After 15 years as the executive director of the Virginia Library Association, Lisa Varga has pulled up stakes and moved from Virginia Beach to Washington, D.C., to become the associate executive director of the American Library Association’s Public Policy and Advocacy office. Varga, a 20-year ALA member who has served on the Policy Corps and Intellectual Freedom Committee, spoke with PW about ensuring access to resources and free information, building grassroots networks, and representing library workers’ interests in the nation’s capital.
Why did you decide to take on this leadership role at such a contentious political moment?
It was time for a new chapter and to utilize my skills at a larger level. Because there are 57 chapters of ALA, but only about 15 or 16 full-time executive directors, we’ve been a really tight group for a very long time. Going to conferences and serving on committees, I’ve met people from around the country, and I’m excited to utilize some of their expertise too. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that none of us can go it alone.
What did you learn as executive director of VLA that guides your national outlook?
Virginia was a good training ground because it has such an array of libraries and areas—it’s representative of so many states at the federal level. And, because I was not employed by a school or library, I could speak out when other people felt worried about their livelihoods. I wish we hadn’t needed to spend the last four years fighting off book banning and threats to the First Amendment, so that we could have done work to preserve the long-term funding of all our libraries.
What are your priorities, given the existential concerns troubling libraries?
I’ve always held dear the core values of librarianship. Access, equity, intellectual freedom and privacy, the public good, sustainability: all those concepts intertwine to make this profession grow and evolve. The other thing is that ALA is a member-supported association. We would love it if our librarians didn’t have to worry about their IMLS Grants to States money.
Why is federal funding so crucial, from rural libraries to urban systems?
The goal is making sure everyone has access and that there’s equity of that access. We want to provide wifi hotspots, discounts to E-Rate, and K–12 resources in school districts that don’t have the money for databases. We want to make sure that kids have access to the online encyclopedias and things along those lines we used to take for granted. We should be striving to support all of our folks in that way.
On Capitol Hill, how will you work with everyone from legislators to grassroots activists?
Relationships will be the center of everything, because you don’t build a coalition with just the name of an organization. We need to find community leaders who are willing to rise up and coordinate and create postcard campaigns. It's not just the top of the voting ballot; we’ve got to run candidates who care about the things we care about. And if we could find a way to harness the BookTok community? Trust me, I'll be looking into how I can do that.
What do you say to individuals who are upset by the threats at libraries but cannot take an activist stance?
It’s really hard to put yourself at risk these days. There are reasons to be nervous. I’ve been telling people, if you want to make a difference but don’t want to go up to a podium, mail a card to a library that’s in the news and going through some stuff. We have a library in Virginia where the break room is wallpapered with thank you cards. The staff there have said to me, “When I need a break, I look at that wall and I see that we have support.” The attacks on books, libraries, and librarians are meant to be isolating. They’re meant to keep people quiet and make them scared. If we can show up and say, “We care for you,” that helps a lot through the grief that this creates.
