MLA Advocacy News

Letter to Legislators and Candidate Outreach

Check out the August edition of our monthly outreach to Michigan Legislators where we continue to educate them on the value of our libraries and the critical role of library staff. Our outreach and advocacy efforts begin even before candidates take office.

How Can You Help Protect the Right to Read in Michigan?

MI Right to Read is an MLA initiative coordinated through the leadership of the Intellectual Freedom Task Force to protect the right to read in Michigan. Below are a few things you can do to take action for the right to read and support all Michiganders' First Amendment rights.

Michigan Library Millages August Election Results

Check out our roundup of the August 2, 2022 election results for millage issues on ballots around the state. There were 48 millage questions on the ballots and 43 of these passed. We are proud of the library boards, staff, and supporters for their work on these campaigns and their dedication to supporting their libraries. The Library of Michigan provides a listing of Public Library Millage Election Results from 2010 to the present. View the results (pdf)

Patmos Library Millage

August 5, 2022

The Michigan Library Association stands in solidarity with the Patmos Library Board of Trustees on the decision to retain a small collection of LGBTQIA+ materials on their library shelves. We are equally disheartened to learn that continued funding for the library was defeated on the August primary ballot because the library would not remove these materials. 

We recognize that individuals have the right and responsibility to make decisions about what materials are suitable for themselves and their own families. We also stand united with the majority of the Patmos Library Board, and with librarians across the nation in upholding our Constitutional protections. The freedom to read is guaranteed by the Constitution. No one has the right to make rules restricting what other people read or to make decisions for other families. Freedom only exists when individuals can make their own choices. When a book is banned by those who want to censor voices they don’t agree with, our democracy itself is threatened.