The Difference Between Advocacy and Activism
If the goal is long-term library funding, then libraries need to look beyond current marketing and advocacy models. Instead, libraries need to look at models of activism and community organizing and build networks of supporters who will take action to support the library.
The difference between activism and advocacy is subtle, but very important.
For example, The Story Sailboat and the Great Librarian Write-Out were two of my first big projects, and both were simple, basic advocacy. In these projects we talked about how important libraries were, we told people that they should love libraries, we explained how libraries are changing and developing, and we let people know that libraries are the cornerstone of a strong community. We did all of this through fun tactics like book-seeding, writing articles and guerrilla storytimes.
I’m sure that someone — or maybe a few people — learned something about libraries that they didn’t know through these advocacy campaigns. I don’t doubt that these projects had some impact on people’s beliefs about libraries, and, of course, that’s a good thing.
But something very important was missing.
And that something was action.
Read the full article @ Demco Ideas & Inspiration
