers, compile FAQs, train circulation staff, and connect patrons to the resources they need to vote. We collaborate with other campus departments to provide well-rounded support for Cornish College students, staff, and faculty with whatever the election may hold. During the flurry of election cycle activities, we came to see particular ways the 2024 election presented both challenges that continue year to year and some that seem unique to the present moment.

As Cornish College librarians experienced firsthand this election season, students face compounding barriers of information and resources when trying to both register to vote and submit their ballots. One particular student received help from three librarians, simultaneously working to decipher the exact requirements of identification, documentation, and postage for the student to register in their home state. Frustratingly, their registration was not accepted and that same student returned to the library for information on registering to vote in Washington state. Another student was so excited by the help they received for voter registration that they left the library and immediately returned with a group of their friends to help them get registered as well. This contrast of experiences highlights the need to continue improving access to information and removing barriers that prevent our patrons from civic participation in their communities.

The election cycle does not end on election day or even after results are announced. This year, Cornish College librarians recognized mounting anticipation of the 2024 election's aftermath. We decided to transform the Library's study room into a Quiet Reflection Zone on election day and the day after. Users could sit in a quiet, low-lit space to reflect, distract themselves, or simply be. Free hot drinks were provided, along with a turntable and selected vinyl records, coloring sheets, and giant stuffed animals to create a cozy and relaxing atmosphere. Our original dates for the room were quickly extended two additional days due to high demand and direct student feedback to keep the space set up for quiet reflection. The need to create time and space for our patrons to process post-election outcomes was a defining moment for library staff, as it is often in such spaces that we can determine how to move forward.

Advocacy Responses: 

Advocacy Alert: Keeping the Lights On in Washington’s K-12 Schools

Sarah Logan 

You may be thinking “why is there a school funding article in Alki, the publication of the Washington Library Association?” The answer is that school libraries in Washington are hemorrhaging staff and funding and that loss is directly tied to funding for Washington’s K-12 public schools. As of the 2022-23 school year, sixty percent of Washington’s schools did not employ even one part-time teacher-librarian.

In districts without teacher-librarians, library programs do not exist beyond the physical library space. Paraprofessionals may run day-to-day operations with little to no training or support. In some districts, classroom teachers and volunteers circulate books. Without someone to develop the collection and advocate for funding, the library collection quickly becomes outdated and irrelevant.

In my role as Washington Library Association Board President, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with librarians who work in a wide variety of settings. I was surprised to learn that, like many Washington residents, librarians who work outside public schools do not truly understand how school funding works in Washington State or why so many of our 295 public school districts are facing budget cuts. This is a quick primer ahead of the 2025 legislative session, which will prove critical to Washington’s public schools and, by extension, our school libraries.

Washington public schools are funded through something called the Prototypical Funding Model. Basically, it’s a list of everything the legislature thinks is necessary to fund public schools. It’s used to calculate the per-pupil funding that is then sent to school districts, which are then free to determine how to use that funding (with some specific limits for areas like special education). It’s intended to cover the cost of everything that has been deemed part of “basic education,” with school districts running levies to offer enhanced educational experiences.

In reality, the prototypical funding model does not align with actual costs. Many factors contribute to the gap between funding and costs, including inflation. At the Washington State PTA Legislative Assembly in October 2024, one superintendent shared that Washington school districts actually receive approximately $1000 less per pupil in funding than in the past when adjusted for inflation. That, coupled with the loss of ESSR funds from the federal government, have resulted in extreme budget shortfalls across the state.  

Educational advocacy groups like the Washington State PTA, Washington Association of School Directors, Washington Education Association, and others have united across three main asks, which, if enacted, would help decrease this shortfall in every Washington school district. While not explicitly tied to school library funding, these proposals would free up funds intended for school library programs to be used as intended, rather than to pay for basic operating costs.  

Those asks are:

• Special Education Funding

• MSOC (Materials, Supplies, and Operational Costs), and

• Transportation.

To paraphrase one superintendent who spoke at the PTA Legislative Assembly, “operational costs are killing our budgets right now.” Everything from electricity to fuel to paper and office supplies has increased in cost, and state education funding has not kept pace. The gap between the cost of essential (and mandated) special education programs and state and federal funding is also significant, and I am especially concerned about these programs if federal funding decreases in the future.

My ask of you is that you take the time to learn how schools are funded in Washington and how that funding is used at the local level. This website from the Washington Association of School Administrators is a great place to start. Attend school board meetings or public forums about the state of the budget in your local schools. Ask questions and then take action. Contact your state legislators and ask them to amply fund education in Washington (which, by the way, is a constitutional mandate). Specifically ask them to fully fund special education, MSOC, and transportation. Call, write, submit written testimony, and sign up to testify in-person for committee hearings on bills related to education funding for as long as it takes to close the gap between funding and costs. Then, when that is done, find out who is running your school library programs and how much funding they have. 

Once schools are fully funded, districts should have the funding they need both to keep the lights on and to fund school libraries.