Federal:
While President Obama has yet to appoint a new Librarian of Congress, he did recently sign the Librarian of Congress Succession Modernization Act of 2015 (S. 2162). The act limits the Librarian of Congress term to 10 years, with the possibility for renewal upon reconfirmation by the Senate. Hopefully this change will spur the future Librarians of Congress to be more adaptive, dynamic, and proactive in the face of technological change. For more on the act, see the District Dispatch.
State:
The Illinois Hospital Association has joined the long list of institutions and organizations asking their members to contact legislators about the state budget. In an advocacy alert posted today the Illinois Hospital Association provided members with talking points for contacting lawmakers:
Talk about specific examples of how the state budget impasse is directly affecting your hospital, e.g., struggling to make payroll, implementing service reductions, making contingency plans for service eliminations and staff layoffs, etc.
The governor is scheduled to meet with state government leaders on November 18 to discuss the budget, with the hopes of reaching a resolution as soon as January 2016.