Leadership in Legislation and Public Policy Development: The Case of the American Library Association

THISARTICLE EXAMINES THE federal legislative and information policy leadership roles of the American Library Association. A brief history of ALA’s Washington office is followed by a review of research and scholarship on the objectives and techniques of public interest lobbying. The outcomes of two legislative initiatives from the 1979 White House Conference on Libraries and Information, the National Indian Omnibus Library Bill, and the National Periodicals Center, are examined to see what can be learned that is potentially relevant to legislative proposals emerging from the Second White House Conference.