A LMS in Every School

Last week I spent a day at the state legislature. It was Library Legislative Day and it was my first time to attend. The purpose for being there was to meet with senators and representatives throughout the day, and then to lend support at the Senate hearing for a bill requiring every school in Minnesota to have a licensed media specialist on staff. The bill was voted down, in spite of excellent testimony on its behalf, so it was of course disappointing. There's still hope that the House hearing will have a more positive outcome.
In the week since, I've thought a lot about the experience and about the process of ideas becoming reality through the passage of laws. I've also wondered about the chances of this bill passing. So I was very interested to read Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog this morning, in which he quoted Roger Sween. Mr. Sween had much to say on the issue, and it resonated with me, particularly the part about it taking "at least ten years of incessant trying" before Minnesota enacted the requirement for public library service. I hate to think that it will take ten years, but I suppose we were optimistic to think that it might have happened the first time through! I highly recommend this posting to anyone who's interested in the subject. You'll find it at http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/ under the posting "Roger Sween on school libraries".